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| PNP, PEZA announce ecozone militarization. Photo by Rappler |
The Philippine National Police (PNP),
including its commander-in-chief, the President, cannot infringe on the right
of workers to form unions. Doing so will be a clear violation of the
Constitution, the Labor Code and international conventions that guarantee
freedom of association (FOA), the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) said in a
statement sent to media.
The reaction came after the PNP regional
office in Central Luzon on Friday launched the Joint Industrial Peace and
Concern Office (JIPCO) in the Clark Freeport Zone that will serve, according to
Central Luzon police chief Brigadier General Rhodel Sermonia, as “the first
line of defense from radical labor infiltration of the labor force and the
industrial zones.”
The launching had as guest speakers,
presidential adviser on the peace process Secretary Carlito Galvez, newly
installed Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Archie Francisco Gamboa,
and Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director Charito Plaza.
PM, a member of the country’s biggest
labor coalition Nagkaisa!, demanded that the PNP, PEZA and OPA withdraw the
program and for DOLE to enforce labor laws in ecozones, educate officials of
the bureaucracy and security forces on labor rights, and prosecute the
violators whether they are state officials or owners of capital.
“These officials were appointed to their
offices to promote and defend the Constitution. But the launching of JIPCO is
very clear on its purpose – to violate the Constitution. Therefore under the
context of ecozones, it is clearly the first line of defense of foreign capital
and not of the labor force,” lamented PM chair Renato Magtubo.
He added that “Even before the launching
of JIPCO, ecozones in Central Luzon have been militarized. Soldiers and police harassed
union leaders, sent threatening letters to labor organizers and held anti-union
meeting with workers of the FCF Manufacturing Corp., a factory in the Freeport
Area of Bataan that makes high-end leather bags.”
Magtubo reminded the PNP and PEZA that
under the law, even employers who own the businesses and exercise direct
control over their workforce are considered as mere bystanders, meaning they
cannot interfere in labor activities, particularly on the right of workers to
form unions as provided under the Bill of Rights and the Social Justice
provisions of the Constitution.
“If these officials are ignorant of
these basics on labor rights, then this Republic of Endos and cheap labor is
really in a deep shit,” declared Magtubo who now sits as a city councilor of
Marikina.
“In fact, Central Luzon in recent
memory, is no longer a hotbed of insurgents but of ninja cops as shown during
the Senate hearings. Contrary to the vicious propaganda peddled by security
forces against trade unions, the Filipino workforce, especially in special
economic zones or EPZAs, are defenseless not from insurgents but from
intransigent anti-union foreign investors.
Indeed, the urgent need of workers inside ecozones are incorruptible
labor offices or desks and not PNP detachments.” argued Magtubo.
“Militarization of ecozones is an
escalation of the union busting efforts of PEZA. In other regions like Calabarzon
and Cebu, PEZA has been conniving with foreign investors by temporarily closing
down factories where workers have unionized. The most recent incident of this
modus operandi is the closure of Sejung Apparel Inc. in the First Cavite
Industrial Estate where workers are currently on protest,” Magtubo explained.
JIPCO, the group said, is hiding under
the cover of peace building efforts but in reality it is a declaration of war
against the trade union movement in the country. “We will not be cowed. We will
continue to organize,” concluded Magtubo.
24 January 2020
