The rise in the number of cases
involving cruel treatment by security forces against violators of quarantine
protocols has alarmed the labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) which sees this
pattern as tolerated impunity that is becoming a new normal.
“Can’t our security forces in dreadful
military uniforms act humanely before their fellow humans? Have they been
instructed to apply brute force against anyone they perceive to be pasaway?
There must be a new culture for a new normal being created here for these
inhumane actions to be tolerated,” said PM Chair Renato Magtubo.
The labor group reminded the government
that human rights and labor rights guaranteed by the Constitution have never
been demolished by President Duterte’s emergency powers under the Bayanihan
Act.
According to police reports, there are
more than a hundred thousand ECQ violators who have been apprehended or
arrested since the lockdown has been imposed.
The most recent among them were the Makati (Parras) and Quezon City
(Ragos and a fish vendor) incidents that have gone viral in the social media.
There was also a PUP student leader among them, Rexlon Aumentado, who was
illegally detained for 3 days.
The group also cited the police
dispersal of a workers’ picketline in Cavite during Black Friday night.
Dasmarinas police who refused to give their names threatened two strikers—at
the Sejung Apparel Inc. factory in the First Cavite Industrial Estate—with
arrest for allegedly violating the quarantine rules. “Labor rights are not suspended
during the ECQ and this incident breaks all the rules of engagement, especially
the guidelines on the conduct of security personnel during labor disputes,”
Magtubo insisted.
PM is concerned that had there been no
anonymous people posting their videos of those incidents, these human rights
violations in thousands of unreported circumstances will just go unnoticed and
perpetrators go unpunished.
“Bakit ba naging habit na ang pananakit?
Bakit ba mayroon nang nalikhang malaki at maliit, malupit at mahina dito sa
paglaban sa Covid-19,” lamented Magtubo.
“Makataong Tugon Hindi Militarisasyon”
is one of PM’s “Apat na Dapat” Labor Day demands. The other demands include
“Ayudang Sapat Para sa Lahat”, “Balik Trabahong Ligtas”, and “Ayudang Lagpas sa
Panahon ng Lockdown.”
The group is with Nagkaisa! labor
coalition which, together with Kilusang Mayo Uno, will be holding home and
community protest online on Labor Day.
#MakataongTugonHindiMilitarisasyon
#MayDay2020
29 April 2020
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