The labor
group Partido Manggagawa (PM) slammed Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello’s statement
that the government is addressing the killings and repression of labor leaders
and trade unionists. “Deeds do not match words. Labor Secretary Bello is
unfortunately being disingenuous when he says that the government is acting on
the complaints. In reality violations of labor rights continue with impunity,”
asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.
He added that “Just
to cite one case, the murder of union organizer Dennis Sequeña remains unsolved to this
day, almost three years after he was shot while facilitating a labor seminar
for export zone workers in Cavite. It was the outrage over the killing of
Dennis just days before the annual International Labor Organization (ILO) in
2019 that precipitated the current complaint
against the Philippine government for systematic violations of Convention 87
and Convention 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining.”
Echoing the observation of
the ILO committee of experts on the application of conventions and
recommendations in its latest report, PM averred that speedy and effective probes of the
killings and the conviction of perpetrators are lacking if not absent.
“Aside from
Dennis, no justice has been served for the killings of PM leaders Orlando
Abangan of Cebu, Rolando Pango and Victoriano Embang of Negros Occidental. As
the ILO report has noted, the government keeps on repeating that investigations
are happening without providing any details,” Magtubo insisted.
The group also
stated that the government is dragging its feet on a review of the rules governing
the conduct of security personnel during disputes and the scrapping of a program
on peacekeeping in the export processing zones.
“The Philippine Economic Zone Authority in particular has been blocking progress on strengthening the freedom to unionize and the right to protest of workers in export processing zones. Their latest maneuver has been to change the name of the Joint Industrial Peace Concerns Office to Alliance for Industrial Peace and Program Office but the aim of militarizing ecozones by setting up police precincts and suppressing unionism remains in place,” Magtubo explained.
February 14, 2022
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