Manila – Nagkaisa, the
largest coalition of labor organizations in the Philippines, welcomes the
review of the country’s adherence to freedom of association by the ILO’s
Committee on Applications and Standards (CAS) adopted last 7 June 2024 in
Geneva.
Held on the occasion of the
124th session of the ILO International Labour Conference in Geneva, the
coalition condemned the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for its
blatant evasion and misrepresentation of the issues at hand.
During the CAS discussion,
speakers from at least ten countries raised serious concerns about ongoing
labor rights violations in the Philippines. These international criticisms
highlight a stark reality: that the Philippine government has FAILED to
implement the recommendations of the ILO High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM).
"DOLE’s leadership has
failed the workers by masking the truth and allowing these violations to
persist," said Nagkaisa spokesperson Renato Magtubo.
DOLE’s lack of action and
apparent duplicity, he added, “blackened the government’s credibility” on the very
day that the Philippines was elected as deputy member to the governing body of
the ILO.
“Back home Sec. Laguesma
needs to comply with the directive of the President to recite the pledge and
Bagong Pilipinas hym, ‘Panahon na ng Pagbabago’, during flag ceremonies. But
with his actions lacking the patriotic and collective spirit of
‘magtulong-tulong’ and ‘ayusin ang dapat ayusin’, change is far from becoming a
reality in DOLE,” lamented Magtubo.
Nagkaisa insists that DOLE
failed to deliver justice to all the 72 trade union leaders killed from 2016 to
2023. On top of that, DOLE apparently does not want to face the reality that
red-tagging, abductions, surveillance and profiling and other forms of
harassments persists because the Executive Order No. 70 that established the
National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) remain
firmly in place.
“We’d like to remind Sec.
Laguesma that his inability to address long-standing labor rights issues in the
Philippines have serious implications for trade and investments that President
Marcos has been working out with the international community since day one,”
Magtubo said, adding that the responsibility for this crisis in the making lies
squarely with the leadership of the DOLE.
The protection and promotion of labor rights are essential to fostering a fair and just society, which in turn, is crucial for sustainable economic growth and attracting international investments.
Nagkaisa Labor Coalition
10 June 2024
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