Legal harassment of RP unionists hit
Julie M. Aurelio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines–Murder and arson charges against labor leaders? Very hard to believe, according to visiting Canadian labor organizers.
The Canadian Trade Union Mission to the Philippines has slammed the criminal charges against labor leaders in the provinces, saying such actions bars them from defending workers’ rights.
In a press conference on Tuesday, visiting unionists Peter Leibovitch and Daniel Kinsella called on the government to ensure the safety of labor leaders from physical harm and legal harassment.
“This apparent abuse of the legal system appears to be a change of tactics to suppress activists and critics,” the two Canadians said in a briefing in Quezon City.
Kinsella, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, a government union, cited the case of Lawyer Remigio Saladero Jr. of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (May 1 Movement), who has been detained at the Calapan provincial jail.
“Saladero is a full-time labor lawyer and has diabetes, while some of his companions have polio and other serious illnesses,” he told reporters in an interview.
Saladero and 72 others have been charged with multiple murder, frustrated murder and arson in connection with alleged left-wing rebel activities.
“These are very serious charges and are too far-fetched for any reasonable person to believe … I hope the President is aware of them,” he added.
Kinsella and Leibovitch of the United Steelworkers arrived in the country on Nov 14 to visit picket lines in Southern Tagalog and talk with peasant leaders and activists for the past two weeks.
Their mission was sponsored by the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights, Workers Assistance Center, National Coalition for the Protection of Workers Rights and the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees.
“Some of us felt the need to assess the human rights situation and hear firsthand the violations against labor and community activitists,” said PSAC communications officer Joselito Calugay.
The CTUMP said they were supporting the International Labor Organization’s recommendation for the government to accept the ILO high level mission, which would investigate the human rights conditions in the country.
The visiting union organizers added that despite claims of lower incidence of extrajudicial killings, they did not believe that the killings of activists and peasant leaders had stopped at all.
“Even if they say there were only, say six killings this year, six is still far too many. The perpetrators of the killings have never been found,” Kinsella said.
He pointed out that charging labor leaders with serious criminal offenses “is very disturbing” and that the charges had no substance.
“We will meet with the Commission on Human Rights to present our observations. We will inform relevant groups in Canada and urge them to examine the situation,” Leibovitch said.
He said he heard from labor leaders that the 1987 Constitution explicitly guaranteed the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain, which he said, was more progressive than Canada’s own Constitution “which is not so specific about these fundamental rights.”
“But the way, it is implemented, it seems that it is sometimes against the workers and for the employers,” Leibovitch added.
The CTUMP has already talked to the Canadian embassy in the country to raise their concerns about the human rights situation facing labor and peasant organizers.
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