Freedom of Association
Message at the Tripartite Project Launch of the ILO EU GSP+ on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining
By Mr Sonny Matula, National President of the Federation of Free Workers (FFW-ITUC) in the Philippines at the Tripartite Project Launch of the ILO EU GSP+ on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining
13 September 2017
We, in the trade unions and the Federation of Free Workers (FFW), send you greetings and wish a successful tripartite discussion.
As we speak today of freedom of association, 40 trade unionists in Central Azucarera de San Antonio in Passi, Iloilo, are out of jobs. They were kicked-out by manager from work due alleged to an illegal barricade during their strike a month ago.
Last year, we can still remember the killing of Miralles in front of the NLRC in Banawe Street in Quezon City.
Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) had an earlier complaint about the harassment in their picket line in a Banana plantation in Davao in May 2017 at the start of the declaration of martial allegedly perpetrated by element of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
The Supreme Court recently declared the refusal of confidential employees to leave the rank and file union is a ground for losing employment in the case of the University of Immaculate Conception in Davao City. It appears that membership in a union is worse than membership in the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Membership in the CPP is no longer considered a subversive act after the repeal of the subversion law during the time of President Fidel V. Ramos.
We still maintain that the opportunities ahead for reforms are wide and open under the Duterte Adminstration.
The President has a promised to end unlawful contractual employment schemes and uphold the workers’ right to security of tenure.
In law, before the adoption of International Labour Convention 87 in 1948, Freedom of Association was already recognized in 1899 in the Malolos Constitution. The revolutionary constitution spoke that “the right of the people to organize unions, association and societies for purposes not contrary to law shall not be abridged”.
This provision was carried into the 1935 and 1973 Constitutions and also retained in the present 1987 Constitution of the Philippines.
In practice, however, there still much to be done in the Philippines to be fully compliant with our Constitution as well as ILC 87 and 98. We understand that full compliance cannot be done alone by government. The cooperation and active participation of the other social partners is not only necessary but also imperative.
It can be recalled that in 2009, the Philippines accepted the High Level Commission to investigate certain violations of ILC 87 and 98. The mission was welcomed by the social partners and relevant actors. A comprehensive technical cooperation program to improve understanding and respect for the fundamental principles and rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining was adopted.
Among the activities conducted were: coordinated training for members and officers of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on freedom of association and its linkages to civil liberties; freedom of association and collective bargaining training focused on implementation within special economic zones; training of judges and lawyers on international labour standards and their use in the judiciary; continuing education for Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Public Sector Labor Management Council (PSMLC) on international labour standards; and the promotion of social dialogue at all levels with special outreach to the tripartite peace councils.
But reported killings of trade unionist continues. To cite examples: the killings of Antonio Petalcorin and Rolando Pango reported by SENTRO in 2015. Pango’s killing was taken as trade union related while that of Petalcorin’s was treated an ordinary crime. Killing trade unionists is a serious matter that should not be taken lightly by the social partners and other people of goodwill.
Much has already been done but we also agree with her that more still need to be done with the continuing violations -- though already of reduced number of cases. Likewise, there is much to be done to further reduce the existing gaps between law and practice.
ITUC, EI, TUCP and SENTRO had cited particular cases in the reports to the Committee on Application of Standards in 2016. I would add the experiences of the FFW to these cited cases.
The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) has also number of cases.
To be concrete, let us cite Article 3 of Convention 87, particular paragraph 2 and I quote:
“2. The public authorities shall refrain from any interference which would restrict this right or impede the lawful exercise thereof.”
To cite examples of violations of this provision, while FFW was organizing tugboat workers in 2012, government agencies were being used to harass union leaders in order to discourage union organizing. We experienced the Special Board of Marine Inquiry in Manila was used to harass the union president, Jose Emmy R. Tiongco, of the Malayan Tugboat Officers Association-FFW. He was slapped with an administrative case for allegedly violating marine safety in 2013. This administrative case involved an alleged accident that happened a year or two before he started organizing a union in that tugboat and salvage company.
The prosecutor’s office in Zambales was also used as instrument against Tugboat Captain Ruel Guda and his companions Bendell Esquerra , Mark Anthony Orbito and John Mark Trio in order to destroy their resolve to hold on to their union. Despite there was no gasoline lost or no illegally taken fuel, they became recipient of a fabricated qualified theft charges for alleged loss of gallons of fuel before the prosecutor’s office of Zambales. The case was dismissed by the provincial prosecutor for lack of probable cause in 2014.
Union president Tiongco and 15 others were facing complaint for illegal strike, not with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) or the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) which have jurisdiction over labour disputes, but before the Marine Industry Authority (MARINA) at the MARINA’s own initiative despite objection of the union and despite the fact that there is no verified complaint. While MARINA latter dropped the case for lack of jurisdiction in 2014, the objectionable deed was done.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was not spared from being used to curtail the right to self-organization. Mr. Jonas Bautista and Tugboat Captain Fetalvero, all members of a tugboat and towage officers’ union-FFW, faced an NBI investigation for alleged attempted murder and sabotage, respectively. While it was dismissed for lack of evidence in 2014, procedural aspects of law were used to harass the workers.
Despite invocation of the provisions of the “DOLE-DILG-PNP-DND-AFP Joint Guidelines on the Conduct of AFP/PNP Relative to the Exercise of Workers’ Right to Freedom of Association” that requires clearance from DOLE or Office of the President before filing criminal information in court on cases arising out of or related to labor dispute, Captain Tajanlangit and Ramil Estolloso, all FFW members, were also separately indicted in court for frustrated homicide cases. All these cases, however, were dismissed in 2015 and 2016, respectively, after trial, by the Municipal Trial Courts of Masinloc (Zambales) and Pagbilao (Quezon), respectively, for lack of evidence.
Also, without DOLE or Office of the President’s clearance, union president Sergio Baynito and union secretary Ricjason Cereno of a bus company union, a chapter of FFW, are facing criminal charges of qualified theft while organizing a union in the said bus company in Manila. They are now facing trial for several counts of qualified theft before the two (2) Regional Trial Courts of Manila.
Without clearance, likewise, two (2) trade union women leaders, Jocelyn Nono and Bing Jumamil, were indicted by the Davao City Prosecutor’s office and were facing libel charges before the Regional Trial Court (Branch 15) of Davao City for allegedly holding streamer/tarpulin with derogatory statement against their employer at a picket line of striking workers in Davao. Trial was completed as both the prosecution and defense had already rested. Both women trade unionists, they were acquitted by Judge Carpio.
We have a taxi driver, Rico Garcia, in a taxi company in Manila was charged with multiple criminal cases like illegal possession of fire arms, violation of gun ban, falsification and estafa after he initiated the organizing of a union in said taxi company. He is acquitted for the first two crimes (illegal possession of fire arms and violation of fun ban) in 2011 and 2015, respectively but until are still facing trial for the last two crimes.
On a positive note, a number also benefited from the “Joint Guidelines” earlier mentioned. Criminal charges against 15 trade unionists of a delivery company of multi-national products and nine (9) trade union members in a bus company were dismissed by the City Prosecutors of Quezon City and Manila in 2014 and 2015, respectively, for lack of clearance from the Department of Labor and Employment.
It is admitted that both workers’ and employers’ groups are involved in the National Monitoring Body and we appreciate government for such an opportunity to participate. The Monitoring body, however, need to be funded and given fulltime personnel to effectively deliver its functions of monitoring violations of trade union rights.
We laud the tripartite social partners in the Philippines for coming up with common legislative proposals to amend the Labor Code of the Philippines in order to make its provisions compliant with ILC 87 and 98 and other international labour standards. There is a need, however, of continuing lobby in Congress to make these amendments come into law.
Early this year, there was an ILO Direct Contact Mission visiting the country.
We reiterated again our suggestion to the Philippine government to:
Thank you so much for your attention.
As we speak today of freedom of association, 40 trade unionists in Central Azucarera de San Antonio in Passi, Iloilo, are out of jobs. They were kicked-out by manager from work due alleged to an illegal barricade during their strike a month ago.
Last year, we can still remember the killing of Miralles in front of the NLRC in Banawe Street in Quezon City.
Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) had an earlier complaint about the harassment in their picket line in a Banana plantation in Davao in May 2017 at the start of the declaration of martial allegedly perpetrated by element of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
The Supreme Court recently declared the refusal of confidential employees to leave the rank and file union is a ground for losing employment in the case of the University of Immaculate Conception in Davao City. It appears that membership in a union is worse than membership in the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Membership in the CPP is no longer considered a subversive act after the repeal of the subversion law during the time of President Fidel V. Ramos.
We still maintain that the opportunities ahead for reforms are wide and open under the Duterte Adminstration.
The President has a promised to end unlawful contractual employment schemes and uphold the workers’ right to security of tenure.
In law, before the adoption of International Labour Convention 87 in 1948, Freedom of Association was already recognized in 1899 in the Malolos Constitution. The revolutionary constitution spoke that “the right of the people to organize unions, association and societies for purposes not contrary to law shall not be abridged”.
This provision was carried into the 1935 and 1973 Constitutions and also retained in the present 1987 Constitution of the Philippines.
In practice, however, there still much to be done in the Philippines to be fully compliant with our Constitution as well as ILC 87 and 98. We understand that full compliance cannot be done alone by government. The cooperation and active participation of the other social partners is not only necessary but also imperative.
It can be recalled that in 2009, the Philippines accepted the High Level Commission to investigate certain violations of ILC 87 and 98. The mission was welcomed by the social partners and relevant actors. A comprehensive technical cooperation program to improve understanding and respect for the fundamental principles and rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining was adopted.
Among the activities conducted were: coordinated training for members and officers of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on freedom of association and its linkages to civil liberties; freedom of association and collective bargaining training focused on implementation within special economic zones; training of judges and lawyers on international labour standards and their use in the judiciary; continuing education for Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Public Sector Labor Management Council (PSMLC) on international labour standards; and the promotion of social dialogue at all levels with special outreach to the tripartite peace councils.
But reported killings of trade unionist continues. To cite examples: the killings of Antonio Petalcorin and Rolando Pango reported by SENTRO in 2015. Pango’s killing was taken as trade union related while that of Petalcorin’s was treated an ordinary crime. Killing trade unionists is a serious matter that should not be taken lightly by the social partners and other people of goodwill.
Much has already been done but we also agree with her that more still need to be done with the continuing violations -- though already of reduced number of cases. Likewise, there is much to be done to further reduce the existing gaps between law and practice.
ITUC, EI, TUCP and SENTRO had cited particular cases in the reports to the Committee on Application of Standards in 2016. I would add the experiences of the FFW to these cited cases.
The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) has also number of cases.
To be concrete, let us cite Article 3 of Convention 87, particular paragraph 2 and I quote:
“2. The public authorities shall refrain from any interference which would restrict this right or impede the lawful exercise thereof.”
To cite examples of violations of this provision, while FFW was organizing tugboat workers in 2012, government agencies were being used to harass union leaders in order to discourage union organizing. We experienced the Special Board of Marine Inquiry in Manila was used to harass the union president, Jose Emmy R. Tiongco, of the Malayan Tugboat Officers Association-FFW. He was slapped with an administrative case for allegedly violating marine safety in 2013. This administrative case involved an alleged accident that happened a year or two before he started organizing a union in that tugboat and salvage company.
The prosecutor’s office in Zambales was also used as instrument against Tugboat Captain Ruel Guda and his companions Bendell Esquerra , Mark Anthony Orbito and John Mark Trio in order to destroy their resolve to hold on to their union. Despite there was no gasoline lost or no illegally taken fuel, they became recipient of a fabricated qualified theft charges for alleged loss of gallons of fuel before the prosecutor’s office of Zambales. The case was dismissed by the provincial prosecutor for lack of probable cause in 2014.
Union president Tiongco and 15 others were facing complaint for illegal strike, not with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) or the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) which have jurisdiction over labour disputes, but before the Marine Industry Authority (MARINA) at the MARINA’s own initiative despite objection of the union and despite the fact that there is no verified complaint. While MARINA latter dropped the case for lack of jurisdiction in 2014, the objectionable deed was done.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was not spared from being used to curtail the right to self-organization. Mr. Jonas Bautista and Tugboat Captain Fetalvero, all members of a tugboat and towage officers’ union-FFW, faced an NBI investigation for alleged attempted murder and sabotage, respectively. While it was dismissed for lack of evidence in 2014, procedural aspects of law were used to harass the workers.
Despite invocation of the provisions of the “DOLE-DILG-PNP-DND-AFP Joint Guidelines on the Conduct of AFP/PNP Relative to the Exercise of Workers’ Right to Freedom of Association” that requires clearance from DOLE or Office of the President before filing criminal information in court on cases arising out of or related to labor dispute, Captain Tajanlangit and Ramil Estolloso, all FFW members, were also separately indicted in court for frustrated homicide cases. All these cases, however, were dismissed in 2015 and 2016, respectively, after trial, by the Municipal Trial Courts of Masinloc (Zambales) and Pagbilao (Quezon), respectively, for lack of evidence.
Also, without DOLE or Office of the President’s clearance, union president Sergio Baynito and union secretary Ricjason Cereno of a bus company union, a chapter of FFW, are facing criminal charges of qualified theft while organizing a union in the said bus company in Manila. They are now facing trial for several counts of qualified theft before the two (2) Regional Trial Courts of Manila.
Without clearance, likewise, two (2) trade union women leaders, Jocelyn Nono and Bing Jumamil, were indicted by the Davao City Prosecutor’s office and were facing libel charges before the Regional Trial Court (Branch 15) of Davao City for allegedly holding streamer/tarpulin with derogatory statement against their employer at a picket line of striking workers in Davao. Trial was completed as both the prosecution and defense had already rested. Both women trade unionists, they were acquitted by Judge Carpio.
We have a taxi driver, Rico Garcia, in a taxi company in Manila was charged with multiple criminal cases like illegal possession of fire arms, violation of gun ban, falsification and estafa after he initiated the organizing of a union in said taxi company. He is acquitted for the first two crimes (illegal possession of fire arms and violation of fun ban) in 2011 and 2015, respectively but until are still facing trial for the last two crimes.
On a positive note, a number also benefited from the “Joint Guidelines” earlier mentioned. Criminal charges against 15 trade unionists of a delivery company of multi-national products and nine (9) trade union members in a bus company were dismissed by the City Prosecutors of Quezon City and Manila in 2014 and 2015, respectively, for lack of clearance from the Department of Labor and Employment.
It is admitted that both workers’ and employers’ groups are involved in the National Monitoring Body and we appreciate government for such an opportunity to participate. The Monitoring body, however, need to be funded and given fulltime personnel to effectively deliver its functions of monitoring violations of trade union rights.
We laud the tripartite social partners in the Philippines for coming up with common legislative proposals to amend the Labor Code of the Philippines in order to make its provisions compliant with ILC 87 and 98 and other international labour standards. There is a need, however, of continuing lobby in Congress to make these amendments come into law.
Early this year, there was an ILO Direct Contact Mission visiting the country.
We reiterated again our suggestion to the Philippine government to:
- Totally end killings of trade unionists and stop other trade union rights violations
- Review the case of Antonio Petalcorin as trade unions have reasons to hold that his killing was related to his initiative of organizing a union
- Prosecute and punish perpetrators of trade union rights violations
- Provide adequate funding and capable staff for the national monitoring body
- Effectively implement the requirement for clearance before filing criminal charges against workers for those cases related to or arising from the exercise of the right to freedom of association
- Remove harsh punishment of termination of employment for workers involved in illegal strike or for defiance of the assumption order of the Secretary of Labor and Employment.
- Certify as urgent all tripartite endorsed bills in Congress related to freedom of association to conform to ILC 87 and 98 as well as other international labour standards.
Thank you so much for your attention.