ILO launches Freedom of Association training program for PHL

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

MAKATI CITY — The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Monday, September 22, launched a new module-based training program, aiming to ensure stronger implementation of fundamental rights at work and expand labor education.

The five-module, 17-session comprehensive training resource, developed by the ILO and the DOLE in close consultation with workers and employers, covers the following topics:

• Fundamentals of human rights, International Labour Standards, and freedom of association;
• Conditions and challenges in exercising freedom of association and related labor rights in the Philippines;
• Essential skills for documenting, reporting, and referring cases of violations of freedom of association and related labor rights in the Philippines;
• Freedom of association and labor rights in the context of business and human rights and responsible business conduct; and
• Gender, climate, and migration perspectives in the exercise of freedom of association.

It was funded in part through the ILO’s projects Strengthening Freedom of Association and Action Against Child Labour in the Philippines (FOA-CL) and Trade for Decent Work (Trade4DW), supported by the Government of Canada and the European Union, respectively.

The program builds on the country’s commitment to the application of ILO Convention No. 87 (Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948), and to addressing the findings and recommendations of the ILO’s High-Level Tripartite Mission (HLTM) in 2023 on alleged serious violations of trade union rights.

Recommendations from the mission aim to foster greater coordination for the protection of trade union rights, accountability for labor-related violations, strengthening of institutions, and better alignment of policies with international labor standards.

Khalid Hassan, director of the ILO Country Office in the Philippines, said the training program complements the steps already taken by the Philippines in its commitment to the 2023 HLTM.

He cited the creation of the Inter-Agency Committee for the Protection of the Freedom of Association and Right to Organize of Workers via Executive Order No. 23, Series of 2023, issued by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The establishment of the committee helped in the adoption of the Tripartite Freedom of Association Roadmap and the issuance of Joint Memorandum No. 1, Series of 2024 (Omnibus Guidelines in the Exercise of Freedom of Association and Civil Liberties).

The joint memorandum was issued by the DOLE together with the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Justice, Department of National Defense, Department of Trade and Industry, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, National Security Council, and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

Hassan said the training program was developed to address the remaining challenges identified during the HLTM.

The HLTM’s conclusions and recommendations highlighted two particular concerns: the red-tagging of workers and their collective representation, and extrajudicial killings against trade union leaders.

“For nine consecutive years, the Philippines has been flagged among countries with workers’ rights concerns. The way forward requires resistance, vigilance, and unity of purpose. This training program is designed to help meet these challenges,” Hassan said.

The launch’s keynote speaker, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who also serves as the chairperson of the Inter-Agency Committee, called the program a “defining step” in safeguarding dignity and fairness in workplaces across the country.

“[The FOA training program] reaffirms the ideal that democracy cannot flourish unless the exercise of the freedom of association, among others, is genuinely honored, fully protected, and actually lived each day,” Bersamin said.

Bersamin, Hassan, and DOLE Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma also led the signing of a manifesto signaling their commitment to support and sustain the training program.