One labor rights violation per week in PHL – report

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

The report titled “2025 State of Freedom of Association in the Philippines” was launched by the Federation of Free Workers and the Danish Trade Union Development Agency in Iloilo City on Thursday, March 26, 2026.

Kamille Pauline Deligente, executive director of the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights, said the group documented an average of one violation per week, or roughly six incidents every six months.

The documented cases include killings, harassment, illegal arrests, and intimidation — often linked to state security frameworks and, increasingly, to private sector actors.

The report said the weaponization of counterinsurgency programs, alongside aggressive corporate practices such as forced displacement and eviction, has further exacerbated risks faced by workers and communities.

Freedom of association is a fundamental right recognized under the Philippine Constitution and International Labour Organization Convention 87, which guarantees workers the right to form and join organizations of their choosing without prior authorization. The Philippines ratified the convention in 1953.

In 2025, Workers’ Rights Watch logged one case each of abduction and killing, as well as 83 cases of red-tagging, threats, and surveillance affecting 1,038 individuals.

Red-tagging refers to the practice of publicly labeling individuals or organizations as communists or terrorists, often without evidence, which human rights groups say puts those targeted at risk of harassment, arrest, or violence.

For judicial harassment and intimidation, the report showed that eight workers were illegally arrested or detained, while nine others faced alleged trumped-up criminal charges.

In terms of large-scale labor injustices, the organization documented 1,226 individuals affected by unfair labor practices, 1,087 by union busting, and 438 who experienced constructive or illegal dismissal.

The report also flagged a lack of accountability, noting that none of the 105 documented cases of extrajudicial killings of workers and other violations of ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association since 2016 have progressed in Philippine courts.

Despite the creation of the Inter-Agency Committee on Freedom of Association under Executive Order No. 23, Workers’ Rights Watch said institutional responses remain inadequate.

The committee was created to protect workers’ freedom of association and right to organize by coordinating government agencies to fast-track investigations and prosecutions of related cases.

“IAC has failed to deliver concrete results, including the prosecution of perpetrators in high-profile cases,” the report said.

The report also highlighted structural weaknesses in labor organizing, with trade union density at just 4 percent and collective bargaining coverage at around 1 percent, despite workers comprising about 60 percent of the population.

Atty. Jose Sonny Matula, national president of the Federation of Free Workers, said the figures show that fast-tracking investigations and prosecutions of labor-related violations is “not a priority” of the Marcos administration.

He said the country’s low unionization rate is partly due to the complex and legalistic process of forming unions.

“If you are an independent union, you need to get signatures, file a petition to support those signatures, and then submit a petition for certification election. That is a process where even the employer is essentially a bystander, and many delays happen,” he added.

Matula added that organizing has become more difficult after the Department of Labor and Employment suspended the processing of Sole and Exclusive Bargaining Agent certification starting Aug. 1, 2025.

A SEBA certificate is issued by DOLE to recognize a legitimate labor union as the exclusive bargaining representative in an unorganized establishment with only one union, but the Court of Appeals earlier declared a DOLE order allowing SEBA certification as beyond the agency’s authority.

He also cited contractualization as a factor limiting union membership, as many workers are not directly employed by firms and are therefore excluded from organizing.

Contractualization, also known as “endo” (end of contract), is the widespread practice of hiring workers on short-term contracts of five months or less to avoid regularization and the labor protections that come with it, including the right to join unions and access employment benefits.

“There is also harassment, killings, and red-tagging that portray individuals in the trade unions as communist and terrorist groups. That has dealt a serious blow and contributed to the declining number of unions,” Matula said.

Deligente said the report emphasizes that while progress has been made in trade union-led documentation and advocacy, substantial structural reforms are urgently needed.

She said these include strengthening accountability mechanisms, passing worker-centered legislation, ensuring effective policy implementation, protecting civic space, and expanding union participation.

“Without decisive action, the protection and promotion of freedom of association in the Philippines will remain severely constrained,” she added.