Milwaukee, WI – Trade union leaders welcomed the chairman of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog, to Milwaukee, October 4 and 5. The KMU is the largest and most militant labor coalition in the Philippines. Its name translates to May First Movement, a reference to the revolutionary workers’ holiday of May Day.

Ka Bong spoke before the full delegate meeting of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, detailing the violent repression that trade unionists are facing from the Philippine government. The Philippine government is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the southeast Asian region. Ka Bong received a standing ovation after his moving testimony, and delegates of the labor council generously raised hundreds of dollars to support and defend Philippine trade unionists.

To coincide with Ka Bong’s visit, the Milwaukee Area Labor Council (MALC) renewed its 2019 solidarity resolution with Philippine labor, this time calling for the urgent passage and signing of the Philippines Human Rights Act (PHRA). The PHRA would suspend U.S. military aid to the Philippines. MALC President Pam Fendt presented Ka Bong with the solidarity resolution before the delegate body.

On October 5, Ka Bong joined UAW Local 75 workers on the picket line at the Stellantis parts distribution center in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood. Ka Bong met with local UAW leaders as well as members of AFT Local 212, who also joined the picket in solidarity. He then traveled a short way with local trade union activists to visit the Bay View Massacre historical marker, where seven striking workers and bystanders were shot and killed by state forces during the 1886 general strike for the eight-hour day.

In the evening, Ka Bong returned to the Labor Council for a longer event and potluck hosted by MALC’s Young Workers Committee, the Milwaukee Anti-war Committee, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and the Chicago chapter of Anakbayan USA, the U.S.-based branch of an international Filipino youth organization fighting for justice in the Philippines. Representatives of each organization talked about how the struggle in the Philippines is connected to the struggle of workers and activists in the U.S., and they gathered signatures for a petition to stop U.S. military aid to the Philippines.

Ka Bong spoke about the many ways that the new Marcos Jr. regime is just as repressive and inhumane as the old Duterte and Marcos Sr. regimes. Less than 5% of Philippine workers have unions, and the national minimum wage is less than $11 per day – not nearly enough to raise a family under high inflation.

He said critics of the government are being harassed, threatened, disciplined, deported and killed. One of the latest victims of the repressive Marcos regime, veteran KMU union organizer Jude Fernandez, was murdered by police on September 29. Attendees held up “Justice for Jude Fernandez” signs and took solidarity photos to spread awareness of the campaign.

#MilwaukeeWI #International #Philippines #KMU #MALC

The militant labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Workers Movement) condemned the harassment, threats and intimidation towards known labor leaders in Cebu, January 18.

The group expressed deep concern over the safety of progressive individuals and their organizations after an unknown number blasted text messages containing outright threats to the activists' lives and safety.

In the morning of January 17, labor leader Jaime Paglinawan, chairperson of Alyansa sa mga Mamumuo sa Sugbo (AMA SUGBO KMU) received texts that he, along with other Cebu leaders and organizers, are targets for the week, most probably to be harmed, because they are “hard-headed.”

The rest of those threatened include Greg Perez and Ronilo Gahator, chair and vice chair of transport group Piston Cebu, and Aldo Serat of ALSA Kontraktwal Cebu, an organization of contractual workers in the province.

Further reports include in the list of threatened individual leaders from the youth and student, urban poor and teachers sectors and even staffers of non-governmental organizations.

“We deplore this cowardly and traitorous act. If anything untoward happens, it is on the government and its troops,” said Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.

Labog further asserted that the threatened individuals are not criminals. Paglinawan, he reiterated, is the vice chairperson for the Visayas of KMU and a staunch advocate of workers' rights. Amid the pandemic, AMA SUGBO had launched campaigns for free mass testing and treatment of COVID-19 and safe workplaces. Their campaigns also included demands for economic aid and subsidy for distressed workers and the jobless.

“People's livelihoods are in great peril and workers are left with no recourse but to demand accountability and social justice. And Duterte is afraid of protests and resistance, that's why he is hellbent in silencing dissent and criticism,” Labog added.

KMU asserted that the repression towards the labor movement ultimately aims to railroad anti-worker policies that will benefit big businesses within Duterte's clique.

“Duterte will unleash the fangs of the ATL and sow state terror nationwide to suck more profit from the blood and sweat of the workers and all toiling people for his gang and masters,” Labog said. The Anti-Terrorism Law is set to be discussed in Supreme Court oral arguments starting February. The terrorist law is facing 37 petitions questioning its constitutionality.

KMU will file additional complaints at the Commission on Human Rights and Department of Labor and Employment. It will also seek to expedite the High Level Tripartite Mission of the International Labor Organization to investigate the string of attacks against labor leaders and organizations, with the police surveillance of the KMU national headquarters being the latest case.

#Philippines #Labor #PeoplesStruggles #KMU #Duterte #LaborLeaders #Asia

We strongly condemn the repression that has been unleashed against leading trade unionists in the Philippines and stand in solidarity with the militant labor federation Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) / May First Movement.

On Human Rights Day, December 10, the Philippine National Police raided the homes and jailed Dennise Velasco of Defend Jobs Philippines; Romina Astudillo, Deputy Secretary-General of Kilusang Mayo Uno-Metro Manila; Mark Ryan Cruz, Regional Executive Committee of KMU-Metro Manila; Jaymie Gregorio Jr. of KMU-Metro Manila; Joel Demate of Solidarity of Labor Rights and Welfare (SOLAR); Rodrigo Esparago of Sandigang Manggagawa sa Quezon City (SMQC), and journalist Lady Ann Salem, Communication Officer of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television and editor for the online news site Manila Today.

During the raids, police planted firearms, ammunition and explosive devices to frame up these trade union leaders. We say no to the bogus charges and demand the immediate release of the Human Rights Day 7.

Repression in the Philippines is made possible by the U.S. government. The U.S. has troops in the Philippines. Washington DC gives aid to the cruel and repressive Philippine National Police. Between 2016 and 2019, more than a half-billion dollars in military aid went to the murderous regime of President Duterte.

The Labor Commission of FRSO urges progressive trade unionists and others to extend solidarity to the labor movement in the Philippines. This includes passing resolutions demanding freedom for the Human Rights Day 7 and supporting initiatives of the KMU to build this fight.

An injury to one is an injury to all! Free the Human Rights Day 7! End U.S. aid to the Duterte regime!

#UnitedStates #Labor #Philippines #PeoplesStruggles #KMU #PoliticalRepression #HumanRightsDay7 #Asia

We strongly deplore the simultaneous raids of residences and the consecutive arrests of trade union organizers, Dennise Velasco of Defend Jobs Philippines, Romina Astudillo, Deputy Secretary-General of Kilusang Mayo Uno-Metro Manila, Mark Ryan Cruz, Regional Executive Committee of KMU-Metro Manila, Jaymie Gregorio Jr. of KMU-Metro Manila, Joel Demate of Solidarity of Labor Rights and Welfare (SOLAR), Rodrigo Esparago of Sandigang Manggagawa sa Quezon City (SMQC) and journalist Lady Ann Salem, Communication officer of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television, and editor for online news site Manila Today. Astudillo and Cruz were recently elected as officers of KMU Metro Manila Chapter in its Regional Congress held last November 29.

The raids happened dawn of December 10, International Human Rights Day, which allegedly generated an armory of high-powered rifles and explosives in each of the residences searched. Velasco, Esparago, Astudillo, Cruz, Demate, Gregoria Jr and Salem may be facing obviously manufactured charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives on this account –the same criminal charges filed against trade union activists who were arrested before them. Just a few days before Human Rights Day, Jose Bernardino of Workers Alliance in Region III (WAR III-KMU), an organizer of workers in industrial zones and jeepney drivers, and former President of the Young Christian Workers, was also arrested on the same made up criminal charges. With the Anti-Terror Law in effect, it has been an open season for arrests of activists, and it will not come as a surprise that these trade union organizers will be labelled as communist-terrorists.

This is yet another blow to the trade union movement in the Philippines. Trade union activists are being criminalized, illegally arrested and detained, as the government’s way of preventing them from organizing workers into unions and associations and depriving them their freedom of thought and expression as translated into their activities among the workers. The intensified crackdown is precisely aimed at stifling dissent and organized action among the people. Killings among activists and rights defenders, as a way of instilling fear and silencing the people, have not ceased.

We call on the Duterte government to immediately release the HRD7 workers and journalist, drop the trumped-up charges against them, and stop this detestable practice of filing manufactured criminal charges against unionists and activists.

We also call on international bodies – the UN Human Rights Council and the International Labor Organization (ILO) – to consider as an emergency the deteriorating human rights condition in the Philippines and employ all official and diplomatic venues available, including sending their missions to investigate human rights and trade union repression in the country and help reverse the situation.

We likewise call on trade unions and freedom-loving people all over the world to continue the fight for trade union and human rights in the Philippines. We shall hold to account all those responsible in these brazen human rights violations. Together we shall continue our struggle for justice, for our rights and freedoms.

#Philippines #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #KMU #InternationalHumanRightsDay #Duterte

In recent weeks the Duterte regime has used the pandemic as a cover to intensify its crackdown on a host of labor and human rights groups. In Laguna province and Southern Tagalog, the military and police are being used against the KMU. This must stop.

Duterte’s shutdown of the Philippines’ largest broadcast network, ABS-CBN, is a serious threat to press freedom and suggests a move towards martial law.

U.S.-based multinational corporations dominate the economic life of the Philippines, and the U.S. government pays and participates in the for the repression, including sending U.S. military advisors.

Progressives here in the U.S. can make a difference in what happens in the Philippines. Call the Philippine Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez at 202-467-9366. Let him know you are against the attacks by the police and military on KMU labor leaders and organizers in Southern Tagalog.

#Philippines #KMU #Labor #Duterte #Asia

According to reports, among those arrested in the raids were 40 members of the militant labor movement Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)/May First Movement. Leaders of the KMU have toured the U.S. in the past, speaking of their struggle for justice and a better way of life. They need our solidarity now. Also arrested were members of the National Federation of Sugar Workers, women’s groups, patriotic movements, and organizations of the urban poor. The Duterte regime is trying to justify these raids and arrests with planted ‘evidence’ and attempts to whip up anti-communism.

Duterte’s raids and arrests in Negros, Samar and Metro Manila are signs of the regime’s weakness and growing isolation. In the cites and the rural areas, the broad masses of people are tired of a tyrannical, corrupt government and its foreign backers.

We stand with the national democratic movement in Philippines, which is fighting with all its strength for a country that has true democray, land reform, and better way of life for the broad masses of people.

We demand that U.S. troops get out of the Philippines and that all assistance to the corrupt Duterte regime come to and end.

Say no to the repression! Support the labor movement in Philippines! Support the just struggle of the Filipino people!

#UnitedStates #Philippines #PeoplesStruggles #KMU #PoliticalRepression #RodrigoDuterte #Asia

Fight Back! Interviewed Ed Cubelo, the chairman of the Kilusang Mayo Uno, or May 1st Movement in Metro Manila, while he was in the U.S. on a speaking tour. The KMU is one the largest trade union federations in the Philippines.

Fight Back!: Can you say a few words about what the May 1st Movement is?

Ed Cubelo: The May 1st Movement, established in 1980, is a genuine, militant union promoting and advancing workers' interests.

Fight Back!: What are the main issues facing Filipino workers?

Cubelo: Among the major issues, basically, of Filipino workers are low wages, no benefits, no security of jobs, and widespread contractualization.

Fight Back!: Can you say a few words about what contractualization is and the fight against it?

Cubelo: Contractualization is a form of attack against organized labor and against Filipino workers. If you are a contractual, you have no right to join unions, no right to form a union. You have no benefits. If you work longer hours, you'll receive no extra benefits, and if you get injured at work, you get no compensation, and they are vulnerable to various types of labor abuses. This is legalized under Philippine laws, and so for many years, workers have been struggling to repeal this law and end this practice.

Fight Back!: How has the KMU been fighting contractualization?

Cubelo: So KMU has started organizing labor contractuals because we believe that, despite the presence of the law, which prohibits contractuals to form organized unions, it is the right of all workers, whether contractual or regular, to have a union, to have better working conditions, to receive a living wage, and to enjoy rights of an ordinary worker. So KMU has been asserting that these laws would be repealed, at the same time demanding that the president fulfill his promise to end contractualization.

Fight Back!: The KMU has been facing repression from the U.S.-backed Duterte regime. Could you say a few words about the repression and the fight against it?

Cubelo: Because KMU is part of the broader protests criticizing the policies, the repressive policies of the Duterte government, the state has been arresting KMU union organizers. The state has been fighting trumped-up cases against KMU leaders. The state has been demonizing the struggles of KMU, red-tagging KMU, and creating fear among workers, warning them not to join KMU. But despite distress, despite these challenges, the KMU continues to enjoy the support of many workers. KMU continues to wage protests, and KMU has been leading the struggle for the workers' welfare.

Fight Back!: Is there anything you would like to say to American workers?

Cubelo: We are appealing for the support of our brothers and sisters here in the United States, our fellow American workers, to support the struggle of the Filipino people. The situation of workers is not consistently reported in mainstream media, so please help, spreading awareness about the situation of Filipino workers, and support the struggle of the Filipino people for real nationalism and democracy.

#UnitedStates #Labor #Philippines #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #KMU #Minnesota