Philippines

We call on our colleagues in the various trade unions, rights defenders and freedom-loving people in the Philippines and worldwide to call for the release of Filipino unionists Ramir Corcolon and Arnedo Lagunias, and condemn these latest attacks on Philippine trade unions.
Two Filipino union leaders were arrested this morning, March 4, 2021 by elements of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) by virtue of search warrants issued by a Laguna Executive Judge.
 
The police raided the residence of Ramir Edriga Corcolon and abducted him thereafter at around 4:30 am today, March 4, 2021 in San Pablo City, Laguna Province. Corcolon is the President of the San Pablo City Water District Employees Association (SPCWDEA) and the Water System Employees Response (WATER) Secretary General.
 
According to witnesses, Corcolon’s home was forcibly entered early this morning by elements who identified themselves to be from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police (PNP).  He is brought to Camp Vicente Lim in Laguna.
 
The residence of Arnedo Sanggalang Lagunias was also raided today, March 4 around 6:00 am. He was forcibly being taken to Camp Vicente Lim.  The police alleged to have found a 45-cal handgun and explosives during the ‘search.’
 
Lagunias was Secretary of the Honda Workers Union (Lakas Manggagawang Nagkakaisa sa Honda-OLALIA-KMU). He was instrumental in launching the workers’ protest in 2019 when Honda Philippines suddenly announced the closure of its main plant in Laguna. Hundreds of Honda workers were dismissed by the company.  Lagunias earlier reported that he is being threatened and harassed by elements of the Regional Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict (RTF-ELCAC) particularly by Sgt. Romy Aragon last year, and he filed his complaint among other union officers at the Commission on Human Rights in November 2020.
 
Corcolon and Lagunias are union leaders who consistently stood and fought for Filipino workers’ rights.  The search warrants used against them are almost identical and were issued by the same Laguna Executive Judge Divinagracia Bustos-Ongkeko, supposedly to search for rifle grenades, obviously to be used in a raid to plant fake evidence against them.
 
Search warrants were also used in the Bacolod Raids leading to the arrest of Ceres Bus workers and KMU Regional Secretary General Noli Rosales in November 2019; and in the Metro Manila raids in December 2020 which led to the arrest of the HRDay7. The search warrants used in Bacolod City, Quezon City, Mandaluyong City and Manila City in these said incidents were all issued by Quezon City Executive Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert. Rosales and the HRDay 7 all now face trumped up charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives, and are unjustly detained.
 
We call on our colleagues in the various trade unions, rights defenders and freedom-loving people in the Philippines and worldwide to call for the release of Filipino unionists Ramir Corcolon and Arnedo Lagunias, and condemn these latest attacks on Philippine trade unions.
 
Release Ramir Corcolon and Arnedo Lagunias!
Free Our Unionists!
Defend our Unions!
Stop the Attacks!
“Today, we pay tribute to our medical workers who battle the COVID-19 pandemic at the frontlines, in service of the people".
NEWS RELEASE | 31 August 2020
 
On National Heroes Day, workers under the banner of United Workers paid tribute to the hardwork and heroism of frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
In a symbolic protest action at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City, the workers from Kilusang Mayo Uno, Nagkaisa! Labor Coalition and Paggawa paid tribute to the 38 fallen medical workers by offering flowers. They also paid tribute to heroes of the working class, some are included in the Wall of Remembrance of the Bantayog ng mga Bayani.
 
“Today, we pay tribute to our medical workers who battle the COVID-19 pandemic at the frontlines, in service of the people. They are our modern heroes. We also remember heroes of the working class from the past, from Gat Andres Bonifacio and Amado V. Hernandez, to Ka Lando and Ka Bert Olalia, and Crispin ‘Ka Bel’ Beltran, who led the Filipino people in the most trying times of our nation’s history, who fought for our freedoms and the greatness of our country. We give them a high salute!” said Elmer Labog, Chairperson of Kilusang Mayo Uno.
 
Labog added that leadership emulated by Filipino heroes is very much needed in this time of pandemic and crisis, something the Duterte Administration and the IATF utterly failed to do, to the detriment of people’s health, rights and livelihood.
 
As they remember those who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty, the workers reiterated their call for free mass testing, to secure the safety of workplaces and to provide hazard pay to all the frontliners in different fronts of activity during the pandemic.
 
hero day 2
 Chairperson Kilusang Mayo Uno Elmer Labog
 
“We know there are people dying including many of our frontliners.  But we see  our frontliners still bravely fighting. Despite low pay and lack of PPEs, they care enough to make life worth living in this time of pandemic. Despite the threat to their own lives, our health care workers are courageously healing those who are sick. They are risking their own lives in order to make a better life for us.  They are our living heroes fighting on the frontlines and worthy to be recognized with our concrete attention on National Heroes Day,” said Atty. Sonny Matula, President of Federation of Free Workers, and Chairperson of Nagkaisa Labor Coalition.
 
Trade unions press for regular free testing, quarantine leave, hazard pay for health workers in the private sector, and much needed rest for frontline workers. They also demand that those who are under job orders or contract of service schemes need to be regularized under the civil service law as mandated by the Universal Health Care Law.
 
As millions of workers lose their job due to the pandemic, the worker’s coalition challenged the Duterte government to institute meaningful reforms and economic policies that promote and build local industries, mobilize local resources, and generate jobs for Filipinos.
 
"We owe our very lives to the heroism of the toiling masses. Though unwell, the Filipino people are still alive to endure the twin scourges of a pandemic and a global economic slowdown. On this year's National Heroes Day, we say thank you to those who produce and distribute our needs, to those who toil in farms, to those who are deemed essential but are paid with starvation wages, to those who transport both people and commodities, to those at the medical frontlines, to people of science who are in frantic search for a vaccine, to those who create art to shield us from depression and hopelessness. In the same manner, we are reserving our most scathing cuss words against a bungling and incompetent regime that is more concerned with plunder and its ratings with vulturous credit and finance institutions,"  Paggawa spokesperson Leody De Guzman.
 hero day
Media conference: Chairperson Kilusang Mayo Uno Elmer Labog
 
United Workers urged fellow workers to persist in unity, organizing and building unions,  to advance the urgent demands for people’s health, jobs and rights in the face of the COVID pandemic and the worst economic crisis in the country.
 
References:    Elmer Labog, Kilusang Mayo Uno Chairperson (09081636597)
                     Atty. Sonny Matula, Nagkaisa Chairperson (09178079041)