Appeal n° 302 (26 February to 15 March 2007)

There’s no end to political violence in the Philippines. A total of 151 political activists were murdered in 2005. Thirty-one of them were defending workers’ rights or were trade union leaders and advocates for the rights of poor urban communities [1]. This storm of repression hardly seems to be abating. In recent months strikers in the Cavite Export Processing Zone (EPZ) and those defending them have once again been the targets of a wave of attacks.Not only have the Philippine authorities not intervened to put a stop to violations of trade unions’ and workers’ rights by firms in the area, it even seems as though they have been party to acts of intimidation by violent repression of strikers and activists.

On 3 October 2006, Alberto Ramento, Bishop of the city of Tarlac, chairman of the board of the Workers’ Assistance Center (WAC), and workers’ rights advocate, was stabbed to death in his church. His name was allegedly on the army’s list of people to be eliminated. From 1998 this ’bishop of the poor’, as he was known in his country, actively supported workers in Cavite province in their struggle to protect and defend their rights. He fervently expressed his opposition to the repressive government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and strongly denounced the multiple extra-judicial executions of activists.

Murders and attempted murders

Two months later, in December 2006, Jesus Buth Servida and Joel Sale, two active members of the NGO Solidarity of Cavite Workers (SCW) were shot at while waiting in their vehicle outside the Japanese electronic equipment factory Yazaki-EMI, in Imus, where they were to deliver goods. Servida was killed instantly and Sale seriously injured. A year earlier these two men had been sacked by the firm for supporting the trade union backed by the WAC, rather than the one backed by the provincial governor. The Cavite police claim that the murder was related to commercial rivalry. However, according to Marlene Gonzales, president of the SCW, ’it was clearly a political murder of militant advocates of workers’ rights in Cavite’. This murder is a direct consequence of ’the anti-trade union and anti-strike policy of Governor Ireneo Maliksi [who is] busy killing off those defending workers, one by one’, she added.

In April 2006 Gerardo Cristobal, former trade unionist at the same factory and active member of the SCW, sacked at the same time as Servida and Sale, was the target of a murder attempt shortly before joining a workers’ demonstration. When armed men ambushed and shot at him, Cristobal, who was also armed, shot back . Both he and his assailant were injured in the shoot-out. At the hospital Christobal identified his assailant as a member of the Imus intelligence police. Known for his opposition to the Cavite provincial governor’s policies, Cristobal has received several death threats from the police and the governor’s private army.

Until now there has been no independent inquiry into these murders and murder attempts.

Police violence on striking workers

The public authorities’ violence regarding Philippine workers is also expressed in the brutal repression of demonstrations and strikes. The Korean factories Chong Won Fashion and Phils Jeon Garments Inc., in the free trade zone of Cavite province, have also been the scene of violent repression by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA, the police of the governing authority of the Philippine special economic zones) [2] , and by private security agents and local police.
In August and September 2006, following refusal by the managers of these two factories to agree to collective bargaining with legally elected trade unions, and after the unfair dismissal of union leaders, workers formed a picket line outside their respective factories. When PEZA police, private security agents of the zone and municipal police from Rosario dispersed the strikers with truncheons, at least 50 workers were injured. The PEZA then blocked entry to the zone, preventing those on the picket line from receiving supplies of water and food, and other strikers from joining them.
In late September, in blatant violation of Philippine labour law, Chong Won sacked 116 strikers. Finally, in October both factories dismantled precarious shelters set up by strikers protect themselves from the sun and rain.

In reaction to this violence, our partners have appealed to international solidarity to support their struggle. They demand that the Philippine authorities take measures to end the violence in the Cavite free zone and to guarantee the safety of workers in the area and those defending them. They have also called for independent and impartial investigations to be undertaken urgently into the murders and attempted murders in recent months.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Our partners in this appeal
Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC): http://www.cleanclothes.org/
Workers’ Assistance Center (WAC): http://www.wacphilippines.com/?p=66
Solidarity of Cavite Workers (SCW): http://scw-philippines.blogspot.com/

Joint letter by US firms sourcing in Philippines to President Arroyo
On the initiative of the CCC, of the International Labour Rights Fund (ILRF) and the Maquiladora Solidarity Network (MSN), international firms which procure goods from factories in the Philippines have addressed a joint letter to the President of the Philippines urging her to take measures to guarantee the physical security of workers and those defending them, and to protect their rights.
Available on: http://www.maquilasolidarity.org/alerts/Company%20joint%20letter.pdf

Complaint lodged with the Human Rights Commission
On 23 October 2006, trade unions at the Chong Won and Phils Jeon lodged a complaint with the regional office of the Human Rights Commission, against the various agents of the PEZA and Philippine national and municipal police.

WRITE! By email: ambaphilparis@wanadoo.fr - Cc: wacrdp@gmail.com By letter: copy the standard letter below (downloadable by clicking on the attachment at the bottom of this page) or use your own wording. Remember to add your own name, address and signature. Partner’s message: to give the WAC an idea of the support on which they can rely, send them the support message. Reaction time: on reception, and until 15 March 2007.

PROTEST LETTER:

Son Excellence Monsieur Jose A. ZAIDE
Ambassadeur des Philippines en France
4, Hameau de Boulainvilliers
75016 PARIS
FRANCE Adresse électronique : ambaphilparis@wanadoo.fr

Monsieur l’Ambassadeur,

J’ai été informé(e) par le Réseau-Solidarité de Peuples Solidaires des actes de violence exercés à l’encontre des défenseurs des droits des travailleurs et des grévistes de la zone franche de la province de Cavite aux Philippines. En particulier: la tentative d’assassinat de Gerardo Cristobal, ancien responsable syndical et membre du Solidarity of Cavite Workers (SCW) le 28 avril 2006; le meurtre de l’Evêque Alberto Ramento, président du conseil d’administration du Workers’ Assistance Center (WAC) le 3 octobre 2006; la violence continue exercée par les forces de police et des agents de la sécurité privée de la zone franche de Cavite envers les grévistes des usines de Chong won et de Phils Jeon et l’assassinat le 11 décembre dernier de Jesus Buth Servida, membre du SCW.

Je suis extrêmement préoccupé(e) par cette situation et particulièrement inquièt(e) de l’implication des autorités philippines dans ces répressions.

J’exhorte votre gouvernement à prendre les mesures nécessaires pour faire cesser la violence et assurer la sécurité et les droits des travailleurs et de leurs défenseurs dans la zone franche de Cavite. J’insiste également sur la nécessité d’une enquête indépendante et impartiale sur les meurtres et tentatives de meurtres de ces derniers mois.

Puissiez-vous entendre cet appel, Monsieur l’Ambassadeur, et le transmettre au gouvernement philippin.

TRANSLATION OF THE LETTER:

Your Excellency,

I have been informed by Réseau-Solidarité of Peuples Solidaires about acts of violence on strikers and advocates for workers’ rights in the Cavite Export Processing Zone. These acts include, in particular, the attempt on 28 April 2006 to murder Gerardo Cristobal, former trade union leader and member of Solidarity of Cavite Workers (SCW); the murder on 3 October 2006 of Bishop Alberto Ramento, Chairman of the Board of Workers’ Assistance Center (WAC); the continued violence by the police and agents of private security forces in the Cavite Export Processing Zone on strikers at the Chong Won and Phils Jeon factories; and the murder on 11 December 2006 of Jesus Buth Servida, member of the SCW.

I am deeply concerned about this situation and especially about the Philippine authorities’ involvement in this repression.

I urge your government to take the necessary measures to stop the violence and safeguard the rights of workers and those who defend them in the Cavite EPZ. I furthermore wish to stress the necessity of an independent and impartial investigation into the murders and attempted murders in this area in recent months.

Thank you for your attention to this appeal. I trust you will transmit it to the Philippines’ government.

Yours faithfully,

SOLIDARITY MESSAGE:

Workers’ Assistance Center, Inc. (WAC)
Bahay Manggagawa, Indian Mango St., Manggahan Cpd.
Sapa I, Rosario
Cavite 4106
Philippines
email: wacrdp@gmail.com

Dear friends of WAC,

I have been informed by Réseau-Solidarité of the ongoing use of violence against trade unionists and labour rights activists in the Cavite Export Processing Zone (EPZ), in particular the violent attacks on striking workers and labour rights activists, and most alarming, the murder of labour rights advocates.

I support your action and have sent a letter to the Philippines Ambassador to France, requesting that he take immediate action to implement your demands.

With warm regards,

[1] Report of the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research (cf. http://www.eilerinc.org/ )

[2] Agency to promote investments, attached to the Department of Trade and Industry which grants fiscal and non-fiscal advantages to developers of the zone and exporters