Safeguards pushed for freedom of association

LABOR rights advocates on Monday urged the Philippine government to accelerate the implementation of freedom of association safeguards and address the backlog of international labor recommendations to ensure an enabling environment for the workforce.

During the Workers’ Rights Watch launch of its 2025 Workers’ Rights Watch Report in Quezon City, the network said that it found a disturbing trend of violations, citing incidents of killings and abduction.

The report, a collaborative effort by groups like the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) and Kilusang Mayo Uno, further detailed 69 cases of red-tagging affecting 11,280 individuals, alongside 21 unfair labor practices involving 1,609 workers and six union busting incidents impacting 867 workers.

This state of affairs persists despite the government’s issuance of Executive Order (EO) No. 97 in September 2025. While the policy adopts the omnibus guidelines to safeguard union activities, advocates argue it must bridge the gap between policy and the reality of “contractualized” growth that leaves millions in informal jobs

Jose Sonny G. Matula, FFW president, told BusinessWorld that failure to implement reforms could worsen the situation.

“We really need the Department of Labor, the Executive Department, to hold the meetings under Executive Order No. 23, particularly the Committee on Freedom of Association,” he said, referring to EO No. 23, which created an inter-agency Committee on Freedom of Association aimed at addressing labor rights concerns and violence against workers.

Advocates are now calling for “sincere” leadership that takes full responsibility for its workers and initiates decisive state action to dismantle anti-worker structures. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking