By Diego Morra
The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) has slammed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for issuing Executive Order No. 97 on September 19, 2025, tagging it as a bogus order “protecting the rights of workers” and saying that the dismal record of the administration contradicts the lofty aims of EO 97 to protect the rights of workers to organize, unionize and engaged in “peaceful” action to seek redress of grievances.
On September 29, workers from the National Capital Region (NCR) and Southern Tagalog led by KMU trooped to Camp Crame in observance of the National Day of Action against Trade Union Repression and demanded justice for the murder of KMU organizer Jude Thaddeus Fernandez in Rizal exactly two years ago. The unarmed Fernandez was killed by elements of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) two years ago. KMU and human rights advocates also demanded justice for Eric Saber, 34, a construction worker, shot dead by members of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit of the PNP as he was waiting for a jeepney ride on September 21. The SWAT team fired indiscriminately while confronting unarmed protesters.
KMU likewise called for PNP accountability in the Bloody Sunday Massacre, in which several union leaders in Southern Tagalog were brutally murdered and tagged as armed insurgents in a union office in Laguna, and urged that all illegally detained Mendiola rallyists be released. The organization demanded a thorough inquiry into the violent dispersal of the September 21 protest rally at Mendiola and hold those responsible for the deaths of Saber and Mark Chustin Serbo, 15, be tried for their crimes. The religious and human rights organizations also backed the KMU and called for government to account for the systematic harassment, kidnapping and summary executions of union organizers and worker leaders.
Meanwhile, Karapatan also decried torture of persons with disabilities (PWDs) who were arrested during the September 21 dispersal at Recto and Mendiola. “The Manila Police Department (MPD) should take their hands off the arrested persons and stop their atrocious acts. What makes these violations even more reprehensible is that the victims are PWDs, who should be afforded protection and care—not violence and humiliation. These acts are blatant violations of their rights as persons deprived of liberty, guaranteed under both domestic law and international humanitarian standards,” Karapatan deputy secretary general Atty. Ma. Sol Taule protested.
KMU said EO 97 was based on the recommendations of the High-Level Tripartite Mission in 2023, particularly the establishment of an agency that would ensure that workers are protected and those who violate the order are punished. However, the labor center stressed that EO 97 “twists the demands of workers for justice and accountability and does not address the long and bloody list of murdered unionists.” It is but the latest in a long line of orders, rules and regulations from both Malacanang and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) that tramples on worker rights and protection for labor unions.
First, KMU explained, it is impossible for government to protect worker rights if the guarantors are “the very same agencies that violate the human, civil and political rights of workers, like the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).” The hands of both AFP and PNP are dripping with the blood of more than 100 workers and unionists murdered under the Duterte at Marcos Jr. while dozens of union organizers are detained and others subjected to enforced disappearance due to covert AFP and PNP operations. NTF-ELCAC was responsible for forced disaffiliation of unions, red-tagging and house-to-house “tokhang-style” visits of worker residences and union offices.
Second, EO 97 makes workers legitimate targets of the counter-insurgency campaign. It authorizes the meddling of the armed forces, NTF-ELCAC and other covert units in matters covered by the Labor Code, including disputes between unions and capitalists, on the excuse that they are helping maintain “industrial peace.” EO 97 provides the NTF-ELCAC, AFP and PNP with the cover to sabotage union organizing work as part of the “whole-of-nation approach” enshrined in the US counter-insurgency (US Coin) playbook followed religiously by the Duterte and Marcos administrations.
“Workers should not rejoice with this Marcos Jr. EO 97 scheme. Workers should expose and oppose EO 97 for what it really is—fascism masquerading as “protection” of the democratic rights of workers,” KMU argued. “Walang proteksyon ng karapatang manggagawa na aasahan habang nananatili ang NTF-ELCAC. Dapat nang buwagin ang NTF-ELCAC, at ang pondo nito ay ilaan sa serbisyong panlipunan,” it added. “Wala ring magiging makabuluhang hakbang ang gobyernong Marcos sa pagtitiyak ng karapatan ng mga manggagawa nang hindi nabibigyan ng katarungan ang mga biktima ng pamamaslang at napaparusahan ang mga berdugong may inutang na dugo sa manggagawa’t mamamayan,” KMU explained. #
