Labor Watch: Stop the killings! Remove the tyrant
2 MIN READ
By ALDWIN QUITASOL
The militant workers of the Cordillera Region under the Kilusang Mayo Uno-Cordillera condemns the latest killing of a labor leader who had done nothing but fight for workers’ rights and welfare.
Gerry Cristobal, the former union president of a Japanese semiconductor firm Emi-Yazaki and official of the Solidarity of Cavite Workers (SCW), was gunned down on the morning of March 10. This was the third time that Cristobal was ambushed. He managed to survive the first two.
The first attempt on his life was on April 28, 2006 when SPO1 Romeo Lara of the intelligence division of the Imus police station shot him. He was seriously wounded. The second was on February 9, 2007 where unidentified motorcycle riding men shot at him. He escaped the second attempt unhurt.
The killing of Cristobal is one of the many attempts to silence workers who are steadfast in the fight against labor exploitation and rights repression. The workers of the Cordillera and the rest of the country have seen many forms of harassments and persecution against their ranks.
They continue to experience violations of democratic rights in their workplaces. Every time they exercise their democratic rights they are met with violence. Many picket lines are violently dispersed. Workers are being illegally arrested and incarcerated by the police and military being paid by merciless businessmen.
The mastermind of the killing of Cristobal roams free just like the other murderers of trade union and people’s leaders unless the Arroyo administration will seriously hunt down these killers and punish them for their crimes.
KMU-Cordillera also condemns the latest violent dispersal of the peaceful protest action of workers from Southern Tagalog who marched all the way to Manila to seek justice for various violations of their labor and human rights and call for the ouster of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Many of them were seriously injured and were hospitalized after the dispersal.
As long as the Arroyo administration remain deaf to the clamor for justice for victims of extra-judicial killings and the atmosphere of impunity continues, as long as this administration continue to label labor leaders and activists as terrorists the killings will continue.
Truly, at this time where our country is being ruled by a tyrant, workers and the whole Filipino peoples’ lives will never get better if she remains in power.#
