SINGAPORE—International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo has vowed to ensure the fairness of the high-level tripartite mission (HLTM) which will look into alleged rampant labor rights violations in the country next month.
Houngbo made the commitment during his meeting with the Filipino Workers Delegation at the sidelines of the 17th Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) on Thursday.
“He vowed that the mission would be fair and would ensure that the ILO Supervisory Mechanisms would work as mandated by ILO statutes,” Federation of Free Workers (FFW) Vice President Julius Cainglet told BusinessMirror in an SMS.
The mission will be in the country from January 23 to 29, 2023
Aside from Cainglet, the representatives from Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa, Kilusang Mayo Uno, and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP)—the Philippine affiliate of the International Trade Union Confederation—were also in the meeting.
“He was happy to see that trade unions of the Philippines were working as one. All affiliates of the ITUC in the Philippines were present in the meeting,” the labor leader said.
“We only raised the issue of the Philippines as it was only the Filipino Workers Delegation that met him. The Council of Global Unions (CGU) was there to observe,” Cainglet said.
Among the issues they raised were the over 50 labor leaders killed in the country as well as the alleged government red-tagging and harassment of local labor unions.
Govt talked to ILO
For his part, Labor Undersecretary Benedicto Ernesto R. Bitonio, Jr. said they communicated with the ILO and as well as the concerned authorities in preparation for the arrival of the HLTM.
He said the members of the HLTM will be the one to select which employer and labor it will like to interview.
“And even though the mission is still not here yet, we are already starting to improve the guidelines in the engagement of the police whenever there is a strike,” Bitonio told BusinessMirror in an interview.
In preparation for the arrival of the HLTM, SENTRO Secretary General Josua Mata said the CGU Pilipinas is conducting a series of workshops so labor unions in the country can craft a unified report for the ILO HLTM.
“The report would detail cases of FOA violations in the country and provide our analysis how FOA (freedom of association) is systematically violated in the country,” Mata said.
“We believe the ILO HLTM will be fair,” he added.