Helping launch a report on the state of workers’ rights in the country, a labor NGO said today that the situation of workers’ labor and human rights worsened in 2025 to the present, due to actions taken by the government of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) made this analysis in the launching of “The State of Freedom of Association (FOA) in the Philippines,” which was released by the Workers’ Rights Watch network, at the Occupational Safety and Health Center in Bagong Pag-asa, Quezon City.

“A few days before Labor Day 2026, we can say that workers’ rights have deteriorated since 2025. The Marcos Jr government failed to carry out measures to improve workers’ rights and even implemented measures that worsened the state of those rights,” said Kamz Deligente, CTUHR executive director.

CTUHR cited the following data from its monitoring of workers’ rights:

>> Despite making a spectacle out of efforts to legislate a significant wage hike last year, the Marcos Jr government reverted to meager increases implemented through the regional wage boards. With the soaring prices of basic commodities and services due to US-Israel’s attacks on Iran, workers’ wages are at present farther from any living wage standard.

>> In response to unions’ attempts to hold strikes to advance workers’ rights, the Secretary of Labor has again exercised its repressive power to assume jurisdiction over labor disputes. He issued an injunction order against more than three (3) strikes in 2025 and one (1) strike in 2026.

>> Two union organizers have been extrajudicially killed since 2025: Warlita Jimenez, organizer of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) on December 23; and Errol Wendel, staff of the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) on April 19. No meaningful government action has been made in relation to the 109 documented cases of extrajudicial killings of labor activists since 2016.

>> The redtagging and harassment of workers’ organizers were prevalent in the Southern Tagalog and Southern Mindanao regions, despite Marcos Jr’s issuance of Executive Order 97, which sought to protect workers’ freedom of association, in September 2025.

>> While many political prisoners from the labor movement were released last year, many were also arrested. The number has again reached 20, with the arrest of Julie Ann Balora, union organizer of the NFSW, on April 22 and of community health workers Dr. Ana Marie Rilloroza and Marc Arriane Mendiola on March 11.

“Marcos promised big on wage increase and the right to unionize but failed to deliver. Worse, grave violations of workers’ rights continue and he refuses to lift a finger to address these. In his almost four years in office, we can say that he has done very little for Filipino workers,” Deligente added.

The Workers Rights Watch is composed of CTUHR, NFSW, UMA, the Federation of Free Workers (FFW), Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), Confederation for Unity, Recognition, and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE), Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), Migrante Philippines, Kilusan ng Manggagawang Kababaihan (KMK), and Crispin B. Beltran Resource Center (CBBRC).