Cordillera labor leader’s arrest, an attack on workers’ freedom of association
The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) vehemently condemns the issuance of an arrest warrant against, and arrest of, Cordillera labor leader Mike Cabangon. This Christmastime arrest based on trumped-up charges is yet another attack on Filipino workers’ right to freedom of association.
Mike Cabangon, coordinator and spokesperson of the regional chapter of national labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU, May First Movement) was served an arrest warrant in his Baguio City home this morning. The arrest was carried out due to one terrorism financing case, which stemmed from the Anti-Terrorism Financing Act (Republic Act 10168), and was filed against Cabangon early this year.
Another terrorism financing case was filed against Cabangon early this year but was junked at the prosecution level. Cabangon is also a regional organizer of transport group Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operators Nationwide or PISTON and vocalist of progressive band Ebkas Waya – Speak Free.
The Christmastime arrest of Cabangon is a calculated move of the Ferdinand Marcos Jr government to sow fear among labor and social activists. It is another illustration of how the terrorism financing law has repeatedly been weaponized against activists. The law means the imprisonment or harassment of activists even as charges filed in its name have often been based on fabricated evidence.
Cabangon’s arrest further exposes Marcos Jr’s Executive Order 97, which was issued in September and ostensibly bans the redtagging of labor activists, as a sham. The filing of anti-terrorism financing charges against Cabangon effectively redtags him and his organization, and moreso the progression in the charges into outright arrest.
Cabangon’s arrest and the filing of trumped-up charges against him are violations of his right to freedom of expression, which covers the right to be a member of organizations and to organize members into joining those organizations. These ultimately redound to violations of the rights of the marginalized population that he serves, particularly the right to freedom of association of Filipino workers.
We demand that Cabangon be released immediately and the fabricated charges filed against him junked immediately. We are calling on the Marcos Jr government to stop filing trumped-up charges against labor and social activists and to junk existing trumped-up charges. The Marcos Jr government should create safeguards so that the anti-terrorism financing law is not weaponized against labor and social activists and other independent and critical voices in society.
We also demand that the 18 political detainees from the labor movement, as well as all political detainees, who are all victims of trumped-up charges that were filed based on fabricated evidence, be released from prison. Marcos Jr’s allies want to project him as a champion of democracy, but his record in upholding workers’ right to freedom of association and Filipinos’ right to freedom of expression remains murky.