The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) condemns state agents’ repeated harassment of an organizer of sugarcane workers and farmers in Batangas. We demand that state agents immediately stop the harassment and that concerned government agencies immediately investigate these cases.

On October 30, men claiming to be military personnel led by one Sgt. Alarde insisted on entering the house of Sylva Attala “Ahla” Fortuno, education and research program officer of the Sugarfolks’ Unity for Genuine Agricultural Reform – Batangas (SUGAR Batangas) and secretariat member of the  with the Alyansa ng Magsasaka para sa Kompensasyon (AMK), in Oriental Mindoro.

The men claimed that they are assigned in the province, that Fortuno is one of the people they are keeping watch on, and that many military units are assigned to surveil Fortuno. They asked Fortuno to “surrender,” which means present herself as a combatant of rebel group New People’s Army or NPA who has given herself up to the government.

On October 24 and 25, during the wake for Fortuno’s recently-deceased father, the same men took pictures of Fortuno’s residence and family guests. One of the men asked guests for Fortuno’s number to supposedly “court” her.

On August 29, meanwhile, Ayrene Marasigan, leader and spokesperson of the AMK, was summoned by military personnel to the barangay hall of Santol village in Balayan town in Batangas. In the meeting with Marasigan, the military personnel accused Fortuno, Marasigan, Louie Quiroz, also a leader of AMK, and Hailey Pecayo, spokesperson of Tanggol Batangan and AMK volunteer, as NPA rebels.

The number and intensity of harassment cases involving Fortuno are alarming, hinting at imminent actions and human rights violations by the military. It is highly deplorable that state agents did not respect the Fortuno family’s right to grieve in peace and instead treated the wake of Fortuno’s father as an opportunity to harass her.

Fortuno’s case is a litmus test for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s much-ballyhooed Executive Order No. 97, which bans the red-tagging of labor organizers and seeks to protect workers’ Freedom of Association. Fortuno’s case shows that state agents continue to engage in red-tagging to force labor activists to surrender, for which the government continues to provide reward money.

The Department of Labor and Employment, the Department of Agrarian Reform, the Commission on Human Rights, and the House of Representatives should take immediate action to protect an organizer of sugarcane workers and farmers. Labor organizers should be protected in order to continue empowering workers to claim their labor and human rights.