Today, the labor NGO Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) joins national labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU, May First Movement) in marking the second anniversary of veteran labor organizer Jude Fernandez’ murder with a picket in front of the Philippine National Police (PNP) national headquarters in Camp Crame along EDSA, Quezon City.

The anniversary of Fernandez’ murder occurs just more than a week after construction worker Eric Saber died of shotgun wounds inflicted by the police during the September 21 riot. Saber got off the LRT’s Recto station and was crossing the street to ride a jeepney home when he was shot by the police which was then responding to the riot in Mendiola.

We condemn the murders of workers and labor activists under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. We shout “Justice!” for them. These murders and the climate of impunity for their perpetrators belie his government’s claims of upholding workers’ right to freedom of association and other labor and human rights.

Policies that promise the government’s defense of workers’ right to form unions and other labor rights are exposed as shams if workers and labor activists continue to be killed and their murderers remain unpunished. This is a concrete test for Executive Order 97, which was recently signed by President Marcos Jr and hailed as positive by various labor groups.

In September 29, 2023, Fernandez, 67, was murdered in his residence in Binangonan, Rizal by elements of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG), which claimed that it was serving an arrest warrant when he fought back.

In truth, the arrest warrant being invoked for arresting and then killing Fernandez did not contain Fernandez’ name. KMU’s labor organizers assert that Fernandez has never carried a gun in fulfilling his organizing work – whether in Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, or Metro Manila.

The Marcos Jr government should do more than vow to uphold workers’ rights in the future. It should hold accountable the perpetrators of gross rights violations in the past. It should investigate former PNP-CIDG chief Major General Romeo Caramat Jr. and former PNP chief General Benjamin C. Acorda Jr. for Fernandez’ murder and current officials of the PNP for Saber’s murder.

Fernandez is the 72nd victim of labor-related killings since 2016. His murder is the fourth after the International Labour Organization High-Level Tripartite Mission to the Philippines was held in January 2023 and recommended that the government investigate labor-related murder cases.