Today, we mark the 52^nd anniversary of dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr’s declaration of Martial Law by condemning the continuation of Martial Law-type repression against the labor movement under the current presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The open fascist dictatorship of Marcos Sr is of course different from the elite democracy under Marcos Jr. The labor movement grew in strength under Martial Law, but has been weakened by neoliberal globalization starting in the 1990s.

Still, the Marcos Jr government is presiding over Martial Law-type repression of the labor sector. Attacks on workers’ right to freedom of association and other labor rights continue 52 years after the declaration of Martial Law in 1972.

(1) Workers who try to unionize continue to be laid off from work, either individually or collectively, legitimized through contractualization, or through factory closures. Neoliberal globalization has facilitated this attack on workers’ right to freedom of association.

(2) Enforced disappearance, a trademark of the Marcos Sr dictatorship persists under the Marcos Jr regime. According to human rights group Karapatan, 13 desaperacidos were abducted under the Marcos Jr regime, not counting the six who have been surfaced. In the labor sector, Mindanao organizer William Lariosa was abducted in April 2024 while Metro Manila organizer Loi Magbanua was abducted in May 2022.

(3) Political prisoners from the labor sector are at a record high. There are currently 755 political prisoners in the Philippines, 27 of whom are labor activists. Most of the political prisoners from the labor sector were arrested using trumped-up charges during the Marcosian Rodrigo Duterte regime. The Marcos Jr regime has not taken decisive action to bring about these political prisoners’ immediate release.

(4) Extrajudicial killings, also a trademark of the Marcos Sr dictatorship, is also continuing under the Marcos Jr regime. Six people have been extrajudicially killed in the labor movement – labor organizer Jude Fernandez (September 29, 2023), BPO sector organizer Alex Dolorosa (April 24, 2023) and farmworker leader Emelda Fausto and her husband and two sons (June 14, 2023) – and no one has been punished for these crimes.

The country’s tiny industrial base during the Marcos dictatorship has been decimated by neoliberal globalization. Now, the country is more of a service economy, to which manufacturing and agriculture are contributing only a small section.

Despite this, the government continues to broker Filipinos as cheap labor – either as low-paid, contractual workers or as cheap migrant labor. The cause of fighting for labor and human rights continues to be relevant under the Marcos Jr regime. ###