The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) condemns the series of harassment faced by labor leaders in the Southern Tagalog region over the last few months. It asserted that these cases of harassment serve as a litmus test for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s recent executive order that seeks to defend workers’ freedom of association.

Leaders and organizers of various organizations based in Southern Tagalog filed complaints yesterday, November 3, 2025, at the Commission on Human Rights. One of them was Tina Alomia of the Organized Labor Associations in Line Industries and Agriculture- Kilusang Mayo Uno (OLALIA-KMU). She has previously filed complaints at the Commission for various incidents of surveillance and harassment in September.

On September 15, after fetching her child from a daycare center in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna, Alomia was accosted by two men in civilian clothes. The men greeted her child and asked her to “cooperate” with them. She asked the men to talk to her in the barangay hall but the men refused and rode a gray Toyota Innova bearing the plate number NFU 4787. The vehicle has previously been identified as a vehicle used by elements of the 2nd CMO Battalion of the Philippine Army and the Armed Forces of the Philippines-PNP Task Force Ugnay.

Alomia described the persistent harassment she continues to face, including the distribution of comics-style flyers in various parts of Laguna that contain fabricated stories, personal details, and malicious insinuations aimed at discrediting her and undermining her integrity. These materials not only distort her identity and advocacy but also pose serious threats to her safety and security, as they expose her to public hostility and potential harm. She appealed to the Commission to take urgent and concrete action to investigate the incidents and ensure her protection as a trade unionist and human rights defender.

President Marcos Jr’s Executive Order No. 97, issued in September, aims to protect workers’ Freedom of Association by banning red-tagging and police and military intervention into labor matters. How can workers exercise their right to freedom of association when the officials, staff members and organizers of their federations are offered bribes in exchange for inaction, surveilled, harassed and threatened?

The series of harassment cases experienced by OLALIA-KMU should be stopped by the state agents who are carrying them out and should be investigated by relevant government bodies. Their perpetrators should be held accountable. EO 97 would just be mere words in paper aimed at deodorizing the government’s image if these actions are not undertaken by the Marcos Jr government.