A labor NGO praised today the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee’s (HRC) decision earlier this month to accept a complaint about the extrajudicial killing of a Panay-based migrant rights activist during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it is a welcome step towards attaining justice and accountability.

The Center for Trade Union Rights (CTUHR) said the decision of the HRC, the UN body that monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), on the case of Jory Porquia shows that families of victims of extrajudicial killings are continuing to fight through various avenues available to them.

“We are very glad that the HRC accepted the complaint about Ka Jory’s extrajudicial killing. The decision and the ensuing investigation are statements to the Philippine government to stop pretending that there’s nothing wrong, stop extrajudicial killings, and punish those responsible for this crime,” said Kamz Deligente, CTUHR executive director.

The case was filed in May 2025 by Porquia’s family, with the help of lawyers from the National Union of People’s Lawyers or NUPL, before the HRC, which is a UN treaty body made up by 18 independent human rights experts from different countries.

“The HRC’s admission of Jory’s case gives hope to the families, loved ones and comrades of all victims of extrajudicial killings in the country who have failed to attain justice under the country’s justice system. It is a hopeful sign for the labor movement, which is seeking justice for the 109 workers and labor activists extrajudicially killed since 2016,” Deligente added.

Porquia was an Overseas Filipino Worker and organizer of migrant group Migrante, environmentalist and member of environmental group Madia-as Ecological Movement, community organizer and partylist Bayan Muna’s coordinator in Iloilo City, who was shot and killed on April 30, 2020 in Brgy. Santo Niño Norte, Arevalo District.

“The HRC decision is a statement to the Philippine government that lives matter, that labor activists’ lives matter. The government cannot forever ignore the cries for justice of the victims of its policy of extrajudicial killings of activists,” Deligente stated.

CTUHR recalled that other labor activists were extrajudicially killed during the pandemic, most notably labor leader Manny Asuncion who was shot during the March 7 Bloody Sunday joint police-military raids in Southern Tagalog, and labor leader Dandy Miguel, who was shot while driving his motorcycle bike home on 28 March 2021.

“Many Filipinos know by now that the Philippine government is guilty of violating activists’ right to life and right to effective remedy, which are sacred rights under the ICCPR. We are optimistic that an honest investigation by the HRC will ferret out this truth at the UN level,” Deligente stated.