JOSEPH G. LARIOSA,
07/12/2008 | 03:15 PM

CHICAGO, Illinois – The OOffice of the United States Trade Representative has announced that the Philippine government will remain under "active scrutiny" to ensure that it is protecting internationally recognized labor rights of its workers, a lawyer for the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) said on Saturday.

Lawyer Brian Campbell said the scrutiny will determine whether the Philippines is eligible to continue participating in the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, which extends preferential trade benefits to Philippine exports to the United States.

US law requires that a country must afford their workers' internationally recognized worker rights, including the right to freedom of association, in order to participate in the GSP program.

Campbell explained that the yearly review also involves an analysis of petitions to withdraw or limit a country’s GSP benefits for not meeting GSP eligibility criteria. These criteria include the extent to which a country provides adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) and whether a country is taking steps to ensure internationally recognized worker rights.

Several beneficiaries remain under active scrutiny because of such concerns, including, Lebanon, Russia and Uzbekistan regarding their lack of IPR protection, and Bangladesh, Niger, the Philippines and Uzbekistan regarding worker rights.

The ruling is in response to a petition filed by the ILRF in June 2007 requesting an inquiry by the US trade representative into whether the Philippine government is ensuring that all Filipino workers enjoy the right to freedom of association.

The complaint cites both the rise in killings of trade union leaders between 2001 and 2007 and efforts by Philippine government authorities to deny its workers the freedom of association through enforcing "no union, no strike" policies in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and by assuming jurisdiction to end labor disputes in violation of international standards.

In an e-mail, Campbell said, "We welcome the USTR's (trade representative) decision to deny the Philippine government's request to end the inquiry and instead to keep the review open. We hope that the Philippine government will take the necessary steps to end the impunity enjoyed by those who kill and harass trade unionists so that businesses in the Philippines can continue to enjoy preferential trade benefits under the GSP program."

After a hearing conducted by the trade representative in October 2007, the Washington DC-based ILRF requested that the inquiry remain open pending a showing by the Philippine government that it has taken concrete steps to implement the recommendations of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, Phillip Alston, as well as the recommendations of the International Labor Organization's Committee on the Freedom of Association, which has repeatedly found the Philippines' assumption of jurisdiction regulations in violation of international standards.

The decision by the US trade representative last July 3 is a welcome development for Filipino American human rights advocates in the US A., which petitioned the ILRF in June 2007 to request an inquiry based on the rise in killings of trade union activists from 2001 to 2007 and the Arroyo administration’s efforts to deny workers the right of freedom of association.

“We hope this decision brings the Philippines back to reality after riding high on the UN Human Rights Council’s decision to appoint it as Vice-President," said Katrina Abarcar, Coordinator of Katarungan: Center for Peace, Justice, and Human Rights in the Philippines. “Hopefully, the Arroyo administration will understand the international community is looking for justice through concrete results and not just a PR campaign."

According to Abarcar, within the Philippine government’s response to ILRF’s petition, it flatly states that the labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) serves as “the labor arm to the CPP-NPA-NDF" without offering any concrete evidence.

“The Philippine government claims that ‘unions allied with the KMU openly identify their KMU affiliation in their union activities without any adverse or hostile reaction from the government.’ But in the same breath their labeling the KMU as a front or arm of the CPP-NPA-NDF makes all those affiliated with it subject to harassment and violence for committing ‘rebellion."

The Philippine government’s policy of categorizing civil society organizations in the country as fronts for the CPP-NPA has been widely criticized by individuals and institutions including UN Special Rapporteur, Phillip Alston.

This practice has been blamed for the extra-judicial killings of hundreds of civil society leaders and activists, including trade union leaders, in the Philippines.

The USTR decision is the latest in a line of high profile criticisms the Philippines has received from the investment and business community. In 2006, the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and several US apparel giants including American Eagle, the Gap, Polo-Ralph Lauren and Wal-Mart all wrote letters raising concern about the extrajudicial killings and worker repression.

Abarcar said there is no question that there have been serious violations of internationally recognized labor laws in the Philippines. “The dead bodies of trade union leaders don’t lie. The fact that these union activists all belonged to unions affiliated with the KMU puts into question how free workers really are to associate with whatever organization they want," she said.

“Furthermore, the Arroyo administration’s miserable track record in prosecuting and convicting those who murder and abduct trade unionists should also be considered a violation of labor standards. It creates an environment where workers exercising their legitimate rights can be harassed and even killed with impunity," Abarcar added. - GMANews.TV