Workers' Friend or Enemy?

In the history of the Philippine labor relations, the armed forces have never engaged in a dialogue with the labor sector. You cannot think of a time or an instance that the armed personnel, touted as the protector of the people and the State, would sit down with the working class and talk about respecting the workers’ rights to self-organization and collective bargaining. But everything has become possible. The Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police are now positioning themselves as allies and friends of thelabor sector by way of engaging in social dialogue.

The question is: Does the labor sector really find an ally in them? Some say YES, some say NO. There are those who say that the security forces, especially the AFP, have managed to reinvent themselves and do away with the negative image attached to them by the public. They have successfully portrayed an image that they are indeed the protector of the Filipino people and they are here to maintain peace and security.

Unfortunately, though, some members of the labor sector, especially those who claim to be socialists, believe that the security forces are not sincere in their efforts to respect the workers’ rights to self-organization and collective bargaining. According to them, cases or instances of violations of workers’ rights still abound despite the projection of the security forces that they are pro-labor. Case in point is the alleged red-baiting and labelling of trade unions as communists by the AFP. Workers say that this is a clear violation of trade union rights. The armed forces, they say, should not brand the workers as communists based solely on their ideologies that are almost similar to that of the communists. Just because they believe in what the communists believe and share with their aspirations does not mean that they too are communists.

The security forces, however, are quick to react saying that they do not engage in such acts without basis or valid information. There is always due process involved in any acts or operations of the security personnel on labor dispute matters as emphasized in the AFP’s Internal Peace and Security Plan “Bayanihan.” The plan, according to AFP, is “a campaign for winning the peace” in the country. And how will the AFP implement the plan? It says the plan is implemented through what the AFP calls the whole-of-nation approach and the people-centered approach. The AFP has a lot of advocacy to do for the public, especially the workers, to understand, digest and believe this military language that it is speaking about.