By Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Reporter
PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has signed Executive Order (EO) No. 97, strengthening protections for workers’ rights to unionize and assemble, as the Philippines faces closer scrutiny from the International Labour Organization (ILO) for persistent violations of labor rights.
The measure, signed by Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin on Sept. 19, adopts omnibus guidelines on freedom of association and civil liberties.
It directs agencies such as the Labor, Justice and Defense departments, as well as the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, to align policies and training with international labor standards.
The Department of Labor and Employment will oversee compliance through the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council.
The EO follows years of pressure from the ILO, which in 2023 deployed a high-level mission to Manila after reports of violence, red-tagging and harassment of union leaders. That mission recommended stronger safeguards, faster investigation of attacks against labor activists and the creation of systematic monitoring mechanisms.
The ILO on Monday launched a training module on freedom of association to help bridge gaps between principle and practice in the right to organize.
EO 97 builds on earlier reforms, including EO 23 issued in 2023, which created an inter-agency committee to implement the ILO recommendations. The latest order embeds guidelines across government agencies, requiring them to safeguard union assemblies and rallies from interference and violence.
Labor groups, however, remain cautious. University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations Assistant Professor Benjamin B. Velasco said the EO is overdue.
“It is no doubt a product of the demand of the labor movement to redress the systematic killings and repression of labor activists through the ILO,” he said. “The challenge is to realize its spirit in concrete reforms. First and foremost is the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, ironically listed as an implementing agency.”
Federation of Free Workers (FFW) President and Nagkaisa Labor Coalition Chairman Jose Sonny G. Matula described the EO as a ray of hope.
“Stronger unions mean stronger workers, and stronger workers mean a stronger middle class — the true engine of a just and stable society,” he said in a Viber message. But he cautioned that the “real test lies ahead: faithful implementation.”
ILO REPORTThe EO comes as the ILO warned in a Sept. 23 report that rising informality, inequality and uneven access to decent work threaten to undermine social cohesion worldwide.
The State of Social Justice: A Work in Progress report noted that 58% of the world’s workforce remains in informal employment, including millions of Filipinos in gig work, self-employment and low-wage service jobs. Locally, research group Ibon Foundation estimated informal workers at 21.2 million as of August.
The report noted that economic growth no longer guarantees stable work. Over the past decade, a 1% increase in economic output boosted formal employment by only 0.38%, down from 0.5% in the early 2000s.
Gender and youth disparities persist, with women still performing 76% of unpaid care work globally. The top 1% of earners capture 20% of global income and 38% of wealth, the ILO said.
Mr. Matula warned that the Philippines’ growth has been “contractualized,” benefiting businesses but leaving workers in insecure, informal jobs. He pressed for corruption-free universal healthcare, inclusive pensions and fairer unemployment insurance.
