Labor, Rights NGO welcomes FPRRD’s arrest

BAGUIO CITY (March 11, 2025) -- The non-government Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) said it welcomes the International Criminal Court’s issuance of an arrest warrant against former President Rodrigo Duterte leading to the former President’s arrest Tuesday upon returning from Hong Kong.

These events prove that the grave labor and human rights violations that Duterte carried out while president are unacceptably wrong, it said, while hoping that “Duterte’s arrest will lead to justice for the numerous victims of grave labor and human rights violations under his presidency”.

The labor and human rights NGO further said it is demanding justice “for the tens of thousands of suspected drug addicts and pushers who were extra-judicially killed under Duterte!” 

According to records by the Philippine National Police itself, more than 6,000 were killed in the course of the former President’s drug war, while human rights organizations place the number at more than 30,000.

CTUHR is also pushing for justice for the “68 workers and unionists who were extra-judicially killed under the past administration citing the International Labour Organization’s High-Level Tripartite Mission to the Philippines in 2023 that concluded, “the Duterte government conflated unionism with the armed insurgency in the country, thereby resulting in repressive attacks against the labor movement”.

The release the remaining 25 political prisoners from the labor movement and justice for the political prisoners from the labor movement who were imprisoned by Duterte is also being pushed by the CTUHR, citing, “so many labor activists and leaders using fabricated charges and planted evidence.” It also called for the release of more than 760 political prisoners.



CTUHR also reiterated the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict or NTF-ELCAC, which it called “a monster created to justify grave labor and human rights violations.” It said, the Task Force “promoted and popularized red-tagging as a way to silence government critics, and likewise responsible for many rights violations against workers, unions, labor activists, labor leaders and labor organizations in the country.”

According to the CTUHR, the former President must “hold Duterte’s fascist factotums who have blood in their hands accountable too”, including former police chiefs Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Debold Sinas, former Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, former National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, former NTF-ELCAC spokespersons Lorraine Badoy and Jeffrey Celiz, Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert and Manila RTC Judge Jason Zapanta, among others.”

The CTUHR vowed it will not forget the former regime’s alleged crimes, adding, “we will continue to take action to ensure that Duterte’s arrest will lead to justice and accountability – and to ensure that the Filipino workers and people are empowered to stand up for labor and human rights, democracy and social justice.