September 20, 2007

Despite growing pressure on the Philippine government to put a stop to the violence and entra-judicial killings of trade unionists and human rights activists, attacks continue.

Around midnight on August 6, strikers at the Phils Jeon Garment factory in the same EPZ were taken by surprise by ten masked men. According to the workers, the women strikers were hog-tied, blindfolded, and loaded into a waiting truck. The men dismantled their makeshift tents and loaded them into the truck along with the strikers’ other belongings. The workers were dropped outside the gate of the Cavite EPZ.

Rev. Fr. Jose P. Dizon, executive director of the Workers Assistance Center (WAC) believes that the attacks are sanctioned by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and its police force.

“Until now, PEZA have still failed to act on the request to investigate how the armed and masked men were able to enter the tightly-guarded CEPZ on that unforgettable date of June 10 and 11. And now yet another similar attack happened to the strikers of Phils Jeon Garment,” Dizon lamented.