APWLD STATEMENT
Stop Criminalising Labour Activists and
Women/Human Rights Defenders
in the Philippines!
The Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development (APWLD) urges President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the Philippine government to immediately drop the fabricated charges against Jacq Ruiz, Jerome Adonis and other labour activists in the Philippines.
APWLD strongly condemns the issuance of arrest warrants against Jacq and Jerome on 13 August 2026, an attempt at judicial harassment of the labour movement in the Philippines. The warrants were issued based on the alleged violation of Article 153 of the Revised Penal Code (Tumults and Other Disturbances of Public Order) for the protests organised on International Workers’ Day (May Day), on 1 May 2026. During the protest, workers demanded decent wages, secure employment and safe working conditions, which should not be the reason to criminalise and persecute labour activists and women/human rights defenders. This is a serious concern for labour rights protection and a complete abdication by the Philippine government of its responsibilities towards millions of workers. These actions are not just against individuals, but are also part of structural violence against the labour movement.
Jacq is a woman labour organiser of APWLD member organisation Kilusan ng Manggagawang Kababaihan (KMK or Women Workers’ Movement), a national women workers’ organisation. She played an instrumental role in pushing for the Occupational Safety and Health Law in 2017, the Expanded Maternity Leave Law in 2019, as well as the Paid Pandemic Leave Law in 2020 in the Philippines. She has contributed to advocacy for grassroots women’s political participation and participatory democracy in Asia and the Pacific region.
Jerome is the chairperson of APWLD member organisation Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Movement). He is also a prominent labour leader from the National Wage Coalition (NWC), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) and an alliance of major labour centres pushing for wage increases.
The allegations against Jacq, Jerome and other labour leaders follow the pattern of continuous persecution of labour rights activists often motivated by corporate-backed threats. Recently, trade unions have protested and denounced the Temporary Restraining Order passed by the Pasig City Regional Court extending the suspension of minimum wage hike. Labour activists are within their rights to demand for the implementation of the daily minimum wage by PHP 85 (NCR Wage Order No. 27).
APWLD calls upon Marcos Jr.’s administration to uphold the peoples’ fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of the Philippines. Article XIII Section 3 obliges the State to guarantee all workers’s rights to self-organisation, collective bargaining and negotiations and peaceful concerted activities, including the right to strike in accordance with the law. It further recognises workers’ right to participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits as provided by law. Peaceful protests and raising voices to improve labour conditions are not a crime; thus, the arrest warrants against labour rights defenders are a blatant judicial harassment.
This unconstitutional act is not only an attack on the safety and security of labour activists, but a structural issue of deep-seated inequalities of resource distribution, especially against women workers who are struggling with low wages and precarious employment amid skyrocketing inflation. It remains our position that women workers are subjected to exploitation and systemic violations of their rights, alongside an unequal burden of care responsibilities. The criminalisation of women labour organisers serves to further obstruct vital collective actions.
APWLD stands in enduring solidarity with Jacq Ruiz, Jerome Adonis, and all labour rights activists. Together with our movement partners and allies in the Philippines, as well as those within and beyond the Asia Pacific region, we call upon the Philippine Government to:
- Immediately drop all fabricated charges against Jacq Ruiz, Jerome Adonis, and other labour activists in the Philippines!
- Uphold and respect its ratification of the ILO Convention No. 87 (Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise) and No. 98 (Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining).
- Take proactive measures to ensure constitutionally guaranteed rights of workers by stopping the corporate-backed, state-led attacks on labour and women rights movement.
