Labor Day protest: 20 nabbed in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines — The Partido Manggagawa (PM) condemned the arrest of 20 of its members who assembled at the Plaza Independencia in Cebu City yesterday to mark Labor Day.

PM-Cebu spokesman Dennis Derige said eight miners from Toledo City and 12 fishermen from Talisay were held for alleged violation of quarantine protocols.

“The government is using COVID-19 as an alibi to suppress the right to peaceful assembly of workers who are airing their demands on Labor Day,” Derige said.

The 20 were released after paying a fine of P500 each.

Derige said another group of workers at the Mactan Economic Zone and other factories managed to hold a short program in the plaza.

He said the arrests scuttled their plan to commemorate Labor Day by marching around the city.

Workers in Cebu and other cities nationwide commemorated Labor Day with the theme “Tabakk ng Manggagawa Laban sa Palpak.”

Tabakk stands for Trabaho, Ayuda, Bakuna, Karapatan at Kasarinlan, which workers are demanding from the government in response to the economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, Rene Magtubo, PM national chairman, said. — The Freeman