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IMF condemns latest murder of Filipino trade union activist

10 June, 2010IMF calls on Philippines President-elect Aquino to keep his pre-election promise to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of murders of trade union and human rights activists in the Philippines, including of the latest victim Edward Panganiban, an independent labour leader shot dead on June 3, 2010.

GERMANY: The International Metalworkers' Federation condemned the latest murder of a trade union leader in the Philippines and calls on Philippines President-elect Aquino to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators.

Edward Panganiban, aged 27, a labour leader in the Southern Tagalog region was gunned down by motorcycle-riding men while trying to catch a ride to work at 5:20 pm, in Barangay Caingin, Sta. Rosa, Laguna on June 3. He died on the spot, sustaining 12 gunshot wounds in his body. Panganiban was the secretary of the Salamat-Independent union and had worked for five years at the Japanese-owned Takata Philippines Corporation, which manufactures airbags and car seatbelts and is located at the export processing zone, the Laguna Technology Park Incorporated.

In a survey released on June 9 by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Philippines ranked No. 1 in Asia and No. 3 in the world in the number of trade unionists killed in the past year. The Philippines has been on top of the list of most dangerous countries for workers for several years now where extrajudicial killings of 96 unionists and 1,000 others have occurred during the almost ten years of Gloria Arroyo's government.

Appealing for an immediate end to these killings, harassments and violations of workers' rights, the International Metalworkers' Federation welcomed promises in June by the presumptive President  Aquino for "closure" to the extrajudicial killings and solving the problem by not merely identifying the perpetrators but also by putting them to jail.

The call on the Philippines government was made at the IMF Executive Committee meeting in Frankfurt on June 10 and 11. Almost 100 people from IMF affiliates around the world gathered for the meeting, which on June 10 reviewed IMF's work on union networks in transnational companies and trade union rights and campaigns.