THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers denounced the abduction of its volunteer and a coordinator of the Alliance of Health Workers.

ACT Region VII Union Volunteer Coordinator Dyan Gumanao and AHW coordinator Armand Dayoha were taken by suspected state forces at the Port of Cebu last January 10, 2023, as evidenced by a video footage taken by a witness.

Gumanao and Dayoha were reunited with their families after five days of enforced disappearance and torture.

“The staggering experience of Gumanao and Dayoha exposes the barefaced disregard of basic human rights by state forces and their rabid intent to harm and attack unionists who work tirelessly to uphold the rights of workers to decent wages, humane working conditions and freedom of association,” Vladimer Quetua, the group’s chairperson, said.

“This also shows how state terrorism continues its rampage under the Marcos regime, as how it has wreaked havoc on the rights of workers and the people under the Duterte regime and during the Marcos Sr. dictatorship,” Quetua added.

The group appealed to the International Labor Organization to give attention to this the case which happened days before the holding of their investigation on trade union rights repression in the Philippines.

“Freedom of association and organizing unions are well-protected by the ILO Convention 87 and guaranteed by the 1987 Constitution. Violations of this right and attacks on unionists and union organizers should be deemed as criminal acts and its perpetrators should be meted with equally grave punishment,” Quetua said.