KARAPATAN: Dismiss trumped up charges vs trade union leaders
KARAPATAN Public Information
PRESS STATEMENT
15 August 2026
Reference: Cristina Palabay, KARAPATAN secretary general, 09173162831
KARAPATAN Public Information Desk, 09189790580
KARAPATAN: Dismiss trumped up charges vs trade union leaders
KARAPATAN stands with Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) chair Jerome Adonis and Kilusang Manggagawa ng Pilipinas spokesperson Jacq Ruiz as they face the Marcos Jr. regime’s latest wave of repression against militant protests. We demand that the charges against them be dismissed.
Adonis and Ruiz are among those who were issued arrest warrants by a Manila Metropolitan Trial Court judge for their participation in the Labor Day rally on May 1, 2026. In violation of their right to due process, no preliminary investigation was conducted to verify the allegations made by the Manila Police District on their supposed violation of Article 53 of the Revised Penal Code (Tumults and Other Public Disturbances). In fact, the Manila police forum-shopped in handing the case over to another fiscal after another prosecutor had already dismissed the same case for lack of evidence.
Police brutality and the persecution of demonstrators has been on the rise especially since the arrest of more than 200 protesters in last year’s gigantic anti-corruption rally on September 21. The arrest warrants recently issued against Adonis and Ruiz is particularly outrageous, with Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s deafening silence on wage increases during his State of the Nation Address and the recent Temporary Restraining Order on the ₱85-wage hike for minimum wage earners in the National Capital Region.
It is not enough that wages and workers’ rights and welfare are nowhere in the Marcos Jr. regime’s agenda. Marcos Jr. has added the persecution of labor leaders to his list of transgressions against the working class.
KARAPATAN vowed its solidarity with Jerome Adonis, Jacq Ruiz and all other beleaguered trade union leaders as they continue their fight to advance working class interests in the country.
PUBLIC INFORMATION DESK
publi...@karapatan.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
#1 Maaralin corner Matatag Sts., Central District
KARAPATAN is an alliance of human rights organizations and programs, human rights desks and committees of people’s organizations, and individual advocates committed to the defense and promotion of people’s rights and civil liberties. It monitors and documents cases of human rights violations, assists and defends victims and conducts education, training and campaign. It was established in 1995.