Trade union organizer arrested on Int'l Human Rights Day

A trade union organizer was arrested in Quezon City early Thursday.

Police arrested Dennise Velasco, 43, in his home in Lagro during the implementation of a search warrant issued by Executive Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert.

Villavert is the same judge whose search warrants resulted in the arrests of several activists in Manila and Negros last year, according to labor group Defend Jobs Philippines, which condemned Velasco's arrest.

The arrest came during the observance of International Human Rights Day, which saw militant groups gathered in Manila to denounce alleged state-sponsored human rights violations and red-tagging of progressive personalities and organizations.

Police said they seized guns, ammunition, and a grenade during the operation at Velasco's residence. 

Defend Jobs said the firearms and explosives were planted evidence. It said the arrest of Velasco came a week after the reported surveillance of their head office in Quezon City.

"These kind of attack and harassment against trade unionists and labor rights advocates must end. We cry foul over Velasco’s arrest being done in time of Human Rights Day," Defend Jobs said.

The organization called for Velasco's immediate release, saying he is active in campaigns against contractualization and in labor disputes involving workers in big companies.

Defend Jobs also said Velasco was a leader in disaster relief operations for the victims of Typhoon Ulysses in Metro Manila.

Progressive groups have condemned the common police narrative of operatives "finding" guns and explosives in activists' homes in raids held in the early hours of the morning and using them as evidence to justify arrests.

Activists say hundreds of their colleagues face fabricated charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives in a continuing government "crackdown" against its critics, especially those it perceives to be allied with communist rebels. 

The police have repeatedly denied planting evidence on persons to justify arrest. —KBK, GMA News