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A Century of the Philippine Labor Movement1

Professor Jorge V. Sibal

Abstract: The Philippine labor movement is a social movement of workers and farmers led by
middle class illustrados and socialist intellectuals. The labor movement is composed of labor
organizations like trade unions, farmers’ associations, cooperatives, and other sectoral and
people’s organizations often called non-government organizations (NGOs). The trade union
movement, while comprising only about 10% of the labor force, is the most organized and active
component of the labor movement. The leaders of the trade union movement together with the
intelligentsia form the middle class and the revolutionary intellectuals (communists, socialists,
nationalists, etc.) are the traditional leaders of the labor movement.

SUMMARY2:
 The Philippine labor movement
o Description: a social movement of workers and farmers led by the middle class
illustrados and socialist intellectuals
o Composition: labor organizations e.g. trade unions, farmers’ associations,
cooperatives, and NGOs
 Trade union movement
o comprises only 10% of the labor force
o most organized & active component of the labor force
 Traditional leaders of the labor movement: middle class (i.e. leaders of trade union
movement + intelligentsia) & revolutionary intellectuals
 Philippine trade unions
o Description: mostly enterprise-based, located in Metro Manila & other urban areas,
<10% of labor force
o Cause: limited growth of the Philippine industrial sector w/in a more dominant
feudal economy
 [3] Three major features of trade union movement
o Communist infiltration and influence
o Government intervention
o Management domination
 1900s to 1920s
Union Obrera Democratica (UOD)
o First labor federation
 Founded in 1902
 Unification of the movement by Don Isabelo de los Reyes, father of
Philippine labor movement
 Led by de los Reyes, Dominador Gomez, Lope K. Santos, & Hermengildo
Cruz  creation of Bureau of Labor (1908) w/c recognized labor orgs
o Labor movement then became part of the independence movement
 1930s

1
Sibal, Jorge V., A Century of the Philippine Labor Movement, Illawarra Unity - Journal of the Illawarra Branch of the
Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, 4(1), 2004, 29-41. Available
at:http://ro.uow.edu.au/unity/vol4/iss1/2
2
This is an outline of the summary already provided by Prof. Sibal from pages 29 to 31. The chronological
development of the labor movement is discussed in detail from pages 31 to 40.
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o Socialist labor movement

 Description: firmly established w/ Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) /
Communist Party of the PH (CPP) of C. Evangelista, of UOD, and Socialist
Party of PH of Pedro Abad Santos
o PKP-SSP merger
 during war against Japanese
 under leadership of Vicente Lava and P.A. Santos
 resurfaced later as the Congress of Labor Organizations (CLO) after the
war ledby Amado V. Hernandez, Guillermo Capadocia, & Mariano Balgos
 Post-war era in 1953
o Feature: Communist repression, period of collective bargaining
 Disbandment of CLO + arrest of CLO leaders  organization of non-
communist labor orgs under Industrial Peace Act
o New federations: Philippine Association of Free Labor Unions (PAFLU) of Cipriano
Cid, Federation of Free Workers of Juan Tan, National Federation of Trade Unions
(NCFTU) and Philippine Trade Union Councils (PTUC)
 1970s
o Establishment of a new CPP under Jose Ma. Sison  resurgence of the
communist underground movement  declaration of Martial Law (1972) 
enactment of the Labor Code (1974)
o Trade Union Congress of PH (TUCP)
 became the labor center to represent labor in a tripartite system of labor
relations under a period of labor repression
o Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU)
 organized in 1980
 organizers: Felixberto Olalia, Cipriano Malonzo, Crispin Beltran
 Post-martial law
o Labor Advisory Consultative Counsel
 new labor center initiated by Aquino admin
 was joined by more progressive groups w/in TUCP(1986)
o Establishment of KMU as a labor center (1998)
o Later establishment of other groups as labor centers
 Lakas Manggagawa Labor Center (LMLC)
 National Confederation of Labor in the Philippines (NCLP) w/c included
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)
o 164 federations, 6 labor centers at present