Philippines Back on ILO Labor Watchlist for Violations

International labor group flags the country over alleged restrictions on trade unions and collective bargaining, following its removal from the list in 2025.

The Philippines is back on the list of countries violating international labor standards, amid reports of restrictions on trade unions and collective bargaining agreements over the past year.

The International Labour Organization Committee on the Application of Standards (ILO CAS) included the Philippines on the short list of countries violating ILO Convention No. 98. The sanction was announced at the 114th International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, which is currently ongoing from June 1 to June 12.

The convention encourages signatory states to adopt laws protecting workers from anti-union discrimination and recognizing collective agreements.

The Philippines has been a member-state of the ILO since 1948 and ratified Convention No. 98 in 1953, committing to uphold workers’ rights to organize.

Under the current administration, the Philippines was on the ILO CAS short list in 2023 and 2024 for violating Convention No. 87, which covers the right to freely organize workers’ organizations and unions, and was off the list in 2025.

Local group Workers’ Rights Watch Network attributed the short list return to increased resistance to Filipino workers’ demands amid rising economic volatility. Key labor conflicts in the past year—including harassment of striking Kowloon House workers and delays in the collective bargaining agreements of PLDT’s workers’ unions—may have also contributed to the sanction.

“As wars drive price shocks and market disruptions worldwide, Filipino workers bear a double burden: the impact of the crisis itself and escalating attacks on their rights whenever they assert them,” the group said in a statement.

The ILO CAS is expected to draft recommendations for the country to improve its status. However, the short list inclusion may also be seen as potentially driving away international investors such as the European Union, which places a premium on workers’ satisfaction and workplace equality.