The leader of a union of banana workers in Compostela Valley province and three other members were shot by unidentified men on their way to work early Friday, the latest in the continuing attacks on activists and unionists. Vicente Barros is the chairman of the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Suyapa Farms, a union of workers at the Fresh Banana Agricultural Corporation Packing Plant 90. The three other victims are identified as Aldrin Cortez, Donie Glen Sondon and Jerson Lastimoso, all members of the union. Two of the victims are in critical condition at a Tagum hospital.
Karapatan’s press statement on the shooting
An earlier attempt on Vicente Barrios’s life
Vicente Barrios and the struggle by workers for better wages
The struggle of banana-plantation workers for better wages, benefits
“Exploited Class,” Davao Today’s special report on the condition of Southern Mindanao’s workers
