Unions will commemorate and highlight the International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD) on April 28 with a call for the Philippine government to inspect public buildings and to reduce exposure of workers and their families to presence of asbestos and asbestos containing materials.
The call by the Associated Labor Unions, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, and the Building and Wood Workers International (ALU-TUCP-BWI) underscores the government brimming agenda in implementing international agreements and national laws and regulations for the safety and health of thousands of Filipino workers.
The call also stresses the need to fast-track the promulgation and implementation of a National Program for Elimination of Asbestos-Related Diseases (NPEAD), a consensus policy document that advocates strategies for elimination of asbestos-related diseases.
The perceived needs – government records of morbidity and mortality from asbestos-related diseases and the control and supervision of imports of 4,000 to 6,000 metric tons of highly hazardous asbestos and Asbestos-Containing Materials (ACMs) every year—highlight the risks that thousands of Filipino working men and women and their families are exposed to killer dust.
Asbestos in the Philippines are used in fiber cement boards, packaging materials, gaskets, friction and mechanical parts such as brakes and clutch linings in motor vehicles. Asbestos is also found in houses, schools, churches, public buildings, malls, and similar structures.
The World Health Organization estimates 125 million workers worldwide who are exposed to asbestos in their workplaces. This translates to an appalling 107,000 workers dying each year to Asbestos-Related Diseases (ARDs).
The April 28 Memorial Day activities will be guided by the theme “Unions Make Work Safer”. The program commences with a moment of prayer and a ceremonial candle-lighting in memory of workers killed in workplaces, including by asbestos.
The program includes a briefing on the progress of the NPEAD, which development started in September 2009 with a letter from then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo directing the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to take the appropriate action ; a press conference to call attention to the unions’ call to action statement; and a hand-over of the call to action to DOLE and the Department of Health (DOH) in Manila, and the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC), and DENR in Quezon City .
The commemoration will be capped by a “paseo” in malls in Makati City and Quezon City. ###
July 2025
Nutrition Month
“Give us much more than P50 increase
for proper nutrition!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
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July
3 July – International Day of Cooperatives
3 July – International Plastic Bag Free Day
5 July – World Youth Skills Day
7 July – Global Forgiveness Day
11 July – World Population Day
17 July – World Day for International Justice
28 July – World Nature Conservation Day
30 July – World Day against Trafficking in Persons
Monthly Observances:
Schools Safety Month
Nutrition Month
National Disaster Consciousness Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 2: Cultural Communities Week
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise
Development Week
Week 3: National Science and
Technology Week
National Disability Prevention and
Rehabilitation Week
July 1-7:
National Culture Consciousness Week
July 13-19:
Philippines Business Week
Week ending last Saturday of July:
Arbor Week
Daily Observances:
First Saturday of July:
International Cooperative Day
in the Philippines
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