Philippine labor organizations brought the forced disappearance of William Lariosa, veteran organizer of Kilusang Mayo Uno, to the International Labor Conference currently being held in Geneva, Switzerland. The Philippines is one of the focus countries of said conference, after representatives of the International Labor Organization (ILO) visited the country in January 2023.

“Violations of labor and human rights continued after the ILO High Level Tripartite Mission in January 2023,” the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR), one of the groups that submitted the report to the ILC, said.

CTUHR highlighted the case of Lariosa who was abducted by 48th IB elements on April 10. The military not only disregarded all efforts by his family and the KMU to locate Lariosa and has even intensified the harassment and Red-tagging of his comrades in the Davao labor movement.

In Davao City, his supporters and progressive groups commemorated the second month of his disappearance on June 10. They put up posters with Lariosa’s photo and called on the public for any information that might help find the veteran organizer.

“This…effort aimed to rally community support and amplify the urgency of the situation given that despite the tireless efforts of his family and colleagues, there have been no updates or traces of Lariosa’s whereabouts,” said Anakbayan-Southern Mindanao, one of the groups that conducted the “Operation Dikit.”