The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and its leaders filed a counter-case with the prosecutor on November 21, in Taytay, Rizal, against the police involved in the killing of veteran labor organizer Jude Thaddeus Fernandez. They filed charges of murder, violation of International Humanitarian Law and the Anti-Torture Act, and planting of evidence.

KMU secretary general Jerome Adonis said the Taytay prosecutor deliberately delayed the processing of their submitted documents. They were made to wait for more than four hours. “Even the process of seeking justice is being prolonged,” the labor leader stated.

Police killed Fernandez at his residence in Binangonan, Rizal, on September 29, 2023. He was shot and falsely claimed to have “resisted arrest” while being served an arrest warrant. However, workers’ investigation revealed that the neighbors heard only two gunshots that day. The fact-finding mission investigation also found no signs of any “resistance” inside the house.

Fernandez became an activist in 1975 while studying at UP-Los Baños. He was among those who led the campaign for the reinstatement of a democratic student council, free campus media, student representation in the UP Board of Regents, and of Philippine History and Institutions in the curriculum.

Along with other youth from the university, Ka Jude joined the movement of workers and peasant workers during martial law. He played a prominent role in organizing the workers of the Sunripe Dessicated Coconut Industry in Magdalena, Laguna, leading the struggle for genuine, militant, and patriotic unionism and mass actions at that time.