Gene Viernes

Gene Viernes
Detail of the Wall of Remembrance at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, showing names from the 2011 batch of Bantayog Honorees, including that of Gene Viernes.
Born(1951-08-16)August 16, 1951
Wapato, Washington, U.S.
DiedJune 1, 1981(1981-06-01) (aged 29)
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
OccupationLabor activist

Gene Allen Viernes (August 16, 1951 – June 1, 1981) was a Seattle-based Filipino American labor activist best known for his efforts to reform Local 37, the Seattle chapter of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU),[1] and for having been murdered in 1981, in retaliation for organizing against Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda Marcos.[2][3][4]

Viernes was born in Wapato, Washington, in 1952 to a family of ten children. His father was a Filipino immigrant, and his mother was white. Viernes grew up on a farm and did seasonal labor in agriculture and in canneries in Alaska. Viernes met Silme Domingo through his cannery work and became involved in reform efforts in the Cannery and Farm Laborers Union (ILWU Local 37) and the Democratic Union of Filipinos (KDP). On June 1, 1981, Viernes and Domingo were shot by two gunmen in their office at the Local 37 hall in Pioneer Square. Viernes died instantly, but Domingo was able to chase the attackers out of the hall and named them to a firefighter. Domingo died from his wounds the next day. Family and friends established the Committee for Justice for Domingo and Viernes and fought a ten-year legal battle, in which they successfully proved that the murders had been arranged by Local 37 president Tony Baruso on behalf of the Marcos regime.[5][6]

Viernes and Domingo were among the 14 Marcos Martial Law era martyrs to be honored at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani memorial wall on November 30, 2011.[7]

The Local 37 office in Pioneer Square where Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes were shot in 1981
  1. ^ "VIERNES, Gene Allen – Bantayog ng mga Bayani". Bantayog ng mga Bayani. 2015-10-05. Archived from the original on 2018-06-19. Retrieved 2018-09-25.
  2. ^ Stevens, Jeff (June 1, 2011). "June 1, 1981: Domingo and Viernes". Radical Seattle Remembers. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  3. ^ "Marcoses Ruled Liable In Murders". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. 2016-03-04. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  4. ^ "Marcos Allies Held Liable in Deaths of Foes". New York Times. January 13, 1990. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  5. ^ Withey (Lawyer), Michael (2018). Summary Execution: The Seattle Assassinations of Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes. WildBlue Press. ISBN 978-1-947290-37-2.
  6. ^ McCann, Michael W.; Lovell, George I. (2020). Union by law: Filipino American labor activists, rights radicalism, and racial capitalism. Chicago series in law and society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-67987-7.
  7. ^ "14 martyrs for freedom honored today – Bantayog ng mga Bayani". Bantayog ng mga Bayani. 2011-11-30. Retrieved 2018-09-25.