Exposing the truth: IBU Secretary-Treasurer Terri Mast and Seattle City Council staffer Cindy Domingo led a discussion at ILWU Local 34 on July 17, following the screening of a 1-hour documentary film about murder of Mast’s husband and Domingo’s brother. In 1981, assassins for Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos murdered ILWU Local 37 leaders Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes in Seattle because of their political views and organizing to end the Philippine dictatorship and efforts to end immigrant exploitation in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Thirty-five years ago, the brutal murder of ILWU Local 37 officials Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes sent shock waves through Seattle and the international labor movement. Supporters spent decades gathering evidence of a high-level conspiracy that involved former dictator Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines – and exposed complicity by U.S. officials who backed his bloody regime.
Family members, friends and community supporters gathered in San Francisco on July 17 at ILWU Local 34 to screen a new documentary film about the slain ILWU leaders who led a reform campaign against corruption in Local 37 that represented a predominantly Filipino immigrant workforce employed in Alaskan salmon canneries.
The film, “One Generation’s Time: The Legacy of Silme Domingo & Gene Viernes,” was produced by Shannon Gee. The 1-hour documentary explains how the pair of union activists were also active in the Union of Democratic Filipinos, known as the “KDP,” a left-wing political organization that supported improvements for immigrant Filipino workers and the overthrow of the Marcos dictatorship. The KDP’s goals spurred hostility from the Marcos regime and from thugs who preyed on union members in ILWU Local 37.
When Viernes and Domingo were gunned down in the union hall on June 1, 1981, the murders were initially reported as isolated acts of violence, and two shooters with gang connections were convicted. But friends and family were convinced there was more to the story, and organized the Committee for Justice for Domingo and Viernes (CJDV) which eventually confirmed that Philippine
President Ferdinand Marcos had ordered the murders. A civil lawsuit eventually returned a $15 million jury verdict against Marcos.
In 1989, a federal jury agreed with the CJDV, and found Marcos guilty of the murders in 1989. Two years later, former Local 37 president and Marcos supporter Constantine “Tony” Baruso, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Viernes.
In 2011, the Inlandboatmen’s Union, Region 37, created an annual scholarship to honor the memory of Domingo and Viernes by assisting students at the University of Washington’s Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies Following the film, a discussion was led by Terri Mast, Silme Domingo’s widow and Secretary-Treasurer of the Inlandboatmen’s Union. Joining her was Domingo’s sister, Cindy, who serves as Chief of Staff to Seattle Councilmember Larry Gossett.
“The film has been shown many times on Seattle public television,” said Mast, “and soon copies of the DVD will be more available for the public.”
Anyone wishing to see the film online can do so at www.seattlechannel.org/CommunityStories?videoid=x21162