"I CAN'T breathe" are the last words of George Floyd, an African-American who died under police custody in the United States.
Local labor group General Alliance of Workers Associations (Gawa) has adopted this expression as a cry of protest for all the jobless and displaced workers due to the pandemic and lockdown.
Sancho said all workers who were deprived of their only means of livelihood are shouting "they can't breathe" because of economic strangulation.
"His [Floyd] words became immortal because it symbolized the voice of a human being in his desperate struggle against injustice and inequality," he said, adding that "this is also the cry of all displaced workers who are in distress."
Gawa said that families of the displaced workers are starving and they are sinking in the quagmire of poverty.
They would find it difficult to breathe in an atmosphere of economic recession, the local labor group said.
"Jeepney drivers in Manila who were not allowed to ply their route are also shouting they can't breathe as they beg for alms in the streets to satiate the hunger in their stomach," it added.
For Gawa, the "I can't breathe" is also an expression of protest for democracy.
Its secretary-general said media critics, labor and political activists are also shouting they can't breathe because of the diminishing democratic space.
Sancho pointed out that under the lockdown there is a restriction in the movement. "Our liberty of abode is limited in the interests of public health."
Sancho said people want to breathe freely in the air of freedom but restrictions are justified under the present state of emergency.
"I can't breathe is a fearless protest of a jobless worker and a testimony to the vibrant health of democracy," he said, asking that "but are we truly free to say our own piece against the alleged oppressive measures of the government?"
"If we allow our mind to be imprisoned, then we are not free and indeed, we can't breathe," the labor leader stressed.