Bishop Fortich was known to his followers as "Commander Tony". Like his superior, Cardinal Jaime Sin, the archbishop of Manila, he was an ardent opponent of Ferdinand Marcos. Bishop Fortioch spoke against the hanging judges of Manila known as the Guillotine Club. He was one of the first people to alert the government to the illegal activities of timber poachers, who had stripped hundreds of acres of forest in Negros. He supported the election of Joseph Estrada as president of the Philippines, and when it became clear that Estrada was using his position to accumulate personal wealth, the bishop withdrew his support.
Bishop Fortich set up co-operatives composed of small landowners and sugar workers, in order to break the debt cycle suffered by Filipino sugar workers. In doing so, the bishop antagonised large landowners, who at one stage tried to intimidate him by lobbing a hand grenade into his house.
Bishop Fortich was nominated for a Nobel peace prize, and was praised by Pope John Paul II for his efforts in social activism.