FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 2, 2008
Contact: Leah Obias, Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines—New York (AJLPP-NY), 212.564.6057, contact@damayanmigrants.org
New York City—Last Thursday, June 26, Filipino domestic workers, youth, women and allies gathered at the Philippine Consulate in New York City to "detain and deport" Phil. Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as a sign of their disgust for her 10-day visit to the United States, and to show that she should be held accountable for the conditions of overseas Filipino workers and im/migrants.
Organized by the Alliance for a Just and Lasting in the Philippines-New York, and co-sponsored by A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and Gabriela Network, the street action in front of the consulate included speeches, poetry, song, and street theater staged by Filipino youth to symbolically detain Macapagal-Arroyo and deliver her with deportation orders to leave New York City immediately.
"We wanted to expose Macapagal-Arroyo as a U.S. puppet," said AJLPP-NY organizer Leah Obias, "and at the same time bring attention to issues plaguing our community here. Macapagal-Arroyo was here to meet with Bush, politicians and businesspeople in the U.S. to continue the subservient and unequal relationship between the two countries. Yet she plays blind to the fact that our community is under attack by immigration authorities."
In order to ease the burden of the U.S. economic slowdown, immigrant communities in the U.S. have been the targets of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on homes, buses, trains and workplaces. The numbers of deportations and detentions have doubled in the past year, affecting the Filipino community as well as other immigrant communities. Recently, members and contacts of DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association, member organization of AJLPP-NY, have been subjected to such violations of their civil rights and have been conducting a campaign to assert their rights as immigrants.
"Members of our community are afraid to travel, and are pushed into low-wage jobs—mostly domestic work—because of their immigration status," continued Obias. "We support the Philippine economy with their remittances, and the U.S. economy with our labor. And what kind of support do we receive from Macapagal-Arroyo? Nothing. She shakes hands with the same U.S. politicians responsible for the poor conditions of our people, both here in the United States and in the Philippines."
Several speeches and testimonials last Thursday highlighted the conditions of the Filipino community, both locally and in the Philippines.
Monica Lunot, worker organizer and member of DAMAYAN, spoke about the experiences of exploitation and abuse endured by Filipino domestic workers. Clara Santos, Board of Directors member of Ugnayan ng mga Anak ng Bayan, also a member organization of AJLPP-NY, spoke on the continuing struggle of Filipino World War II veterans for their benefits. Though Macapagal-Arroyo was here to thank Bush for the veterans bill, Santos said, she is claiming credit for decades of the veterans' struggle, and the bill has yet to be passed in Congress.
Doris Mendoza, Secretary General of Gabriela Network, highlighted the conditions of women who experience intensified attacks not just as poor or working people, but also as women. Mendoza cited cases of the US military men who raped Filipinas in the Philippines and in Japan and have received slaps on the wrist as punishment for their criminal behavior.
Ben Becker of A.N.S.W.E.R. spoke about the need to build solidarity among communities, because of common experiences in the U.S. with racism, as well as U.S. tax dollars supporting corrupt governments all over the world.
Linda Abad, worker organizer of DAMAYAN, spoke on behalf of AJLPP-NY about the unequal U.S.-Philippines relationship, the U.S. War on Terror and its effect on the Filipino people. According to AJLPP-NY, The Visiting Forces Agreement, the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement, and the Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) Exercises have converted the Philippines into a giant U.S. military base as a way to protect U.S. interests at the expense of the Filipino's people's own dignity and national sovereignty.
This year, the Philippines received $30 million in American tax dollars towards Foreign Military Financing, despite Macapagal-Arroyo's heinous human rights record showing 1,000 activists killed, more than 200 missing, and more than 200 detained.
Meanwhile, Macapagal-Arroyo's visits to the business community in the U.S. only resulted in the peddling of the Philippines' natural resources while the lack of industrialization, lack of employment and poverty in the Philippines continue to send approximately 3,400 Filipinos abroad every day. In the end, said Abad, with an estimated $16 billion in remittances sent to the Philippines through formal channels by the end of 2008, and more than $20 billion including informal channels, Macapagal-Arroyo continues to sink the Philippines deeper into crisis so long as she prioritizes foreign investments and help from outside the Philippines.
"We dream of a homeland that has genuine democracy, food on every table of Filipino families and education for every Filipino child and the welfare of all our people," Lunot concludes. "We condemn the Macapagal-Arroyo administration and insist that she step down from her throne – and in doing so, it will be like a life jacket for every Filipino to survive the total collapse of our beloved homeland."
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For photos, please visit www.flickr.com/photos/ugnayannynj. Photos are by Maria Gonzales, member of Ugnayan ng mga Anak ng Bayan.
The Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines is a national alliance of US-based organizations and individuals in support of a peaceful, just, free, democratic and prosperous Philippines. AJLPP was founded in 2002 and is currently composed of 12 organizations from five major US cities.
