FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chevy Evangelista, (347) 298-7960, ugnayan.nynj@gmail.com
December 10, 2010
ON THE 6TH ANNIVERSARY OF YOUTH ORGANIZATION UGNAYAN, TWO IMPORTANT FILIPINA YOUTH VICTORIES
Jackson Heights, Queens, NY – On Saturday, December 11, New York/New Jersey Filipino youth & students organization Ugnayan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Linking the Children of the Motherland) will hold its 6th year anniversary at an event entitled “MAGDIWANG”. The organization celebrates its 6th anniversary with two key victories for Filipina youth: an Ugnayan member’s dismissal of charges against her by the racist and sexist criminal justice system, and an important advance in the case of Adriane Padilla, youth restaurant worker who filed a civil suit against her former employer last 2008, for withholding wages.
Magdiwang is a Filipino word meaning "celebrate". November 30, the date Ugnayan celebrates as its anniversary, marks the birth of Andres Bonifacio, leader of the 1896 Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonialism. Bonifacio led the Katipunan (“Movement”) that fought the Spanish colonizers and formed Magdiwang, asserting the leadership of the Katipunan. Since its inception in 2004, Ugnayan has followed this tradition through educating, organizing and mobilizing for the rights and welfare of Filipino youth in New York/New Jersey and demanding genuine change in the Philippines.
Continuing Ugnayan’s legacy from the Philippines to the immigrant community in the US, this anniversary is significant and historical because of the two important victories by Filipina youth against racism and exploitation. On November 24, Joana Palomar, Ugnayan member and former spokesperson, was arrested and detained at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport on falsified charges of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree. Due to the heightened security caused by the “War on Terror”—started by former President George W. Bush but continued in practice today by current President Barack Obama—the Transportation Security Administration employs racist police-style searches and scanners, violating rights to privacy. Women and gender non-conforming immigrants are particularly vulnerable to these searches.
Palomar, also known as Anang in the Filipino community, was on her way to the Philippines to spend the holidays back home, when she was abruptly taken away in handcuffs when a self-defense tool Anang had been carrying was mistakenly put in the X-ray. Several months prior to the incident, Anang had been sexually harassed and chased by three men on the NYC subway, and had filed a report with the local police.
Leveraging the legal network and support of Ugnayan, all charges against Anang were dismissed at a court hearing yesterday, the self-defense tool determined by the judge to be completely legal.
Adriane Padilla, another triumphant Filipina youth, is an at important juncture in her civil case of wage and hour violations including minimum wage and overtime violations, tip stealing, illegal wage deductions, retaliation and hostile work environment. The results of the case will be revealed at the anniversary celebration.
Magdiwang will be held at DRUM Center, 72-18 Roosevelt Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jackson Heights, New York at seven o’clock to ten in the evening, take E/F/M/R/7 trains to 74th Street-Roosevelt.
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