A reign of terror: Extra-judicial killings in Duterte’s Philippines (tags)
Since Rodrigo Duterte began his term as the 16th president of the Philippines in 30 June 2016, Filipinos and the international community have watched in horror at accounts of dead bodies found nightly in the country’s streets, linked to extra-judicial killings (EJKs).
Philippines: The Punisher's dirty war on drugs (tags)
He’s been called a demagogue with a foul mouth backed up by bare-knuckle populism. But Philippines president, Rodrigo Duterte, aka “the Punisher”, has also embarked on a brutal drug war that is drawing international condemnation. Foreign Editor David Pratt reports.
Philippine Government’s ‘War on Drugs’ Claims Child Victim (tags)
Five-year-old Danica May became the youngest reported victim of the Philippine government’s abusive “war on drugs” on Tuesday.
Akbayan rejects Chinese call for dropping West Philippine Sea arbitration (tags)
With the upcoming commemoration of Philippine Independence, Akbayan party-list today called on government to hold steadfast in pursuing the arbitration case filed on the UNCLOS regarding Chinese occupation of the Scarborough shoal in the West Philippine Sea.
The Philippines’ New Strongman (tags)
Rodrigo Duterte’s authoritarian neoliberalism isn’t the answer to poverty and political abuse in the Philippines.
Philippines: Rodrigo Duterte’s One-Man Revolution and the CPP (tags)
Rodrigo Duterte’s authoritarian vision is no way forward for the Philippines.
PHILIPPINES: Statement on International Women’s Day (tags)
The Philippines Should Stop Being US’s Pawn and Warfront
Philippines: The fate of peace in Mindanao hangs in the balance (tags)
Akbayan statement on the video of killing of injured SAF trooper
Philippine Women’s Coalitions Launch 18 Days of Activism against Violence (tags)
On the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (VAW), which marks the start of the 18 Days of Activism Against VAW, women’s groups held a press conference and rally in front of the US Embassy. The coalitions announced today that they unite in focusing on the call for justice for Jennifer Laude during this 18-day campaign period which starts on November 25, and will sustain the campaign until justice is served.
Philippines: Akbayan and Santiago file joint resolution to terminate VFA (tags)
Akbayan Representative Walden Bello and Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago today close ranks as they call for the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) saying it is being used to shield US military personnel from Philippine laws for violations and criminal offenses done on Philippine soil.
Philippine Labor Party demands turnover of US Marine suspect in transgender killing (tags)
Partido Manggagawa (PM) [Labor Party - Philippines] condemns the killing of transgender woman, Jeffrey Serdoncillo Laude a.k.a. Jennifer Laude, allegedly by a US Marine participating in the Balikatan exercise in Olongapo City 11p.m. of October 11.
U.S. Marine Suspected in Killing of Transgender Filipina (tags)
Akbayan sends letter to US Ambassador demanding the surrender of PFC Joseph Scott Pemberton
Filipinos storm Chinese Consulate, express support to Hong Kong’s “Umbrella Revolution" (tags)
Saying that the Filipino people’s struggle to secure Philippine sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea extends to the Chinese people’s fight to be free from their authoritarian government, members of Akbayan Partylist trooped to the Chinese Consular Office in Makati today to express their support to the tens and thousands of Hong Kong citizens who are staging a massive protest to demand “true universal suffrage” from mainland China.
Asian Socialism Conference in the Philippines (tags)
The Asian Socialism Conference will be held in Manila from November 28 to 29, 2014. The conference will be capped by the participation of guests and delegates to the November 30 rally in Manila to commemorate Bonifacio Day, a national hero who led the armed struggle in the revolution against Spain.
Despite growth in the Philippines, labor underscores systemic failure in rising inequality (tags)
Exclusive growth for exclusive group of wealthiest businessmen.
No to US Militarism in the Philippines and Asia-Pacific! (tags)
“To achieve enduring peace in the region, Asia must be de-militarized; its maritime waters assigned mainly for commerce; and its disputed territories declared as regional commons and war-free zones.”
US President Obama Visit in Manila (tags)
The small window of opportunity to forge an independent foreign policy that the Philippines gained with the expulsion of the US bases in 1992 will disappear with the impending signing of the Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation with the US.
A Budding Alliance: Vietnam And The Philippines Confront China (tags)
Last year, the Philippines brought a complaint against China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea to the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal. The Chinese “were really unprepared for that and were really embarrassed by it,” one of Vietnam’s top experts on Chinese diplomacy told me during my recent visit to Hanoi.
The Philippines-Bangsamoro Agreement (tags)
The Bangsamoro Agreement: A Step towards Re-imagining and Rebuilding the Philippine Nation
Increased rotational presence of US troops, decreased Philippine sovereignty (tags)
"Decreased sovereignty." This is how Akbayan Representative Walden Bello summed up the ongoing negotiations between the Philippine government and the United States to craft a framework for the increased rotational presence of American troops in the country.
Filipinos in LA join global protest vs China (tags)
LOS ANGELES – On July 24, Filipinos in Los Angeles trooped to the Chinese Consulate offices in Shatto Place in Koreatown to protest the China’s aggression in the heated West Philippine Sea/South China Sea territorial dispute.
Filipino workers challenge to Aquino (tags)
Three years ago, President Aquino promised to substantially reduce poverty, create quality and secure jobs, and end the reign of impunity, among others. He promised “inclusive growth”. Workers have had enough of these broken promises.
Five-point approach to manage Chinese and US presence in the West Philippine Sea (tags)
Akbayan Partylist today proposed to the Aquino government a "five-point approach" in handling the current territorial dispute with China and the increasing involvement of the United States in the conflict.
Philippines: Akbayan slams Chinese incursion into Tubbataha Reef (tags)
Akbayan Party-list today slammed the incursion of a Chinese fishing vessel into the Tubbataha reef, which the group said is engaged in "state-led" poaching activities at the marine protected area in Palawan.
USA/Philippines: Feminism’s March from Nation to Home (tags)
Johanna Brenner interviews Filipina feminist activist and writer Ninotchka Rosca about organizing in a transnational world.
Philippine climate activists expose risks of dirty coal. (tags)
300-strong climate activists and anti-coal advocates stormed the Department of Energy to voice out their opposition to coal mines and coal-fired power plants promoted by the government and to launch the group’s Campaign Against Dirty Energy and for People’s Access to Safe, Renewable and Democratic Energy Alternatives.
Akbayan takes poll campaign to Filipino-Americans (tags)
LOS ANGELES—Akbayan’s Rep. Walden Bello began a campaign tour of Filipino American communities to raise support for his party and President Benigno Aquino III’s common reform agenda in the coming May elections.
US minesweeper USS Guardian damaged Philippine Reef (tags)
APL dares Philippine President Aquino to penalize US Navy for Tubbataha damage
On Typhoon Bhopa and the Doha Conference (tags)
Typhoon Bhopa (Philippine name Pablo) have resulted to a total number of 647 casualties, with another 1,842 people injured, and 780 missing.
Philippine Statements on the International Human Rights Day (tags)
1) Akbayan on the Observance of the International Human Rights Day 2) Workers hold Jericho March at San Miguel in celebration of human rights day 3) Pahayag sa Pandaigdigang Araw ng Karapatang Pantao 4) Another World is Possible! Reject the Policies of Neoliberalism! Protect the Working Class!
Is the Philippines child-friendly? (tags)
Manila, Philippines – The ultimate test of determining the child-friendliness of the country is to ask the children themselves, this according to Anna Lindenfors, Country Director of Save the Children in the Philippines.
“IMF is dead, a walking dead” - FDC Philippines (tags)
MANILA, Philippines – As the first female chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) visited the country for the first time and met with Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III Friday morning, debt watchdog Freedom from Debt Coalition staged a protest near the Malacañan Palace, in solidarity with the peoples of the Eurozone.
Do not Use the Filipino Children in 'Humanizing' the War Machinery – Rep. Emmi De Jesus (tags)
“The exposure of children to high-powered American war machines is a subtle way of inculcating into their young minds the culture of war,” said GWP Rep. Emmi De Jesus in reaction to the PDI banner photo of a smiling US marine letting a boy peek into his gun scope during the on-going 10-day Philippine-US Amphibious Landing Exercise (Philblex) 2013.
Philippines: PALEA calls on Ramon Ang to drop charges against members (tags)
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) today called on new Philippine Airlines (PAL) President Ramon Ang to drop all charges against its members in order to facilitate a solution to the labor row. Last Wednesday a second PALEA member was arrested in Makati City while the first was detained for several days last October in Malvar, Batangas.
PHILIPPINES: The ghosts of martial law (tags)
On September 21, forty years ago, President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared martial law. For almost 13-and-a-half years afterwards, the country suffered terribly from a brutal and corrupt dictatorship. Among the victims of the grave violations of human rights under martial law were the following: 3,257 “salvaged” (summarily executed), 35,000 tortured, and 70,000 incarcerated, as documented by historian Alfred McCoy.
Philippine Maoist rebel army 'sorry' for circus bombing (tags)
MANILA, Philippines - Philippine communist guerrillas issued a rare apology on Friday for a grenade attack that the military said left 47 spectators at a local circus wounded.
WikiLeaks cable: Gaddafi funded, trained CPP-NPA rebels (tags)
MANILA, Philippines - Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafi was a key financier of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its military wing, the New People's Army (NPA), according to a US Secretary of State secret cable published by anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.
Philippines: Sorry state of labor presented in pre-SONA forum (tags)
Workers groups today presented the “sorry state of labor” in a forum that served as a buildup activity to the coming counter-SONA protest on Monday. “In his forthcoming SONA (State of the Nation Address), President Benigno Aquino III (P-Noy) will boast of his administration’s so-called inclusive growth. But to workers and the poor, GNP growth only means more ‘Gutom Na Pilipino,’” averred Renato Magtubo, national chair of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM - Labor Party - Philippines).
Philippine government a "show-off" (tags)
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine government’s decision to extend a US$1-billion loan to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to supplement the Fund’s Financial Transaction Plan (FTP) of $456 billion to contain the economic crisis in Europe is an “arrogant pretension of a country very much in debt,” according to the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC).
Bayan Muna protests against China’s excursions in Scarborough Shoal (tags)
The progressive party-list Bayan Muna is protesting against China’s excursions in Panatag or Scarborough Shoal saying that China should order its vessels to leave the area and stop harassing Filipino fishermen.
Global May 11 protest vs 'China encroachment' on Philippine territory (tags)
MANILA, Philippines – Organizers of a multi-country protest against Chinese encroachment on Philippine territory are vowing to gather tens of thousands on May 11 in Manila alone, as they announced a roster of prominent Filipino personalities that they said have already pledged to show up in the rallies.
PHILIPPINES: Sentro, Nagkaisa herald new era of labor unity (tags)
THOUSANDS of trade unionists and activists poured into the streets of Manila and other key cities to celebrate May Day amid renewed hopes that the two latest efforts at labor unity will provide strong impetus to their uphill battle for labor and trade union rights.
Filipino workers band together for a stronger labor front (tags)
SENTRO vows to fight for wages, secure jobs and other long-standing issues
Philippines: Promotion of Morong 43 jailer enrages victims, rights groups (tags)
MANILA – The recent promotion of Major General Jorge Segovia, former commander of the 2nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army that carried out the illegal arrest of 43 health workers in February 2010, has outraged human rights groups.
Akbayan calls on Filipinos to defend sovereignty against US and Chinese interests (tags)
Akbayan Party today called on Filipinos to be vigilant and engaged in defending the country's sovereignty from different foreign interests. The statement was made coinciding with the formal start of the United States' Balikatan military exercises with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and several allies, and amid the unresolved tension at the Panatag shoal involving the Philippines and China.
On Philippine Foreign Policy (tags)
1) Needed: Firm but Deft Diplomacy, not War Games 2) Akbayan to Chinese government: Defuse standoff, pull vessels out of Scarborough shoal 3) Akbayan condemns North Korea’s planned rocket launch 4) Akbayan (Citizens Action Party) congratulates Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy
Open Letter to General Delfin Lorenzana, OVA. (tags)
Dear General, I have been informed by the JFAV in San Francisco the following concerning the WW ll Filipino Vets again today. The Embassy is only supporting appeals that were filed and not all the 24,000 that did not file appeals, after filing claims. I was quite surprised to hear this since the VA and NPRC have made it clear they will not accept any Philippine documents as proof of service and nothing has been reviewed with western leaders as to an agreement for all that have been denied. If it is true I would like to request a SUMMIT of the western states leadership area concerning this decision since all the input appears to have come from DC based sources to develop this policy and no request for input was asked or even put forth to get suggestions from the Filipino-American Veterans of America & Families who are fighting for denied veterans here in this state and California.
70th Bataan Day, A USAFFE Scout Remembers (tags)
he ALLIANCE NEWS reported today, on the 70th year of Bataan Day, that Sergeant Dominador Figuracion, 92, begged off from talking about the Fall of Bataan to the Japanese Imperial Army on April 9, 1942, and how he and some 70,000 Filipino and American soldiers had been forced to march to a concentration camp in Tarlac. Around 7,000 to 10,000 soldiers perished during the Death March. About 26,000 of the 50,000 Filipino prisoners of war at Camp O’Donnell in Tarlac died of dengue, malaria, dysentery or starvation when this was closed in January 1943, according to historical accounts.
Philippine Labor party calls for removal of VAT on oil to reduce prices (tags)
One day after the transport protest against the unabated increases in oil prices, the Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) called on the administration of President Benigno Aquino III to remove the VAT on oil products as an immediate measure to reduce prices.
Filipino Women March against US Military Expansion in the Philippines and the Pacific (tags)
On the occasion of the International Women’s Day 2012, we, Filipino women declare in strongest terms possible, our opposition not only to increased presence but to U.S. military presence per se on Philippine soil.
No to US and Chinese expansionism (tags)
PHILIPPINES: Akbayan Party condemns plans for increased United States military presence in the country amid burgeoning Chinese military expansionism. We believe these acts by the two superpowers will inevitably destabilize the West Philippine Sea and Southeast Asian region.
Donate to Sagip Tulong-Pilipinas (tags)
Daig ng maagap ang masipag" Time and time again, the Philippine government has failed in protecting the people from natural and man-made disasters. Instead, the government succeeded in prolonging the agony of the people for failing to deliver basic services to the people who are victims of natural disasters. Thus ,the People's CORE , a 501 (C) 3 organization in Southern California announced that it is relaunching Sagip-Tulong Pilipinas (STP) and is accepting now, cash or check only donations for Sagip- Tulong Pilipinas (STP)-Emergency Relief to Mindanao flood victims. Please send checks or cash: to People’s CORE, 1610 Beverly Blvd. Suite No. 2, Los Angeles, CA 90026. Please also write in the memo: STP-Mindanao 2011. Sagip -Tulong Pilipinas (STP), 2011
Philippines: PLM Rejects Neoliberal Policies of the Government (tags)
PLM Campaigns for a Welfare State System
Pulongbayan with Amb. Cusia in LA: Cusia Brags About US-RP Military Support vs China (tags)
Saying he was received with warmth in Los Angeles by the Filipino American community from the cold spell in the East Coast, Ambassador Jose L. Cusia Jr. regaled the capacity crowd with facts and figures on Filipino-American relations. The EPCC NEWS reported today that the newly designated Philippine Ambassador to the United States, Cusia held a Pulongbayan at the Rizal Hall of the Philippine Consulate General at 3600 Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles last Friday Night, December 2, 2010 He was on his way to the 10th NAFFAA Regional Conference in San Diego on December 3, 2011 as a guest speaker.
FIL-AMS MARKED 2nd YEAR OF MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE OF 2009 IN LA (tags)
“Justice Delayed is Justice Denied.” Scores of Filipino Americans attended the photo exhibit and prayer memorial honoring the 58 Maguindanao Massacre victims on November 23, 2009 last Wednesday November 23, 2011at the Filipino American Community of Los Angeles (FACLA) Social Hall in Historic Filipinotown Los Angeles. The event was organized by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)-US Chapter, the Filipino American Press Club of Los Angeles, Philippine American Press Club, Philippine Press Photographers-USA, Frontliners Media Group and F7, in cooperation with the Alliance Philippines (AJLPP), the Justice for Filipino American Veterans and People’s CORE.
PALEA member in Los Angeles cry harassment by PAL, PM-USA vows support (tags)
A member of the Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) is crying harassment by Philippine Airlines (PAL) for being refused boarding on a flight back to Manila from Los Angeles. Belle Savellano, PALEA members and PAL employee for 28 years, was not allowed to board the PAL LAX-MNL flight last November 6 for being allegedly on “blacklist of PALEA members.”
Solidarity to Occupy Oakland General Strike (tags)
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA), the union of the ground staff of Philippine Airlines, and Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines), the independent party of the working class in the Philippines, stand shoulder to shoulder with the Occupy Oakland protesters. We too struggle against corporate greed and capitalist globalization with its destructive impact on the workers and the youth. Truly the movement against corporate greed and capitalist globalization is international in scope.
Philippines: PALEA holds motorcade on the 30th day of its protest vs. outsourcing (tags)
Also in commemoration of PALEA’s 30th day of protest against contractualization, solidarity actions were held in San Francisco and Los Angeles by US unions and the Filipino-American community. In San Francisco, the groups picketed the Philippine consulate and PAL ticketing office, and submitted a letter of concern to Deputy Consul General Alfonso Ver.
Julie and I wish to convey our most heartfelt condolences to the daughters and entire family of Comrade Gregorio Rosal, Ka Roger, and to all cadres and members of the Communist Party of the Philippines, all the Red commanders and fighters of the New People?s Army, all adherents of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the broad masses of the Filipino people.
Philippine Airline workers intensify protest actions (tags)
The Philippine Airlines Employees? Association (PALEA) today asserted that Philippine Airlines (PAL) President Jaime Bautista?s announcement that they no longer acknowledge Gerry Rivera and Bong Palad as union officers exposes union busting as the real aim of outsourcing. ?Truly a fish is caught by its mouth. Actually PAL is not just recognizing me and Palad as union officers but 62% of PALEA?s leadership and 70% of its membership who have been illegally lockout and terminated. Outsourcing thus is tantamount to union busting,? stated Gerry Rivera, PALEA president and vice chair of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM - Labor Party).
Double-talk on FOI: Philippine gov?t long on promises, short on political will (tags)
On President Aquino?s Open Governance Partnership (OGP) ON 20 SEPTEMBER 2011 in New York, President Benigno S. Aquino III will deliver the keynote address at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) forum dubbed ?The Power of Open: A Global Discussion?. The conference brings together governments and representatives of civil society, industry, academe, and media. The panels will discuss the role of openness in improving government responsiveness and accountability, fighting corruption, and creating efficiencies, innovation and growth.
Philippines Anti-Bases Movement: Time to Assert National Sovereignty Once Again (tags)
With pride as a people, we commemorate a historic national event this coming September 16, the rejection of the US military bases twenty years ago
Filipinos should not depend on the US for its own defense of the Kalayaan Island Group- AJ (tags)
If there is the best way to illustrate the lop-sided Philippines-United Stares relations is about, it can be shown when latest US missile destroyers will join ageing Philippine warships for naval exercises this week in a timely show of unity as tensions with China escalate over a maritime dispute. While US has modern missile ships it has given WWII vintage ships like all the war materials hands me down to its puppet state. And the bad thing is that the Philippines has to buy it not at a bargain price but a cut throat cost. For 11 days of the RP-US exercises start on Tuesday off the southwest Philippine island of Palawan in the Sulu Sea, close to the disputed waters of the West Philippine Sea where Manila has complained of increasing Chinese provocation. Officially the training is an annual event not linked to the territorial row, but it nevertheless offers the Philippines comfort shortly after appealing to its long-time ally and former colonial power for help in containing China.
Workers Party challenges Philippine President to protect labor rights at Hanjin (tags)
The militant labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) challenged President Benigno Aquino III (PNoy) to uphold and protect workers rights at the giant Hanjin shipyard in Subic, Zambales as complaints mounted of violations of labor and safety standards. Dozens of members of PM and the Philippine Airlines Employees? Association (PALEA) joined the Church-Labor Conference, an alliance of labor and religious organizations that is co-chaired by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, in a rally this morning at Mendiola in Manila.
No to Sabre-Rattling! A Negotiated Political Settlement to the Spratly Islands Dispute! (tags)
The Party of the Laboring Masses - Philippines condemns any actions that increase military tensions in the region and contribute to a regional military conflict, by countries that lay claim to the Spratly Islands. We are opposed to any sabre-rattling and stand for a negotiated, political settlement, of the disputed claims to the area. Therefore we deplore China?s strong-arm tactics and bullying, which undermines efforts towards a peaceful, political settlement, of the disputed claims.
Philippine Party says China violated its seas (tags)
Akbayan (Citizens Action Party) to Chinese Gov?t: Stop military bullying in Spratlys
Only 5% of Philippine coral reefs remain (tags)
Read this and weep: A marine scientist from the University of the Philippines has revealed that only 5 percent ?equivalent to just around 1,000 square kilometers?of the country?s total reef area remain in good condition in the face of the wanton destruction of our coral reefs by poachers.
ALLIANCE PHILIPPINES PROTESTS POSSIBLE US BASES RETURN TO SUBIC (tags)
The Alliance Philippines or the AJLPP strongly condemned the high-level visits here by American officials who have raised the prospect of a return of the United States’ military presence in this former naval base in Subic on the wake of disasters that hit Japan, which have delayed the planned US military build-up in Guam. Subic Naval Base was the deepest sea port of the US naval forces in the Philippines. The US naval base closed after the Philippine Senate terminated the US-RP Military Bases Pact in 1991. Only to be reversed later with the passage of the Visiting Forces Agreement during the tenure of Joseph Estrada in 1998.
Philippine CHR: We didn't clear the AFP in Melissa Roxas case (tags)
The Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said it did not clear the military in the human rights case of Filipino-American activist Melissa Roxas as accused by several militant organizations.
ON MILF-GPH PEACE TALKS: AJLPP SUPPORTS MILF DEMAND (tags)
The Alliance-Philippines or the AJLPP supports the demand of the largest Muslim revolutionary group in the Philippines that urged the Philippines government to end a decades-long armed struggle by the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front for Muslim self-rule in the southern Philippines, the homeland of minority Muslims in the mostly Roman Catholic country. The Alliance noted that in the speech of MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal pointed out that peace talks has been "too long a process." The exploratory talks was held yesterday April 26-27, 2011 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Alliance noted that the Philippine government and the Muslim groups have been negotiating with the government since 1976. The peace talks had been off and one since then in a classic “ talk, talk, fight, fight “ mood. Iqbal urged the Philippine government to submit a draft of a comprehensive accord when both sides hold their next meeting in Kuala Lumpur. Upcoming talks are expected in June.
Pesante-USA slams Philippine CHR for Clearing the AFP on Mellisa Roxas Case (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante-USA), human rights group based in the United States today vehemently condemned the Commission of Human Rights (CHR) report that cleared the AFP on the abduction and torture of a US-based activist. The report, signed by CHR chair Loretta Rosales in February but released over the weekend, concluded Melissa Roxas was indeed abducted and apparently subjected to cruel treatment. But the Commission said it did not have enough evidence to put the blame on the military. The CHR also refused to use the word “torture” for the abuse Roxas suffered because “state actors” could not be pinpointed. Pesante is disappointed that Rosales a former political detainee and a victim of torture herself will clear the AFP of torture and wrongdoing. Pesante stated that: “ Rosales will join all traitors like Tayag,Tiglao, Barican, Morales and Olivar all former activist who have sold the Filipinos down the river.”
Philippine Airlines workers vote to strike (tags)
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) held a torch parade tonight as initial results in the strike poll reveal a tremendous vote for yes. Only the ballots of PALEA members in the Metro Manila offices of Philippines Airlines have been counted and show 96% votes of for a strike and a mere 3% voted against. In the last strike vote conducted last December, some 86% voted yes. In yesterday’s voting, 1996 PALEA members in Metro Manila participated out of some 2987 total members.
18th World Water Day: Uphold right to water, Philippine Pres. Aquino told (tags)
MANILA, Philippines – Disappointed with the muddled position of the current administration in recognizing one of the most basic human rights, around 200 members of the Freedom from Debt Coalition took to the streets Tuesday urging President Benigno S. Aquino III to step up and uphold the human right to water.
Our Solidarity with the People of Japan (tags)
PHILIPPINES: The Partido Lakas ng Masa (Party of the Laboring Masses, PLM) expresses its deepest concern and sends its condolences to all the families and victims of the earthquake and tsunami that hit the North-Eastern coast of Japan last Friday. Our thoughts are also with all our Japanese friends and comrades and we pledge our solidarity and support to them in these dark hours.
SFQS -US Raises Concern On Nuclear Emergency in Japan: Revival of Bataan Nuke Plant Dang (tags)
The Samahang FQS in the United States based in San Francisco, California raised concern today following reports that the nuclear plant in Japan around 250 kilometers northeast of Tokyo had explosions and vented smoke to the environment. The SFQS-United States composed of Philippine activist groups is united with the Philippine group No to BNPP Revival! network as it reminded the Aquino administration of the dangers of reviving the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) here in the Philippines.
Sexual Prey in the Saudi Jungle (tags)
He was an officer in the Saudi Royal Navy assigned to the strategic Saudi base of Jubail in the Persian Gulf. She was a single mom from Mindanao, in the Philippines, who saw, like so many others, employment in Saudi Arabia as a route out of poverty. When he picked her up at the Dammam International Airport in June, little did she know she was entering, not a brighter chapter of her life but a chamber of horrors from which she would be liberated only after six long months.
On the Supreme Court decision on the Visconde Massacre Case (tags)
The Alliance-Philippines send its deepest sympathy and outrage to Mr. Lauro Vizconde and his relatives and friends for the grave injustice perpetrated by the highest court of the land- the Philippine Supreme Court on its decision overturning the Court of Appeals and the lower court on the Visconde Massacre case. As an analysts put it: “The Supreme Court have killed Mr. Lauro Visconde twice.” It reminded us when the United States Supreme Court in 2001 decided in favor of GOP George Bush against Al Gore in the election recount case in Florida that made the presidency of George W. Bush Jr. from 2001-2009.
Philippine Airlines workers protest, appeals to Philippine President to stop layoff (tags)
The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (PALEA) today returned to Mendiola for a rally to appeal to President Benigno Aquino III to stop the mass layoff of 2,600 employees at Philippine Airlines (PAL). PALEA submitted a formal petition to the Office of the President appealing for presidential intervention to suspend the implementation of the Baldoz decision pending its review.
Philippines: Hostage Killings – PLM calls for an independent inquiry (tags)
Partido Lakas ng Masa (Party of the Labouring Masses) commiserates with the families of the eight Chinese nationals killed in the tour bus hijacking in Manila on Monday, August 23. The blunders of the Philippine police and officials in the hijacking crisis, which led to the deaths of the eight tourists, are indefensible from many aspects.
Honor our Heroes, Celebrate their Greatness on Aug. 30 at SIPA (tags)
Honor our Heroes, Celebrate their Greatness The Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) and Search to Involve the Pilipino Americans (SIPA) cordially invite the public for their very first Philippine National Heroes Day Celebration in the United States on Monday, August 30, 2010. The commemorative event will be held on Monday, August 30, 2010 at the Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA) Community Hall, 3200 W. Temple St. Los Angeles, CA 90026 around 6;30 PM.
On the Philippine hostage taking incident (tags)
Akbayan (Citizens Action Party) on the the Ill-fated Hostage Taking Incident at the Quirino Grandstand and the Necessary Reformation of the Police Force
Philippine Situation After the 2010 Elections (tags)
We are here today because Benigno Aquino III was elected president of the Philippines. He has promised to bring CHANGE to the Philippine government, eliminate corruption, fix the education system, improve health care, improve the economy and provide housing for all Filipinos. He has said that he is the president because the people believed in HOPE. Does this sound familiar? The Reality of the history in the Islands: Economic Crisis The Reality of the Philippines is that the islands are still ruled by US imperialism, and run by its Filipino puppets. Aquino has assembled an economic team from the same breed of pro-imperialist pro neoliberlization economists who have dominated economic policy-making in the Philippines for the past three decades. Some of whom have even served the US arroyo regime.
Filipinos: LEST WE FORGET! (tags)
We seem to have forgotten that once upon a time, not too long ago, there was this family, the Marcoses, comprised of Ferdinand (now deceased), Imelda (still gallivanting and traipsing the light fantastic in Manila and occasionally, kung maka lusot, overseas), and 3 children, including Ferdinand "Bongbong" Jr who's now running, under Presidential candidate Manny Villar, in the SAME Senatorial slate as political activists (??) Liza Maza and Satur Ocampo.
Commemorate the 112th Independence Day, Continue on the People's Struggle for Systemic Ch (tags)
-As we commemorate the 112th anniversary of the proclamation of the Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898 , we will witness a new era. That is the assumption to power of a new president coming from an old political dynasty and the exit of a despised leader who still cast a giant shadow on the new dispensation. We celebrate this short lived independence with bittersweet pride and with the unwavering aspirations of the Filipino people for real change and genuine independence. The Phillippines was the first bourgeois republic in Asia and the first Asian country to free itself from the stranglehold of colonialism.We were also the first colony of US Imperialism in this part of the world.
MILITARY TORTURE AND STATE TERRORISM IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
Despite the election of Benigno Aquino III to succeed the corrupt brutal Arroyo, 43 healthworkers continue to suffer military torture. Five are confined to the military camp alleged as self-confessed New People's Army guerillas, while 38 were transferred to Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, notorious for the massacre of Moro suspects. The five persons on which the fascist generals are concentrating their torture are: VALENTINO PAULINO, CHERRYLYN TAWAGON, ELLEN CARANDANG, JENNYLYN PIZZARO, & JOHN MARK BARRIENTOS. Carandang's children were taken from their home by the military," according to KARAPATAN, human rights monitor. Their relatives are threatened or offered bribes coercively to side with the military and incriminate themselves or their kin. We appeal to the international community to denounce this barbaric treatment and demand the immediate release of the Morong 43.
THE SCENARIO OF FAILURE (tags)
The election campaign is heating up in the Philippines and all indications show that as we go down to the wires the anxiety about the possibility of failure will heighten. Political camps from all the variations of Laban, Lakas and Masa to the traditional Nacionalista, Liberal Party atb. are seemingly resigned to the idea that winning the ballots will not necessarily translate into bagging Malacanang. There are attempts at least within the circle of leading candidates to throw around the idea that they will revert to parliament of the streets in the worst case scenario: a Marcos era redux!
PRE ELECTION RALLY/VIGIL AT THE LA PHILIPPINE CONSULATE , MAY 6 (tags)
PRE ELECTION RALLY/VIGIL AT THE LA PHILIPPINE CONSULATE , MAY 6 Bantay Pilipinas is holding a(3600 Wilshire Blvd) on Wednesday, May 6, 2010 at 5:00PM. pre-election vigil in front of the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles.
Philippines' Election Campaign Ignores Real issues (tags)
MORONG 43 RETURNED BY THE POLICE BACK TO THE ARMY CAMP (tags)
The PESANTE NEWS learned today that the PNP refuses to house ‘Morong 38’ . They were asked to return to Camp Capinpin, Tanay. Rizal. In line with an order issued by a Morong, Rizal court, 38 members of the so-called “Morong 43” group of health workers were brought to Camp Crame on board a Philippine Army bus Friday morning. About half an hour later, the Philippine National Police (PNP) promptly sent them back to the military’s Camp Capinpin in Rizal, saying it had no room for them in its crowded detention facility.
OUST THE CORRUPT AND PUPPET US-ARROYO-REGIME AND DISMANTLE ALL US NUCLEAR ARSENAL NOW ! (tags)
“Saling Kat or Saling Pusa” This is how the Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) calls the visit of Philippine President Arroyo to attend the Washington DC conference with US President Obama and the United Nations in new York on the new nuclear arms strategy Obama unveiled on Tuesday.
U.S.-BACKED STATE TERRORISM AND MILITARY BRUTALITY IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
Millions of US taxpayers' money are supporting de facto President Arroyo's despotic rule in the Philippines. The continuing torture of 43 health workers may be an alibi to cover up the horrendous Ampatuan massacre and numerous corruption scandals, a preparation for martial rule by May 20. Fascist violence will surely be met by the enraged mobilization of the masses. The US public needs to protest the use of their taxdollars to fund Arroyo's extrajudicial killings, torture, and forced disappearances of thousands of Filipino civilians.
Worse than a crime – The electoral politics of the NDF and the CPP in the Philippines (tags)
The year 2010 has begun and we already know what’s going to be the most unlikely election coalition of the year. The legal National-Democratic (ND) movement of the Philippines, politically aligned with the underground Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines, has made an alliance with multimillionaire Manuel ‘Manny’ Bamba Villar Jr. and indirectly with Marcos’ admiring son, Ferdinand ’Bongbong’ Marcos jr.
On the US Puppet High Court Ruling that the VFA is legal (tags)
"Philippine Supreme Court- a US Imperialist Puppet Court.” As the Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) expected, the Philippine Supreme Court has reiterated the legality of the 1999 RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago once described as “void for vagueness” and “a failure.” The AJLPP scored the two-page resolution dated Jan. 12 but released only Tuesday. The full Supreme Court upheld its Feb. 11, 2009, ruling on the constitutionality of the agreement which re-allowed the large-scale presence of American troops in the country for joint military exercises after the 1991 pullout of the US military bases, and which governs the conduct of the servicemen participating in the military exercises.
OLD RP EMBASSY CHANCERY IN WASHINGTON DC CONSTRUCTED, LA CONSULATE LEASE EXTENDED (tags)
The Philippine Embassy Chancery on Bataan St. in Washington is an expression of the state of the Philippines Today. Old, decrepit and ailing like the Philippine economy propped up by the remittances of Filipino workers abroad. The ECPP NEWS elarned this from the Filipino writer Rodney Jaleco who said; “ blast from the past, the historic Philippine chancery finally reopens its doors in a few weeks. The old chancery stands opposite the present Philippine Embassy building along Massachusetts Ave. NW. It was purchased in the 1930s by Resident Commissioner (the Philippine representative to the US Congress) Joaquin Elizalde. It served as the seat of the Philippine government-in-exile during World War II.
PESANTE CONDEMNS AFP's MARTIAL LAW MIND SET (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (PESANTE-USA) vehemently condemns the AFP martial law mind set as elucidated by the 2nd Division general George Segovia in his statements against the detained Morong 43. For PESANTE-USA, the AFP has not rid itself of the martial law mindset as provided for by the post EDSa 1987 Constitution. Instead of protecting the people, they are persecuting those who are serving the people-the health workers known as the Morong 43 now illegaly detained in Camp Capinpin, Rizal, the home of the 2nd Division, Philippine Army.
Philippine Army chief sees ‘meltdown’ NPA by June (tags)
The EPCC NEWS today learned that the military on Monday said it has been well on track to defeating the communist insurgency within 2010, with the string of successes against the New People's Army across the country, causing the "meltdown" of rebel forces. According to the EPCC, in a speech to the army camp in Davao province in Mindanao, Army Lt. General Delfin Bangit, Philippine Army chief, said the military has been able to deal significant blows against the NPA, trimming down Asia's longest-running Maoist insurgency "into smaller formations." Bangit was in Davao del Norte Monday to personally thank and reward soldiers for "back-to-back victories" against the NPA in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental provinces in a week.
CLAIMS DENIED IS JUSTICE DENIED! (tags)
CLAIMS DENIED IS JUSTICE DENIED! The Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV), a national alliance of veterans, youth, students and community organizations and activists for veterans' rights based in Los Angeles expressed utmost disgust as the DVA announced that it has denied 16,000 claims for lump sum. JFAV media coordinator Joy-Alonica Bautista said, "This is an outrage considering that the US and Philippine governments made so much political capital of the lump sum." Racism as a problem Now, the truth is out: They have taken the Filipinos and the Filipino-American community and our veterans for a ride. This is another dirty act and a living proof of racism.
LACSON MUST FACE THE MUSIC--ATTY.VALERA (tags)
The US-based lawyer of Dacer-Corbito murder case star witness Cezar Mancao today lauded the arrest order against Senator Panfilo Lacson but urged the government to focus on the bigger conspiracy and expand indictments on all suspects identified in Mancao’s testimony. “This is good for our justice system and to the families of Bubby Dacer and Emmanuel Corbito,” lawyer Arnedo Valera said in a statement. He urged Lacson to surface and submit himself to the Philippine justice process.
CLAIMS DENIED IS JUSTICE DENIED! (tags)
CLAIMS DENIED IS JUSTICE DENIED! The Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV), a national alliance of veterans, youth, students and community organizations and activist for veterans rights based in Los Angeles expressed disgust as the DVA announced that it has denied 16,000 claims for lump sum. JFAV media coordinator Joy Alonica Bautista said, “ This is an outrage considering that the US and Philippine government made so much political capital of the lump sum.
More than 16,000 Veterans Claims Denied as Feb 16 Deadline Ends (tags)
The Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV), a national alliance of veterans, youth, students and community organizations and activist for veterans rights based in Los Angeles expressed disgust as the DVA announced that it has denied 16,000 claims for lump sum. JFAV media coordinator Joy Alonica Bautista said, “ This is an outrage considering that the US and Philippine government made so much political capital of the lump sum. Now, the truth is out. That they have taken the Filipinos and the Filipino-American community and our veterans for a ride. This is another dirty act and a living proof of racism. ”
AJLPP Condemns the Mercenary US Philippine Force Under the UN (tags)
The Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) express disgust in the mercenary tradition of the AFP and the supposed Filipino pride in the appointment of a Filipino general in the United Nations forces serving under the direction of US Imperialism. General Ecarma of the Philipine Marines was formally appointed on Monday by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as force commander and head of mission for the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in what was once the battleground of the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and Syria.
Philippine Supreme Court Orders Comelec to count Ladlad in (tags)
The EPCC NEWS learned today that the Philippine Supreme Court ordered the Commission on Elections on Tuesday to recognize the gay-rights organization Ang Ladlad as a party-list group and to print its name on ballots for the May 10 elections pending a more definitive ruling by the high court on the issue. EPCC express elation over the court issued directive after the tribunal met as a body in the form of a temporary restraining order against a Comelec ruling that disqualified Ang Ladlad from the party-list elections in May.
FIL-AM CAMPAIGN HEATS UP IN THE US AS ELECTION SEASON BEGINS (tags)
As the official election campaign begins for the Philippine presidential campaign for May 2010 elections last January 10, the Filipino-American campaign intramurals heats up in the United States. The NoyMar ( For Senators Benigno Aquino Jr. and Mar Roxas Liberal party). The current front runners in the Philippines, announced its activities for the campaign
NDF-Mindanao Hits AFP's "Four Aces" (tags)
Pesante News today learned that the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in Southern Mindanao hits the reactionary Philippine Army's stresses for 2010 calling them mere euphemism for a more vicious campaign against the Filipino people and the revolutionary movement. The fascist Philippine Army's recently pronounced four ACEs -- Army's Concern for the Environment, Army's Concern for Engineering, Army's Combat Excellence and Advocacy for Credible Elections -- is only a preliminary propaganda purveyed by its chief, the notorious Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit. Bangit, the most favored among Ms. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's bootlicking generals, is groomed to replace current AFP chief of staff Gen. Victor Ibrado. Bangit from PMA Class 1978is now posturing himself to strengthen his bid for the AFP's highest position and dispel well-founded views that he will be playing a crucial role in perpetuating Mrs. Arroyo in power. His first attempt is to deodorize his unit's notorious record of human rights violations and electoral fraud. Despite Bangit's putting-his-best-foot-forward move, the Filipino people smell the stink of the Philippine Army's four ACEs. Its ballyhooed Advocacy for Credible Elections is nothing but a machination by the reactionary AFP to push its devious game plan of ensuring Mrs. Arroyo's victory in the upcoming GRP elections and continue her hold on power.
FIL-AM CAMPAIGN FOR 2010 PRESIDENTAIL ELECTIONS HEATS UP IN THE US (tags)
With barely two weeks to the official Philippine presidential campaign for May 2010 elections in mid-January 2010, the Filipino-American campaign intramurals heats up in the United States. The latest group to form up was the NoyMar ( For Aquino-Roxas Liberal party). It was composed of former NAFFAA stalwarts Loida Nicolas Lewis of New York and the Macabenta-Rodis tandem in San Francisco. The US-based group promised to raised $ 2 million for the campaign kitty of two Philippine landlord-millionaires-Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas of the Araneta clan.
FIL-AM CAMPAIGN FOR 2010 CAMPAIGN HEATS UP IN THE US (tags)
With barely two weeks to the official Philippine presidential campaign for May 2010 elections in mid-January 2010, the Filipino-American campaign intramurals heats up in the United States. The latest group to form up was the NoyMar ( For Aquino-Roxas Liberal party). It was composed of NAFFAA stalwarts Loida Nicolas Lewis of New York and the Macabenta-Rodis tandem in San Francisco. The group promised to raised $ 2 million for the campaign kitty of two Philippine landlord-millionaires-Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas of the Araneta clan.
WHOSE COUNTRY IS IT ANYWAY? (tags)
After 11 years of peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the two sides were close to a deal known as the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. This was essentially an agreement that would have granted points of autonomy to the Moro people in Mindanao and the Southern Philippines. Just before the signing, the government stopped the negotiations on Sept. 3 and plunged into attack mode. They launched joint police-military offensives against the MILF and civilians. Since then, more than 500,000 people, mostly women and children, have been forced to abandon homes and thrown into refugee camps. Now, one-third of the Philippines is on the verge of erupting into open warfare. I'm not talking about your garden variety guerilla skirmishes here and there. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front and their allies have proven capable of launching conventional maneuvers into the theater in the past. Add to that milieu the very vibrant Communist led New People's Army Southern Command and of course the reactionary group Abu Sayyaf - then you have a situation that could explode into a conflict that could rival the Balkans in the 90's.
TIME’s homage to ‘Saint of Democracy’ is an Insult to Filipinos (tags)
“ it is not only disgusting, it was also very insulting” The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA decried today the TIME magazine homage to the late former President Corazon Aquino . The US bourgeois magazine said: “Long before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the revolutions that transformed Central and Eastern Europe, Corazon Aquino led the People Power revolution, which toppled the Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos,” US Sen. Richard Lugar wrote in a comment published by Time.
RALLY/VIGIL FOR JUSTICE, NO TO MARTIAL LAW! DEC. 10 in LA (tags)
RALLY/VIGIL FOR JUSTICE, NO TO MARTIAL LAW! DISMANTLE THE WARLORDS AND PRIVATE ARMIES! NO TO US INTERVENTION IN THE PHILIPPINES! OUST THE US- ARROYO REGIME! THURSDAY, AT 6;30 PM ,DECEMBER 10, 2009 Philippine Consulate General, Los Angeles 3600 Wilshire Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90010
RALLY/VIGIL FOR JUSTICE, Dec 10 at Phil Consulate, 3600 Wilshire Blvd. LA (tags)
RALLY/VIGIL FOR JUSTICE, DISMANTLE THE WARLORDS AND PRIVATE ARMIES! NO TO US INTERVENTION IN THE PHILIPPINES! OUST THE US- ARROYO REGIME! THURSDAY, AT 6;30 PM DECEMBER 10, 2009 Philippine Consulate General, Los Angeles 3600 Wilshire Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90010
Raging for 16 Days and Renewing Our Commitment to 365 Days of Activism (tags)
AF3IRM/GABNet/Mariposa Alliance Statement on Human Rights Day:
THE MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
A commentary on the Nov 23 slaughter of 57 civilians in Maguindanao, Philipppines, sketching the historical parameters of the event and the converging political and social forces involved, with a focus on the U.S. role in establishing the groundwork for the evils of the prevailing Arroyo state terrorism.
The US-Arroyo’s Gross Criminal Neglect , The GMA Legacy (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante-USA)- a US based environmental and peasant advocacy group since 1991 expressed outrage over the criminal neglect and extreme arrogance of the US-Arroyo regime and its hirelings. Besides coddling the NAPOCOR’s criminal neglect, now that the Arroyo administration is playing dumb and blind to the DWSD’s incompetence. While donations are rotting in DSWD warehouses, the DSWD is driving the affected people out the relocations centers and forcing them to register. It is not enough for the US-Arroyo regime to blame the victims but punishing them with such uncalled for sanctions.
GABNET COMMEMORATES ANNIVERSARY WITH ARTISTIC REPRESENTATION OF ITS 20 YEAR HISTORY (tags)
On Saturday, October 10, a hushed crowd of Gabriela Network (GABNet) members, alumni, supporters, and political allied sat in the USD Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice. The strum of a guitar and the lone voice of woman singing opened up the festivities of GABNet's 20th Anniversary.
On abduction, illegal detention, and torture of the Filipino-American Melissa Roxas (tags)
Torture is torture. Torture is barbaric. Torture of anyone is human rights violation. Torture of an NPA commander, member, trainee or sympathizer is still a torture. Torture will not bring the truth. A person undergoing torture may admit to anything he or she being accused of.
GMA AND TEODORO CANNOT CLAIM THE VETERANS VICTORY AS THEIRS (tags)
We wrote this letter as a rejoinder to the steady stream of propaganda from the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and ever willing Philippine government functionaries led by Secretary of Defense Gilberto Teodoro and his lackeys namely PVAO retired General Ernesto Carolina and their paid hacks. But the glaring fact it is more than six months now when the Stimulus Bill was passed and only less than 3,000 Filipino veterans in the United States have received their checks. We want to know what keeping the claims so slow. The United States is deliberately using the claims as a propaganda tool to make the Filipino people accept their Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the proposed changes in the 1987 constitution that will give them 100% ownership of Philippine lands and corporations.
Coup Rumors and N0 ElECTIONS in the Philippines (tags)
" Where there is smoke, there is fire" The Alliance Philippines (AJLPP) learned from news sources that after Malacanang made announced that there will be no martlal law in the Philippines" another ranking AFP general echoed the same statement. The Alliance express alarm over these statements. The same propaganda pervaded the Philippines before Marcos declared martial law in 1972. Lieutenant General Roland Detabali, current president of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) “Makatarungan” Class of 1978, defended his class from allegations that its members are plotting to keep President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in power beyond the end of her term in 2010.
REJECT US PUPPETS AND HIRELINGS IN THE COMING PHILIPPINE ELECTIONS 2010 (tags)
United States intervention in the Philippines knows no bound. The Kilusang Dekada 70 (KD70) vehemently condemns the US Department of Defense and the Heritage Foundation think-tank for meddling in the coming presidential elections in the Philippines on May 2010. The United States by propping up the presidential ambitions of Arroyo’s heir apparent Philippine defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro and giving him the necessary propaganda mileage during his visit in Washington DC and other states, is making the notion that Teodoro is the US “anointed one”. Teodoro is deliberately toeing the US line against terrorism and profess loyalty to the “US War Against Terror in Asia.”
STOP YOUR SUPPORT TO HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATOR AND CORRUPT US-Arroyo Regime (tags)
Deeply inspired by your promise of “Change We Could Believe In” during the last presidential campaign we would like to reiterate our support to your administration. We believed you would put a stop to the bankrupt policies espoused by your opponent, Senator John McCain and his fellow Republicans. With regard to the Philippines, our country of ancestry, we hoped that the “Change” you were talking about would mean a re-thinking of U.S. support for the administration of incumbent President Gloria Arroyo, whose record of corruption and violation of human rights has now surpassed that of the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos.
US nuclear-powered carrier entry to Manila violates Philippine Constitution (tags)
US nuclear-powered carrier entry to Manila violates ASEAN Treaty The following manifestation was made by Rep. Walden Bello of the Party-list Akbayan! on the floor of the House of Representatives of the Philippines on August 13, 2009. It was prepared by Herbert Docena of Focus on the Global South.
PESANTE CONDEMNS MYMAR COURT DECISION ON AUNG SAN SUU KYI (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA strongly condemns the ‘s Myanmar court decision to convict Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday ( Aug 12 in Asia) of violating her house arrest by allowing an uninvited American to stay at her home. The head of the military-ruled country ordered the democracy leader to serve an 18-month sentence under house arrest. Pesante-USA exclaimed that “ The decision puts into shame the Obama-Arroyo meeting in which Obama congratulated Philippine president Gloria M. Arroyo on the Philippine advocacy for Aung San and Burma’s human rights situation”. Pesante pointed out: “ The US adherance on human rights for Burma is just lip service as it ignores the tragic human rights situation and the abuses of the Philippine military and Arroyo’s “culture of impunity” against all human rights victims in the Philippines.
FILIPINO -AMERICANS HOLDS MEMORIAL MASSES/PRAYERS FOR PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT CORY (tags)
The Filipino American community held prayer meetings and memorial masses for President Cory Aquino on August 4 and 6 in Los Angeles. On Thursday, August 6, the memorial mass was held at the St.Columban Filipino Church in Historic Filipinotwn Los Angeles. It was led by the Echo Park Community Coalition. Veterans of the anti-martial law movement in the United States and in the Philippines were present at the mass. Fr, john Brannnigan, a friend of the Aquino family and Fr, Frisco Entines, a veteran rights advocate officiated the mass. The solemn mass songs in Filipino was sung by the Parish Generation Choir.
On the PGMA-Obama Meeting On July 29-31 in the US (tags)
“ I did not become president to be popular”. Taking a cue from the dictator Marcos who said, “I did not become president to preside of the death of the Philippine republic” in 1972, Gloria M. Arroyo made her intentions very clear and went to the United States to seek the blessing and support of the new US president. Like all Philippine presidents before her, she will kowtow and try to impress the chief executive officer of the ruling capitalist class of the United States. She will for sure in the name of “fighting global; terrorism and “climate change” align her interest with the US of the capitalist class.
MELISSA ROXAS: As Palparan Fails to Break Roxas in Manila, US Legal Team Files Complaint.. (tags)
While former Philippine military leader-turned-lawmaker Jovito Palparan fails to break the credibility of American citizen Melissa Roxas’ testimony that it was the Philippine military that tortured and abducted her last May during a hearing before the Philippine House Committee on Human Rights in Manila, official complaints of torture have already been filed by Roxas’ US legal team with the United Nations in Geneva and United States State Department.
Melissa Roxas: Torture, Not Political Affiliation, Is the Issue (tags)
The latest accusations of Philippine Congressman Jovito Palparan should bear no weight in determining the outcome of the ongoing investigation on the case of American torture victim Melissa Roxas. This must only be determined by the facts, including the evidence currently being gathered by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in the Philippines.
COMMODORE RAMON ALCARAZ, THE ADMIRAL WHO NEVER WAS (tags)
The Kilusang Dekada 70 ( KD70) composed of First Quarter Storm and martial law activists based in the United States pays tribute to Philippine Navy Commodore Ramon Alcaraz, a martial law and anti-Marcos activist. He died June 25 in Orange County, Southern California. Commodore Alcaraz is a World War II veteran and a survivor of Bataan. He belonged to PMA class 1940 and commanded the fleet of PT boats of the fledgling Philippine Commonwealth Navy that was placed under the command of USAFFE when the whole Commonwealth army as conscripted in 1941.
PGMA CONSOLIDATES US FORCES, MEET AND GREET FIL-AM COMMUNITY (tags)
"Ati cupong singsing, metunyan timpukan" With the Kapampangan music sung by the choir, amidst heavy security and with a intimate mostly Kapampangan crowd, Philippine President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo met and greets the Filipino American community in Los Angeles in a breakfast meeting at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel last Saturday, June 20. The President paid tribute to the Filipino American overseas workers PGMA also mentioned the fact that “ more than two-thirds (2/3) of all overseas remittances to the Philippines comes from the more than3 million Filipinos in the United States.” She also acknowledges that these remittances keeps the Philippine economy floating.
PGMA CONSOLIDATES US FORCES, MEET AND GREET FIL-AM COMMUNITY (tags)
With the Kapampangan music sung by the choir, amidst heavy security and with a intimate mostly Kapampangan crowd, Philippine President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo met and greets the Filipino American community in Los Angeles in a breakfast meeting at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel last June 21. The President paid tribute to the Filipino American overseas workers PGMA also mentioned the fact that “ more than two-thirds (2/3) of all overseas remittances to the Philippines comes from the more than3 million Filipinos in the United States.” She also acknowledges that these remittances keeps the Philippine economy floating.
But the biggest lesson is- until the election process is straighten out, FACLA will be the expression of the old type Philippine politics; filled with regionalism, animosities fills the air and the cycle of traditional politics pervades the community. FACLA will always remain with a bitter fruit with a bitter taste-MAPAKLA.
JUNE 13 JFAV KALAYAAN ACTIVITIES IN LA, A SUCCESS! (tags)
The Filipino Veterans and their students and youth advocates commemorated the 111th Independence of the Philippines with a flag raising ceremony at the Hollywood Presbyterian medical Center (HPMC) Fair on June 13. Despite the June gloom, hundreds of seniors, HPMC personnel, community folks and veterans raised the Philippine flag in a flag ceremony at around 9:45 in the morning on June 13 at the opening of the HPMC Community fair at Vermont at Fountain Sts. They were led by SGS Commander Jack Vergara, AWARE president Lulu Astilla and JFAV National Coordinator Arturo P. Garcia. Philippine Consul general Mary Jo B. Aragon was the guest of honor.
JFAV KALAYAAN CONCERT JUNE 13 IN LA (tags)
MABUHAY ANG ARAW NG KALAYAAN! The Filipino Veterans and their students and youth advocates commemorated the 111th Independence of the Philippines with a fundraising concert in Historic Filipinotown and a flag raising ceremony at the Hollywood Presbyterian medical Center (HPMC) Fair on June 13. Despite the June gloom, hundreds of seniors, HPMC personnel, community folks and veterans raised the Philippine flag in a flag ceremony at around 9:45 in the morning on June 13 at the opening of the HPMC Community fair at Vermont at Fountain Sts. They were led by SGS Commander Jack Vergara, AWARE president Lulu Astilla and JFAV National Coordinator Arturo P. Garcia. Philippine Consul general Mary Jo B. Aragon was the guest of honor.
On the Recent FACLA elections, May 31, 2009 (tags)
In one day, the FACLA elections brought FACLA from the modern age (US style) to the dark ages (Philippine Style). To compare, in November 16, elections FACLA paid $ 7,000 for a computerized elections and the elections was done within hours and elections results known to the public. In the May 31 court ordered elections. The elections were done Philippine style. With board tabulations and poll clerks with watchers coming from just one party. The Party that won the elections by a landslide- the Ideal Party.
JUNE 11 INDEPENDENCE DAY COMMUNITY FORUM HELD IN LA (tags)
Two poles apart. As thousands of well heeled, best dressed Filipinos gathered in a plush hotel for a gala Independence Day night on June 13 for the Philippine consulate, scores of angry Filipino American and their allies voiced out their protests against fake independence in the Philippines. “ Fight for real independence and sovereignty!” —this was the call of the Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP), GABNET-LA and ANSWER-LA as they held their community forum last June 11 at ANSWER office at 137 Virgil St. Los Angeles, CA. 90004.
Military Abuses Vs Filipino Peasants Continues (tags)
Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA condemns and militantly protest the continuing acts of impunity of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) against the democratic forces in the Philippines This came after two dozen men in fatigue uniforms broke into the office of a militant farmers’ cooperative in Sanchez Mira in northwestern Cagayan shortly after midnight on June 11, mauled farmers staying in it to participate in a seminar, and ran away with undisclosed amounts of cash and goods . According to reports, 20 armed men forcibly entered the Mass Cooperative office in Bgy. Massisit in Sanchez Mira here and mauled the seminar participants, some members of the party list group Anak Pawis, aside their taking money and valuables.
MILITARY ABUSES AgAINST FILIPINO PEASANTS CONTINUES (tags)
he US based Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA condemns and militantly protest the continuing acts of impunity of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) against the democratic forces in the Philippines This came after two dozen men in fatigue uniforms broke into the office of a militant farmers’ cooperative in Sanchez Mira in northwestern Cagayan shortly after midnight on June 11, mauled farmers staying in it to participate in a seminar, and ran away with undisclosed amounts of cash and goods . Pesante -USA noted that similar cases of political harassment of militants in Cagayan province had occurred in the past, the most prominent being the burning two years ago of a community radio station in Baggao town which was put up with the help of the party-list group Bayan Muna.
FILAM ACTIVISTS RALLIED VS CHACHA IN LA (tags)
NO US INSPIRED CHARTER CHANGE, US OUT OF THE PHILIPPINES! Scores of Filipino American activist with their solidarity comrades militantly picketed and rallied in front of the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles in solidarity with the mass protests in the Philippines yesterday, June 9 ( June 10 in the Philippines) Activists from the Alliance –Philippines (AJLPP) , the Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC), GABNET-LA and ANSWER-LA added their voices with the Filipino people in stopping and exposing the US-inspired charter change that seeks to perpetuate GMA in power.
Celebrating Philippine Independence Day (tags)
The Philippine flag acquires added prominence these days on the occasion of the observance of the Declacration of Philippine Independence.
FILAM ACTIVISTS RALLIED VS CHACHA (tags)
NO US INSPIRED CHARTER CHANGE, US OUT OF THE PHILIPPINES! Scores of Filipino American activist with their solidarity comrades militantly picketed and rallied in front of the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles in solidarity with the mass protests in the Philippines yesterday, June 9 ( June 10 in the Philippines) Activists from the Alliance –Philippines (AJLPP) , the Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC), GABNET-LA and ANSWER-LA added their voices with the Filipino people in stopping and exposing the US-inspired charter change that seeks to perpetuate GMA in power.
US HAS A HAND ON PROPOSED CHARTER CHANGE (tags)
In a press conference held on Monday June 2, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said the U.S. military’s partnership with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) can be used as a model in fighting terrorism worldwide. Gates made the statement during his visit to Manila for a high level meeting with his Philippine counterpart - Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilbert Teodoro. Clearly this was a vote of confidence on the Arroyo regime's on-going war against legitimate people's movements in the Philippines from a key member of the Obama Team himself. Emboldened by Gate's statement and promise of continuing military assistance from the United States, on June 3, against the backdrop of worsening economic crisis, of intensifying political killings and forced disappearances and escalating military conflict in Southern Philippines - in a brazen act of indifference and cowardice - the Arroyo controlled congress passed House Resolution 1109 which turned the lower house into a constituent assembly. This will make it possible for the U.S.- Arroyo regime to tinker with the 1987 constitution to further tighten and continue their stranglehold on the country and its people.
SAVE THE DATES; KALAYAAN (FREEDOM) PHILIPPINE SERIES: JUNE 11-13,, 2009 (tags)
One hundred eleven years ago, the Filipino revolutionaries won and declared their independence from colonial Spain on June 12, 1898. Two months after on August 13, 1898, the United States occupied Manila and seven months later on Feb 4, 1899 declared war on the Philippines and crushed the young republic. 111 years later the Filipinos are still in struggle for true independence and sovereignty. With the VFA imposed,active US intervention and a culture of impunity of human rights violations forced on the Filipinos-- the Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) and its allies commemorate Philippine Independence with fierce struggle in the United States with the following activities:
( The AJLPP Secretariat reprinted the editorial of the Inquirer, the prime newspaper in the Philippines in its reaction in the CA decision on the Smith rape case) MANILA---Close this When the Court of Appeals handed down its decision acquitting Daniel Smith, no one was surprised. The departure of “Nicole,” his accuser, from our shores had already conditioned the country into believing an “arrangement” was in the works. In that sense, whatever the actual merits of the court’s decision, the case may be relegated as yet another one decided on clout rather than in fulfilment of justice. The United States can claim it fulfilled the letter—though not the spirit—of the Visiting Forces Agreement by keeping Smith in Manila throughout the judicial process, but not a second longer. Smith is now out of sight and, probably, out of mind—seemingly the objective of both the Philippine and American governments. Smith’s co-defendants went on to dishonorable or less-than-honorable discharge from the military. And no one expects Smith to be glorified or rewarded by his military or country. But that is a pretty small consolation for the manner in which Smith’s case proved that the VFA is a lopsided agreement; and worse, that the instinct of our own officials is not to assert Philippine rights and processes but to kowtow and grant every possible consideration to American wishes. Public opinion forced the prosecution of Smith and company. Public opinion kept the justice system creaking along; and while the beginning of the case found American authorities complying with their obligations under the VFA, Philippine authorities began finding ways to subvert the spirit of the agreement. Most dramatic of all was the handing over of Smith to American custody in the dead of night in December 2006. All throughout the judicial process itself, it was hard to tell whether the Department of Justice, for one, was lawyering for the government, the alleged rape victim, or the American soldiers.
40 years of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) (tags)
The Communist Party of the Philippines is the shining star of the Filipino people. For 40 years, the Party has engaged in fierce struggle and has led the people's revolution paving the way for a just society. The Party celebrates its 40th founding anniversary with far greater resolve to serve the Filipino people to the fullest of its capacity.
Photo Essay: 40 years of the Communist Party of the Philippines (2) (tags)
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is the shining star of the Filipino people. For 40 years, the Party has engaged in fierce struggle and has led the people's revolution paving the way for a just society. The Party celebrates its 40th founding anniversary with far greater resolve to serve the Filipino people to the fullest of its capacity.
32,000 MARK REACHED THIS APRIL: MORE VETERANS DYING WITHOUT BENEFITS (tags)
“The more the merrier” With this as a rule the Philippine and the US governments braces itself for more troubles as the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles confirmed today that there were more than 32,000 Filipino veterans have applied for lump sum benefits since February 2009. During the commemoration of 67th Bataan Day in Los Angeles last April 9, 2009, Los Angeles Deputy Consul Daniel Espiritu confirmed that there were more than 32,000 veterans who have applied and are having their claims processed in the Philippines and the United States. The problem of more applicants for the benefits still plagues the veterans.
MORE VETERANS APPLYING FOR BENEFITS; 32,000 MARK REACHED THIS APRIL (tags)
“The more the merrier” With this as a rule the Philippine and the US governments braces itself for more troubles as the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles confirmed today that there were more than 32,000 Filipino veterans have applied for lump sum benefits since February 20098. During the commemoration of 67th Bataan Day in Los Angeles last April 9, 2009, Los Angeles Deputy Consul Daniel Espiritu confirmed that there were more than 32,000 veterans who have applied and are having their claims processed in the Philippines and the United States. The problem of more applicants for the benefits still plagues the veterans.
BAYAN-USA Holds 3rd Congress in Los Angeles Amidst VFA Protests (tags)
Information about BAYAN-USA congress scheduled for March 27-29, 2009. Progressive members of the Filipino community representing labor, youth, church groups, academia, and cultural workers will gather in Los Angeles.
RP-US Government Created Huge Problem on Veterans Claims (tags)
The Philippine and United States government created a huge problem about Filipino World War II claims. The JFAV is expecting a lot of applications to be filed until Feb 16, 2010. This is due to the fact that PVAO admitted that there are 40,000 still living veterans in the Philippines. There are around 6,000 veterans living in the United States. In this connection, JFAV National Coordinator Arturo P. Garcia criticized both the Philippine and US governments “for giving false hopes to the poor, disabled and old veterans. What will they say to those veterans who will not be paid. That they were not veterans because they their papers are not in order? “ Garcia also said: “ Besides not giving widows any benefits the law is flawed because it only provided benefits for 18,000 veterans. “
On November 1, 2005, Nicole, a 22-year-old Filipina, was observed being dumped out of a van in a semi-unclothed and semi-conscious state. The van contained three U.S. troops who were in the Philippines for the annual joint military exercises with the Philippine Armed Forces. Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith was subsequentlly charged with rape before the Philippine courts. He was found guilty and sentenced to 40 years. After spending 30 days in a Philippine jail, he was spirited out at midnight to the U.S. embassy where he is said to remain while his case goes through the Court of Appeals. This month, Nicole signed an affidavit saying she might have given the wrong signals to Cpl. Smith. She was given an immigration visa for the U.S. The Filipino people are demanding that the Visiting Forces Agreement signed by President Bush and President Estrada, who was overthrown in 2001, be abrogated for its onerous provisions against the sovereignty of the Philippines.
ARROYO'S NEW POLITICAL CIRCUS; COL> MANCAO AS A STATE WITNESS ON DACER-CORBITO CASE (tags)
In a new political circus staged-managed by US puppet Arroyo, self-exiled police superintendent Cezar Mancao II said he agreed to become a state witness to the Dacer-Corbito double murder case and will no longer contest the extradition applied for by the Philippine government against him. The Alliance-Philippines sources learned that Legal counsel Arnedo Valera, Esq. based in Virginia revealed that upon agreement with the Department of Justice, Mancao executed an affidavit on February 14, 2009, revealing significant facts and names of individuals alleged involved in the murder of Salvador Dacer and his driver Corbito in 2000.
Statement of Solidarity for Filipino Workers of Hanjin Subic bay (tags)
We, the Filipino American community in the United States and their allies express our militant solidarity with Hanjin Shipyard workers in their struggle to unionize and thus end their deplorable working conditions which has led to at least 24 deaths. In January of this year, two more were killed while just as February began, 24 were hurt when a bus carrying workers to the shipyard overturned. We are appalled at the slow response of the Philippine Senate and the Executive branch and their failure to act on the continuing fatal accidents and deaths of workers at Hanjin Shipbuilding.
On the History of Veterans Equity Struggle (tags)
A certain lawyer from San Francisco wrote his own version of the 63 years Filipino veterans struggle for equity and justice. Patterned after the waves in the history of Filipino migration to the United States, he ended the history with a glorious victory for the lump sum and so-called recognition and he called it“ the rescinding of the rescission act.” Like a typical American historian/academician he tried to simplify it in “ five different and distinct phases”
FILAMS DEMANDS FULL RECOGNITION AND EQUITY (tags)
The Filipino American community marked the 63rd Anniversary of the unjust Recission Act of 1946 last Feb 18, 2009 with different kinds of protests all over the United States. The protests is in contrasts to other organizations like NAFFAA and ACFV who called for celebrations and gratitude to the US and Philippine governments for the long delayed benefits. * In San Francisco, two hundred vets, students, widows, teachers and activists gathered in two separate events on Feb. 17 and Feb 18 to mark the 63rd anniversary of the Rescission Act with protest, amidst celebration by the mendicant Philippine government and some pro- lump sum organizations in the US.
PHILIPPINES: Scrap the Visiting Forces Agreement now! (tags)
The secret Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) document exposed by Sen. Joker Arroyo is the latest in a string of arguments to hang the iniquitous agreement. The secret document is an insult that adds to the injury of Daniel Smith’s contempt of our justice system.
FILAMS DEMANDS FULL RECOGNITION AND EQUITY (tags)
The Filipino American community marked the 63rd Anniversary of the unjust Recission Act of 1946 last Feb 18, 2009 with different kinds of protests all over the United States. The protests is in contrasts to other organizations like the ACFV and NAFFAA who called for celebrations and gratitude to the US and Philippine governments for the long delayed benefits. * In San Francisco, two hundred vets, students, widows, teachers and activists gathered in two separate events on Feb. 17 and Feb 18 to mark the 63rd anniversary of the Rescission Act with protest, amidst celebration by the mendicant Philippine government and some pro- lump sum organizations in the US. * In Los Angeles, more than a hundred veterans, widows and advocates gathered at the Veterans Memorial monument at Lake Street Park n February 18th.
ARROYO"S NEW BASELINE IS A SELLOUT TO CHINA (tags)
The Philippine revolutionary movement today slammed the 2009 Baseline Bill, saying that it kowtows to the demands of the Chinese government for the Philippines to surrender its claim of sovereignty over the Kalayaan Islands (Spratly Islands, in international nomenclature) and nearby Scarborough Shoals. The bill was approved Wednesday by the Senate and House of Representatives and will soon be signed into law by Arroyo. The statement that came from the Philippine revolution. net said :"This is nothing but a sellout to China in exchange for the largesse that Gloria and Mike Arroyo have been receiving from corrupt Chinese bureaucrats and big compradors," said the Filipino revolutionary movement represented by the CPP.
WW 2 Filipino vets, widows, students and activists Demand Full Recognition (tags)
The Filipino American community marked the 63rd Anniversary of the unjust Recission Act of 1946 last Feb 18, 2009 with different kinds of protests all over the United States. * In San Francisco, two hundred vets, students, widows, teachers and activists gathered in two separate events on Feb. 17 and Feb 18 to mark the 63rd anniversary of the Rescission Act with protest, amidst celebration by the mendicant Philippine government and some pro- lump sum organizations in the US. “To date, our military service and courage in defending the US during World War 2 have never been fully recognized, so there is a reason for us to continue the fight!,” said Philippine Scout Gomer Bondad during a forum held at the Rosenberg Library of the City College of San Francisco. * In Los Angeles, more than a hundred veterans, widows and advocates gathered at the Veterans Memorial monument at Lake Street Park n February 18th. Los Angeles Council President Eric Garcetti and Congresswoman Royball-Allard graced the occasion as guests of honor.
LETTER OF SOLIDARITY TO HANJIN WORKERS IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
We, the Filipino American community in the United States and their allies express our militant solidarity with Hanjin Shipyard workers in their struggle to unionize and thus end their deplorable working conditions which has led to at least 24 deaths. In January of this year, two more were killed while just as February began, 24 were hurt when a bus carrying workers to the shipyard overturned. We are appalled at the slow response of the Philippine Senate and the Executive branch and their failure to act on the continuing fatal accidents and deaths of workers at Hanjin Shipbuilding. While we hold Hanjin, a South Korean transnational corporation employing 15,000 workers in the Philippines, directly accountable for the extremely unacceptable living and working conditions of Filipino workers, we equally hold the Philippine government complicit for acting against the country's national interests and against Filipino workers interests. We demand that the Philippine Government compel the Hanjin Shipyard company to clean up the docks and work areas, ensure worker safety, enforce environmental laws and provide just wages and benefits to Filipino workers.
AJLPP: SUPREME COURT DECISION ON SMITH RAPE CASE CONTRADICTS ITSELF (tags)
The Alliance Philippines (AJLPP) scored the ambivalent and double standard Philippine Supreme Court’s decision that said that US Marine Daniel Smith could be continuously detained in the US Embassy while he appeals his case in court. AJLPP condemns the self- contradictory rule that has been the hallmark of the Supreme Court ever since time immemorial. The ruling that the convicted marine must be jailed in a Philippine facility that cannot be implemented just perpetrates the colonial status of the Philippines under the rule of the United States.
STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY FOR HANJIN WORKERS (tags)
We, the Filipino American community in the United States and their allies express our militant solidarity with Hanjin Shipyard workers in their struggle to unionize and thus end their deplorable working conditions which has led to at least 24 deaths. In January of this year, two more were killed while just as February began, 24 were hurt when a bus carrying workers to the shipyard overturned. We are appalled at the slow response of the Philippine Senate and the Executive branch and their failure to act on the continuing fatal accidents and deaths of workers at Hanjin Shipbuilding.
Philippines agrees to settle NYC taxes for $9-M to save $29-M (tags)
Corruption stretch from the Philippine sea to the other side of the shining seas- in the United States. AJLPP learned through media sources that New York mayor Michael Bloomberg welcomed the Philippine government’s promise to pay $9 million in property taxes, including interest, calling it “what every other law-abiding property owner does.”
LACSON BOYS TO BE FREED BY US COURTS (tags)
The AJLPP learned today that a Federal Appeals court on Friday vacated the sentence of a former Philippine National Police officer imprisoned for possessing secret US documents. Michael Ray Aquino is serving a six-year, four-month sentence after pleading guilty to unauthorized possession of classified documents.The new ruling in US District Court concluded that the sentence was based on a mistaken interpretation of federal guidelines. "For the AJLPP the news of the release proves that the charade of injustice is ever present when it comes to the cabal of AFP men who served as worst human rights violator and proven puppets of the United Statesmilitary like the Lacson boys," AJLPP said.
LACSON BOYS TO BE FREED BY US COURTS (tags)
The AJLPP learned today that a Federal Appeals court on Friday vacated the sentence of a former Philippine National Police officer imprisoned for possessing secret US documents. Michael Ray Aquino is serving a six-year, four-month sentence after pleading guilty to unauthorized possession of classified documents.The new ruling in US District Court concluded that the sentence was based on a mistaken interpretation of federal guidelines. "For the AJLPP the news of the release proves that the charade of injustice is ever present when it comes to the cabal of AFP men who served as worst human rights violator and proven puppets of the United Statesmilitary like the Lacson boys," AJLPP said.
ARROYO SNUBBED AGAIN BY OBAMA (tags)
US President Barack Obama is proving to be a very elusive prey for a Philippine President supposedly dogging him for a meeting. Instead Arroyo met withUS State Secretary Clinton. Ms Arroyo briefed Clinton on the government’s refocusing the campaign for peace in Mindanao from the armed groups to dialogues with communities, and that engagement with insurgent groups like the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would be about “disarmament, demobilization and rehabilitation”.
Philippines: Don’t revive the “Monster of Morong, Bataan” (tags)
Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) to Philippine Congress: Don't revive Bataan Nuclear Power Plant
There is a flurry of activities in the Philippine countryside spurred by the recent escalation of UN campaign on climate change. Forums, symposiums and trade shows, addressing the issues and technology are taking the character of a new cottage industry in the making. But what is remarkably noticeable is the proliferation of foreign companies peddling a plethora of items related to the UN initiative, from contraptions to capture fugitive emission to financing mechanisms and templates on organizational structures to facilitate a better chance of certification from pertinent UN bodies.
"VALKYRIE”- A CASE STUDY OF A FAILED COUP (tags)
Valkyrie can pass as a suspense thriller even if the people know in the first what is the result. It is always nice to know how men of principles act and improvise in their greatest moment of decision or indecision.
GABNET LOS ANGELES AND PESANTE USA COMMEMORATE MENDIOLA MASSACRE; (tags)
Gabnet of the Mariposa Alliance and PESANTE-USA held a commemorative and educational forum on the 22nd anniversary of the Mendiola Massacre. Activists and community members gathered at Historic Filipinotown to hear about the 1987 event and discuss the ongoing struggle for peasant and human rights in the Philippines. The event was opened by Al Garcia of PESANTE-USA who described the January 22,1987 Mendiola Massacre, where 15,000 peasants peacefully rallying for genuine land reform were ruthlessly fired upon by the police and the Philippine Mari
Peace Group Demands Shutdown of Israeli Embassy (tags)
‘SEVER TIES WITH WAR CRIMINALS’ SAYS GROUP 13 January 2008: Carrying a giant eviction order and a mock padlock, the broad anti-war group, Stop the War Coalition-Philippines, went to the Israeli embassy today to symbolically order its closure.
PESANTE COMMEMORATES MENDIOLA MASSACRE (tags)
On Thursday, January 22nd, Gabnet of the Mariposa Alliance will co-host an educational forum with PESANTE and the Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) in Los Angeles. The groups will meet to commemorate the 22nd Year of the January 22,1987 Mendiola Massacre, where 15,000 peasants peacefully rallying for genuine land reform from the newly installed US-Aquino Regime were ruthlessly fired upon by the police and the Philippine Marines. Thirteen protesters were killed and over 150 others were wounded. The AFP was after the NDF negotiating panel who were in Manila in 1987 during the 60 day ceasefire. Unable to liquidate their targets they pounced on the defend less peasants in Mendiola that day.
REMEMBERING MENDIOLA, Jan 22, 2009 at FACLA (tags)
On January 22nd, 1987 government forces opened fire at a demonstration for agrarian reform on Mendiola St in Manila. As a result, 13 peasants were massacred, while 150 were severely wounded. This January 22nd we will remember those who have fallen for peace and justice in the Philippines. Join us as we discuss the root causes that continue to exist and oppress people worldwide.
CPP WARNS OF ATTACKS VS BALIKATAN WAR EXERCISE (tags)
AJLPP learned from news sources in the Philippines that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has ordered its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), to attack American and Filipino military forces when they hold joint exercises in the Bicol region in April. "NPA units in Bicol are specifically instructed to launch as many tactical offensives as they can in many areas of the region in mockery of the Balikatan [Shoulder to Shoulder] exercises and to prevent the US military from strengthening its foothold in the region," the CPP said in a statement sent to Philippine Daily Inquirer Sunday.
Israel’s claims of self-defense are clearly refuted by the disproportionate consequences of its aggression. With the death toll rising to 599, including 133 children, 33 women, and 6 medics, Israel can no longer hide the fact that its actions are tantamount to genocide, as Richard Falk, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Territories, has pointed out.
Prof. Sison Greets the CPP on its 40th Year (tags)
As founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), I convey warmest greetings of comradeship to all CPP cadres and members on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the CPP. I share your joy in celebrating all the struggles waged and all the victories won by the CPP and the Filipino people in the last four decades of the new democratic revolution.
PESANTE CONDEMNS JR 19 OF PHILIPPINE CONGRESS (tags)
“Cats with gloves cannot catch mice” The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA vehemently condemns the anti-peasant Joint Resolution No. 19. Passed by the Philippine Congress before it went to its Christmas season recess. Pesante-USA stands with and wholeheartedly support the walk-out of progressive party list members and their principled opposition to the landlord schemes. ( Below is the full text of the progressive party list statement) After more than twenty years of sham land reform we contemptuously called “BIGAY-BAWI”, the ruling clique of the US-Arroyo regime who are prime despotic landlords in their respective areas, consolidated their hold like the landlords of El Salvador and Colombia and really are counter-revolutionaries at heart.
Human Rights Begins at Home (tags)
On December 10th, 2008, DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association celebrates the 60th anniversary of United Declaration of Human Rights with the domestic workers, women, im/migrants, people of color and all oppressed people whose human rights are under attack and are struggling for justice, dignity and liberation. Filipino im/migrant women workers continue to face the brunt on the deepening global economic crisis and are subjected to rampant human rights violations perpetrated by bad employers, diplomats, governments. We demand that individuals and institutions be accountable for upholding the basic rights of all people as recognized in the United Declaration of Human Rights and the need to develop additional protection for domestic workers. Like Marichu Baoanan, a Filipina nursing school graduate and caregiver who filed 15 counts of trafficking, forced labor and racketeering against former Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations Lauro Baja, women workers from around the world have first-hand experience of abuse, dehumanization and enslavement. Marichu was forced to make the painful and risky decision of migrating abroad in the interest of her family's survival. While she expected to earn a living in a forieign land, away from her family and familiarity of her homeland, she did not anticipate the slave wage equivalent to 6 cents per hour, 18-hour working conditions and being subjected to routine insults, curses and humiliation.
AJLPP: RP-US war games in Luzon –An Act of Armed Intervention (tags)
The AJLPP vehemently condemns US-RP BALIKATAN joint military exercises in the Philippines. The AJLPP said that US imperialism aims to further strengthen its military position in the Philippines and in the Asia-Pacific region amid the severe crises besetting the US and its puppet regime. The AJLPP denounced the series of Balikatan exercises as "a continuing outright violation of national sovereignty, as armed foreign troops are allowed to freely operate, and even engage in combat as well as intelligence and other military operations in Philippine territory.” The AJLPP likewise condemned the puppet Arroyo government "for allowing the US to use the revival of its military bas
AJLPP Condemns US War Games (tags)
As Philippine and US troops began Wednesday a two-week integrated ground and air training meant to improve their forces' skills in fighting terrorism and responding to disasters and security situations,the AJLPP condemns such acts of brazen military intervention in the Philippines. More than 60 military exercises or war games were conducted in the Philippines since the VFA was approved in 1999 according to AJLPP. The US-RP military war games commenced in the former US Clark Air base in Pampanga. It is now callled Diosdado Macapagal Airport after the current president 's father.
AJLPP Condemns RP-US war games in Luzon, Says It's An Act of Armed Intervention (tags)
As Philippine and US troops began Wednesday a two-week integrated ground and air training meant to improve their forces' skills in fighting terrorism and responding to disasters and security situations. the AJLPP condems such acts of brazen military intervention in the Philippines.
Very few people know that the US military is directly involved in the fierce fighting going on in the Philippines between the Moro insurgents and the corrupt and brutal Arroyo regime supported by the Bush neocons and the warmongering Pentagon planners. Will you continue to allow US tax dollars to be wasted in this barbaric genocidal war against indigenous peoples? Over a thousand extrajudicial killings and "forced disappearances" under Arroyo's tenure, plus a few hundred Muslims dead as "collateral damage," may be the signs of US "benevolent hegemony" (Robert Kagan) and US "magnanimous imperial power" (Dinesh D'Souza). McKinley's "Benevolent Assimilation" lives on!
When Japan surrendered on Aug. 14, 1945, we who had fought as regular army or as guerrillas suddenly became veterans. The terrible war was finally over and everybody looked to picking up the pieces in a regime of peace. From what I read in the papers, the pension is not much. But the feeling among most veterans seems to be that whatever the pension may finally be, it will be better than nothing. The Americans have pummeled the Filipino veterans into submission. He now goes around with a begging bowl in hand. This is the greatest insult and the most pitiful tragedy.
RP's Sorreta Must stop Being An Apologist for the US Congress (tags)
We, the Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) take exception and criticized the apologies of Philippine Embassy Charge d’ affaires Carlos Sorreta that after the passage of SB 1315 minus the Filipino provisions “that the quest for justice should not be divisive” In the first we ask who is dividing whom? This is the first time that all Filipino veterans groups, the community and all our allies are united against HB 6897 which is a quit claim bill and for SB 1315. The fact that SB 1315 passed the US Senate with a vote of 96-1 is a testament of that unity.
Philippine women’s groups urge lawmakers to pass Reproductive Health Bill (tags)
MANILA, Philippines – A day before several lawmakers deliver their respective sponsorship speeches on the controversial bill promoting the use of both artificial and natural means of family planning, among others, a network of more than 50 non-government and people's organizations advocating women's and people's rights today urged other members of the House of Representatives to affirm women’s right to reproductive self-determination, and to support the immediate passage of the Reproductive Health Bill.
PHILIPPINES: Suspend US Military Deployments to Mindanao (tags)
A broad coalition of NGOs, social movements, and political parties from Mindanao and the rest of the country today called for all US military deployments in Mindanao suspended pending the conclusion of a fair and thorough probe by lawmakers.
YOUTH PROTESTS IMELDA MARCOS (tags)
The choice of former first lady Imelda Marcos as "guest of honor" at a youth leadership conference opening in Baguio City on Sunday has raised a furor among education officials, as well as various teacher and student groups. The controversial wife of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos will be honored for her “contribution to Philippine culture and arts” at the DepEd’s annual National Leadership Training for Student Government Officers at the Teachers Camp. The four-day conference is a project of the DepEd's Center for Students and Co-Curricular Affairs, or CSCA.
OPPOSITION BET MAYOR BINAY BLASTS GMA IN LA VISIT (tags)
Presumptive presidential candidate for the President of the Philippines. Makati Ciy mayor Jejomar Binay held a press conference at Bahay Kubo restaurant in Historic Filipinotown Los Angeles, yesterday, August 27,2008. Addressing a jam packed hall with Filipino community leaders from all over California, Mayor Jojo Binay lambasted the failed policies of current Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in his capacity as the PDP-Laban president and the United Opposition (UNO), He is reportedly supported by former President Joseph “Erap”Estrada.
AJLPP CONDEMNS US INTERVENTION IN MINDANAO (tags)
“We want peace now, stop the Philippine military offensives in Mindanao.” The Alliance-Philippines strongly demanded that the US-Arroyo regime stop all military offensives in Mindanao and return to negotiations. The AJLPP also condemned the US armed intervention in Mindanao. This as the number of war refugees swelled up to 300,000 from 210,000 in two weeks as the conflict escalates. The AJLPP also supports the stand of Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo that “arming civilians would not help the government’s efforts to restore peace in southern Philippines. He said, “We are against it, because violence can never be a solution. It will not solve the problem,”
SGSI Commander Manuel Aquino, 91 (tags)
Commander Manny Aquino, past president of the Filipino World War II veterans group –the Society of Guerillas and Scouts International (SGSI) based in Los Angeles passed away last August 5, 2008. He was 91 years old. Cmdr. Manny Aquino was a World War II Bataan veteran and fought under the USAFFE. He was also a survivor of the infamous Death March and later a guerilla. He served under the Philippine Army and fought under PEFTOK during the Korean War from 1950-1954. He later joined the Philippine Navy until he retired from military service while in the Philippines. Cmdr. Aquino succeeded Cmdr. Isidro Bathan and held the post of SGI commander until he was relieved by Cmdr. Jack Vergara in December 16, 2006. He was an active member of the army reserve and its honor guard. He was born on August 13, 1917 in the Philippines and lived in Carson.
BUSH SENDS NUCLEAR AIRCRAFT CARRIER TO THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
With the subservience of the Arroyo regime, Bush continues the political-military intervention in the "killing field" of the Philippines, wasting millions of tax-dollars in suppressing the Moro insurgents and Filipino national-democrats, abetting the horrendous extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances and widespread poverty and oppression, all in the name of the war against "terrorism," a code-word for popular resistance against global capital's greed and inhumane devastation of the planet.
Ka Dan, Captain Danilo Vizmanos, PN (Retired), 79 (tags)
The First Quarter Storm Network (FQSN)-USA pays tribute to retired Navy Captain Danilo “Ka Dan” Vizmanos, military officer turned political activist, who died Monday night (June 23) at the age of 79. Ka Dan Vizmanos had fought martial law and crusaded against the United States military bases in the Philippines, among other patriotic causes. A Philippine Navy captain, a graduate of the famous US Merchant Marine Academy and an expert in submarine warfare, he joined the national democratic movement, blazing a trail for others like him in the military to follow. Upon the declaration of martial law
On the Recent 10-Day Visit of Phil. Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the US (tags)
The 10-day visit of U.S.-backed Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) and ten of her Cabinet members to three states in the U.S. is nothing more than a spectacle starring a puppet president and her masters in the White House, the Capitol, and in the offices of Wall Street. The Filipino people have nothing to gain from this
Los Angeles Anti-Arroyo RAT Smells a Foul Regime (tags)
Philippine Consulate, Los Angeles – The anti-Arroyo RATs – "Rapid Action Team" traced the foul scent in the thick smoggy air of Los Angeles to the rotten Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) regime. Filipino Americans and their allies gathered around a trashcan with GMA situated in the middle indicating that it is "Time to Take Out the Trash."
Filipinos and allies in New York City to "DETAIN AND DEPORT GLORIA!" (tags)
Progressive Filipinos and allies in New York City will "detain and deport Phil. Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA)" in front of the Philippine Consulate TOMORROW, JUNE 26. The cultural street action, along with speeches and statements from various Filipino and allied organizations will illustrate the criminalization of Filipino im/migrants and serves as an act of protest to GMA's 10-day visit to the U.S. She will be in New York City on June 26-28 to meet with US politicians to ensure continued U.S. military support, and to court investors in a bid to further sell off the natural resources of the Philippines. So the existing colonial puppet-master relationship continues.
Philippine Human Rights Group Stands by Concerns (tags)
On this supposed “independence day” of the Philippines, the Philippine Human Rights Watch delegation in attendance at the UN Human Rights Council 8th Session confirms its support to the joint statement delivered by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) during the “interactive dialogue” yesterday on the consideration of the report of the Working Group on the Netherlands Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
On the 110th Independence Day of the Philippines, June 12, 2008 (tags)
As Filipinos and Filipino Americans, the Alliance Philippines (AJLPP) with pride and passion, we commemorate the 110th anniversary of the proclamation of Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898 and the victory of the Philippine revolution of 1896 against 333 years of Spanish colonialism and oppression. On this momentous occasion let us pay tribute to all our heroes who fought for our freedom. On this auspicious day, we remember that the Philippine flag was first displayed, the national hymn was played and the independence from Spain was proclaimed in the balcony of the home of general Emilio Aguinaldo in Kawit, Cavite. At that time almost all of Luzon was liberated and under the control, of the revolutionary forces except for Manila and some Spanish outpost in the Visayas and in Mindanao was still holding out. The formation of the first bourgeois democratic republic in Asia on January 23, 1899 followed. But just to be destroyed by a new colonial power- the Imperialist United States of America. By waging an imperialist war of aggression against the young republic and its people from 1899 to 1913 in a “war of pacification” against the Filipinos, the United States occupied the Philippines for 48 years. The Filipinos lost almost 2 million people during the Filipino=-American War.
BAYAN Philippines & BAYAN USA on Labor Leader Ka Bel (tags)
The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan pays its highest tribute to our former chairman, Crispin "Ka Bel" Beltran after his untimely passing on May 20, 2008. We give our most heartfelt condolences to the family, comrades, friends and the millions of supporters who are grieving the loss of an outstanding fighter for national and social liberation and a beloved leader of the Filipino working class and people.
Gov’t faces blank wall on KL role in peace talks (tags)
The Government of the Philippines based in Manila has failed to get an assurance from Malaysia that it will continue to broker the peace process between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Malaysia’s role in the peace talks became uncertain as its Foreign Minister Rais Yatim, who met with Philippine officials led by President Arroyo, yesterday in Manila, was non-committal on the request of the Philippine government to continue facilitating the peace negotiations.
More US soldiers to arrive in Sulu province (tags)
More US troops are expected to arrive soon in the Philippines to support hundreds already deployed in the southern part of the country aiding Filipino soldiers in battling terrorism. At least 30 soldiers, part of the Guam Army National Guards’ First Battalion under the 294th Infantry Regiment, are heading to support “Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines,” the Guam-based Mariana’s Variety newspaper reported Wednesday.
Open Letter to the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and Canada (tags)
We, the undersigned Canadian-based organizations and individuals, strongly condemn the harassment by armed men of Rep. Satur Ocampo on his return from a Human Rights Mission to Canada. We also condemn the threat of his imminent arrest. We are seriously concerned for his safety and that of the other members of the Mission, Rep. Crispin Beltran and Rep. Luz Ilagan.
Satur Ocampo details UN report on HRVs in Canada speech (tags)
Philippine Rep. Satur C. Ocampo (Party List, Bayan Muna), Deputy Minority Leader in the House of Representatives of the Philippines, appealed to the Canadian government to urge the Philippine Government to seriously consider the recommendations of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the spate of extrajudicial killings that have been going on at an alarming rate in the Philippines over the past six years. In a speech delivered to the Filipino community at the Carr Hall of St. Michaels College of the University of Toronto, Ocampo spoke about the report submitted by Prof. Philip Alston to the United Nations on November 28, 2007.
Ester Soriano-Hewitt, 62 (tags)
The Alliance Philippines (AJLPP) with deep sorrow condole with family and friends of Ester Soriano-Hewiit who passed away last April 3, 2008. Ester Soriano-Hewitt was one of the founders of the National Committee for the Restoration of Civil Liberties in the Philippines (NCRCLP) in San Francisco in 1972. On the very weekend that martial law was declared by dictator Marcos in Philippines. She later headed the NCRCLP Chapter in Los Angeles and later the Alliance for Philippine Concerns (APC) with Dr. Enrique and Prosy Dela Cruz and countless others. Under Ester’s able leadership they countless demonstrations and rallies infront of the LA Philippine consulate against the US-Marcos-dictatorship until it was toppled in February 1986.
MILF doubts gov't can keep vow to UN rights body (tags)
An official of the Muslim secessionist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has expressed doubts that the government would be able to keep its promise to a United Nations body to put a stop to the string of killings of local journalists and activists as well as to protect the rights of all Filipinos, even those who express dissent against the state. Khaled Musa, deputy chairman of the MILF committee on information, doubted the government vow, saying the head of the Philippine delegation to the recent conference by United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, �has blood in his hands� with the deaths of a number of members of activist groups in the Philippines. Musa hinted that Ermita may not be serious in making the vow as he has been a key government official during the country�s most darkest periods for those who spoke against the state. He noted that Ermita not only is one of the most influential officials in the present administration, being President Arroyo�s alter-ego, but also had held various key roles during the martial law times under the leadership of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
JFAV Letter to The President of the Philippines (tags)
We, the Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV), are addressing the Philippine government’s actions affecting our campaign for the Filipino-American Veterans who have fought in World War II and were denied their promised benefits fighting under the American regime. We commend the Philippine government’s efforts in lobbying for the Filipino Veterans to gain their benefits that they were denied at the end of World War II, especially from Ambassador Willy Gaa and Consul General Mary B. Aragon Seeing this support from our mother country, in addition to the growing support from our fellow Americans of different ethnic heritages, gives us motivation to push forward with this campaign of obtaining the benefits promised to the Filipino WWII Veterans as well as for reunification for their families. However, we are gravely concerned with the government's recent activities of selling federal institutions, especially the National Veterans' Memorial Hospital, to private developers in order to carry out Executive Orders 620 and 620-A, which call for the development of the East and North Triangles and the Veterans' Memorial area of Quezon City. We find it very ironic how our government, who has invested such efforts into our cause, can sell the National Veterans Memorial Hospital – an act that conflicts a stance set from the previous action. This hospital is a gift from the American government, to tend especially to the health needs of the Filipino Veterans.
Delay in peace talks deliberate, says MILF (tags)
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest Muslim separatist rebel group in the country, accused Manila on Wednesday of delaying the peace talks. Manila is negotiating peace with the MILF, an army of about 12,000 rebels with millions of Muslim supporters. Peace talks were stalled after both sides failed to sign an agreement on the Muslim ancestral domain.
Japan rights group tags cops, soldiers in killings (tags)
A Japan-based international human rights group Tuesday joined the growing number of non-government organizations that have tagged the Philippine military and police in extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances. Human Rights Now (HRN) said a fact-finding team it sent to the Philippines last year had concluded that there were "reasonable grounds" to believe that in the many cases, the Armed Forces of the Philippines or the Philippine National Police were responsible for the killings.
The Present Rice Crisis in The Philippines (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA, a Filipino farmers, environmental and human rights advocacy group based in Los Angeles expressed dismay over the US-Arroyo regime’s way of solving the present rice crisis in the former rice producing nation of the Philippines. The Philippine government is going to buy two million metric tons of rice abroad at a cost of $600 or P24,600 per metric ton, that will be P49.2 billion, which is 146 times than the Philippines annual post-harvest budget. President Arroyo already released P1.5 billion to boost rice production especially in the top 10 poorest provinces. The rice will be imported- from of all places-- the United States and Vietnam.
RP human rights measures 'window-dressing'--HRW (tags)
Measures introduced by the Philippine government to curb human rights abuses are mere "window-dressing," an official from Human Rights Watch said Thursday. "The list of actions touted by the Philippine government as progress unfortunately seem little more than window-dressing," said Elaine Pearson, Asia deputy director for the New York-based rights group.
Release of 22 Chinese Fishermen Meant to Appease China, Fishers’ Group Says (tags)
The militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya or National Alliance of Small Fisherfolk Organizations) said on March 15 that the dismissal of the case against and the subsequent release of 22 Chinese fishermen last March 14 was meant to appease the Chinese government currently irked over the scandal and diplomatic repercussions created by the controversial Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU).
US slashes AFP aid to RP, cites corruption, killings (tags)
he United States has slashed its development and military assistance to the Philippines from $116.6 million in 2008 to $99.2 million in 2009, citing corruption and extra-judicial killings as reasons, a report yesterday said. In its 2009 congressional budget justification report for East Asia and the Pacific, the State Department said the aid for the Philippines “represents an overall decrease from the FY 2008 level.”
Health groups join anti-corruption protests in the Philippines (tags)
Health group hit the Arroyo government in the Philippines for its unbridled corruption while it continues to neglect health care and other essential social services.
Local Filipinos protest Philippine Labor Secretary visit and B.C. government’s recruitment (tags)
Around 20 local progressive Filipinos and their supporters rallied last night outside an exclusive dinner for Philippine Secretary of Labour and Employment, Arturo Brion hosted by the Philippines-Canada Trade Council. Brion was in Vancouver to sign a new agreement with the B.C. government which seeks to attract 30,000 workers per year with specific skills from outside B.C.
Communist Party of the Philippines pursues a violent course against its left opponents (tags)
In the Philippines, one of the poorest countries in Asia, 40 percent of the people live in poverty. Conditions there have sparked a large radical movement, heavily repressed by the government.
AJLPP welcomes church calls for the resumption peace talks between NDFP and GRP (tags)
The Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) today welcomed the call of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP) for the Philippine government for the resumption of peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) “without preconditions.” AJLPP national coordinator Mario Santos expresses utmost support to the call of the PEPP. He was happy with the statement of Archobishop Ledesma on the prospects of the resumption of peace talks.
Pilipino WWII veterans in the Philippines to get $90M a year- Speaker De Venecia (tags)
Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. yesterday announced that the United States House of Representatives, headed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has assured that a bill that would provide $90 million a year to Filipino World War II veterans is being prioritized in Capitol Hill. De Venecia said the bill, Filipino Veterans Equity Bill, may be scheduled for a floor vote following its approval last July in a markup hearing by the US House of Representatives veterans affairs committee headed by by Bob Filner. The bill was reported out by the Congressional Budget Office for Budget Estimates last September. The Speaker quoted Pelosi as telling him during a telephone conversation in California, that they “will try to organize a financial package” for Filipino war veterans.
Top 10 stories for Filipino Americans in 2007 (tags)
Filipino Americans can look back on 2007 with both elation and embarrassment.FilAms figured prominently in mainstream media news, headlining topics such as the 9/11 health crisis, boxing, TV entertainment as well as espionage in high places.
Joma Sison slams Arroyo for lying about the economic situation (tags)
Prof. Jose Maria Sison, chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, slammed Gloria M. Arroyo for lying about the Philippine economic situation by claiming that she is propelling the Philippines to become a “first world country”. Prof. Sison declared, “In utter subservience to the US-dictated policy of “neoliberal” glob” alization, she has worked against the line of national industrialization and genuine land reform and has aggravated and deepened the agrarian, pre-industrial and semi-feudal character of the Philippine economy. She has worsened the backward and impoverished “third world” conditions of the Philippines.
Arroyo's bankrupt and deceptive economic policy (tags)
Gloria M. Arroyo, the fake president, keeps on babbling that her regime is propelling the Philippines to become a "first world country". She is obviously lying.
NDFP strongly condemns the illegal arrests (tags)
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) strongly condemns the illegal arrest, torture and detention of NDFP Consultant Emeterio Antalan and his staff Mr. Edgardo V. Friginal as another gross violation of the GRP-NDFP Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). Mr. Antalan, 48 and Mr. Friginal, 41, were beaten up, kicked and hit with rifle butts, by ten soldiers of a joint force of the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) on 28 November 2007 at about 5 pm, in Barangay Dimasalang Norte, Talavera, Nueva Ecija.
Statement of Solidarity on the Two-Day Filipino People’s Transport Strike (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Peasant-USA) whole-heartedly and militantly support the 2-day nationwide transport strike led by the Alliance against Oil Price Hike. PISTON and BAYAN Philippines. The people and the public transport sector have no choice but to show their strength and unity in the face of these continuous depredations and acts of economic sabotage. This is while the oil price worldwide to $ 85 per dollar. While oil prices is going down, oll prices in the Philippines is skyrocketing to the limits
PHILIPPINES: Gloria Arroyo is a Human Rights Violator! (tags)
Hers is a Morally Bankrupt Government with Distorted Human Rights Values! Malacañang’s (Presidential Palace) cash gifts, for whatever fabricated excuses and delayed explanations, has exposed the governance of Ms. Gloria Arroyo as morally bankrupt.
Konsultant ng NDFP, dinukot ng militar (tags)
Napabalita ngayon na diumano dinukot noong Nobyembre 28 ng mga elemento ng 5th ID ,Philippine Army (PA) si Elizabeth Principe, 56, konsultant ng National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), matapos siya magpatsek-ap sa Quezon City.
Philippine Military report says it can’t defeat NPA by 2010 (tags)
The cat is out of the bag. Finally,the Philippine military, the Armed Forces of the Philippines(AFP) has admitted it had limited success in destroying the firepower of communist insurgents, putting it way behind the target of wiping out the rebellion by 2010, a classified military report said. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is also the AFP Commander in Chief, has said she wants the communist New People’s Army (NPA) largely defeated by the time she steps down from power in June 2010. She announced it after she “won” the hotly contested elections of 2004.
Philippine Military report says it can’t defeat NPA by 2010 (tags)
The cat is out of the bag. Finally,the Philippine military, the Armed Forces of the Philippines(AFP) has admitted it had limited success in destroying the firepower of communist insurgents, putting it way behind the target of wiping out the rebellion by 2010, a classified military report said. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is also the AFP Commander in Chief, has said she wants the communist New People’s Army (NPA) largely defeated by the time she steps down from power in June 2010. She announced it after she “won” the hotly contested elections of 2004. But an assessment report seen by Reuters said “ the military was not winning enough victories against the NPA, which despite the collapse of communism worldwide, continued to strike a chord with poor Filipinos angered at widening inequality at home.”
Philippine Protest Marks The First Senate Hearing On The JPEPA (tags)
14 September 2007, Manila, Philippines. – A crowd of more than 300 workers, farmers, fishers, and environmentalists from the Magkaisa Junk JPEPA Coalition (MJJC) today called on the Senators of the 14th Congress to look beyond the rosy projections and government hype surrounding the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), and to carefully assess its short-term and long-term implications. The group’s call came on the day of the first scheduled Senate hearing for this historic, precedent-setting treaty.
AJLPP RALLIED PHILIPPINE CONSULATES TO FREE JOSE MARIA SISON IN CALIFORNIA (tags)
ANSWER Coalition and Gabriela Network-USA and other groups rallied to condemn the arbitrary arrest and detention of Prof. Jose Maria Sison last August 30th in the Philippine Consulates of Los Angeles and San Francisco. The AJLPP through its national coordinator Mario Santos in San Francisco in an interview over the FIlipino Channel (TFC) "vehemently condemn the Dutch Authorities for kowtowing for the Philippine government and its master- US Imperialism in arresting Prof Sison on trumped up charges
FREE PROF. JOSE MARIA SISON, ILPS CHAIR (tags)
The Justice For Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) , an alliance of more than 60 veterans, students and community organizations based in the United States vehemently condemned and protests the arbitrary arrest and continued detention of Prof. Jose Maria Sison, the current chair of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) by the Dutch government with the prodding’s and collaboration of the Philippine government.
DUTCH FASCISM & BUSH-ARROYO STATE TERRORISM ATTACK FILIPINO REFUGEES (tags)
Colluding with U.S. & Filipino reactionaries, Dutch fascist authorities arrested Jose Maria Sison, a Filipino political refugee, and raided the National Democratic Front International Information Office in Holland. This is a clear example of State Terrorism working on behalf of predatory imperialist capital. All progressives and democrats everywhere should protest this outrage and support the Filipino people's struggle for justice, equality, and true independence.
RALLY AUG.30 at 6;00 PM at Phil Consulate General (tags)
CALL TO ACTION: In Los Angeles, join AJLPP for the emergency mobilization to demand the release of Jose Maria Sison and call for the resumption of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations Thursday, 8/30/07, at 6:00 pm at the Philippine Consulate: 3600 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010. If you have questions, please call (213) 241-0906.
MORE WARS FOR GMA TO FIGHT (tags)
Communist leader Jose Maria Sison’s arrest by the Dutch police for two murders committed in the Philippines is yet one more example of the Philippines, a sovereign country, giving up its sovereignty to a foreign power by acknowledging The Netherlands’ jurisdiction over a case, or cases committed on Philippine soil. It would have been understandable, and even correct, for the Dutch authorities to order the arrest of Sison and whoever else among the self-exiles in the communist movement, if he and anyone of them broke Dutch law for a crime committed in Dutch territory. But to arrest Sison on charges of two murders committed in the Philippines years ago?
SPLITS ROCK COUPLES FOR CHRIST/GAWAD KALINGA(GK) (tags)
he Couples for Christ (CFC) , one of the biggest Catholic lay organization with membership in 160 countries announced it has spit into two with the largest segment remaining as CFC, the Philippine News reported today. Until the release of the letter dated August 16, the internal dissension was kept under wraps. The CFC was established in 1981. The CFC started the Gawad Kalinga (GK) program that seeks to build 777, 000 housing units for the “poorest of the poor” in the Philippines.
Philippine Marine chief in Basilan sacked (tags)
-The commander of the Marine brigade battling Muslim extremists in Basilan was sacked from his post for not personally leading his troops into battle, the military’s chief said Wednesday. The removal of Col. Ra miro Alivio, commander of the 1st Marine Brigade, comes just days after heavy troop casualties in clashes with the Abu Sayyaf. Alivio would be moved to another position in the Marine headquarters in Fort Bonifacio “where his intelligence background will serve our organization best,” said Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon. He has been replaced by Col. Rus tico Guerrero, Esperon said.
US-Arroyo’s Double Talk: Talking Peace, Waging War (tags)
The Alliance for A Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) –USA express its serious and deep concern over the ongoing war in Mindanao the Philippine armed forces in Basilan and Sulu is waging that have claimed more than 100 lives in three separate clashes since the second week of July.
WELCOME HOME, ANNALISA AND THE GABNET3! (tags)
The Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) welcomes the release of the GABNet 3--Dr. Annalisa Enrile (Chairperson), Ninotchka Rosca (Founding Chair, writer) and Judith Mirkinson (International Relations Officer, founding member)--who've been placed by the Philippine Department of Justice in a "watch" list and barred from returning home to the US.
Toxic Treaty Favors Japan, Not the Philippines (tags)
August 14, 2007. Manila, Philippines. Senate Forum Bares Legal Traps and Empty Promises of the JPEPA
GABNET 3 ATTEMPTS TO BOARD PLANES A SUCCESS, DESPITE HARASSMENT FROM IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS (tags)
Dr. Annalisa Enrile and two other GABNet leaders en route to US after harassment from immigration officials at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila
AJLPP JOINS U.S.-WIDE VIGIL FOR GABNET 3, NOW FROM RETURNING HOME (tags)
The Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) forces joined the women's group GABRIELA Network USA (GABNet) last night that held a US-wide vigil to demand the immediate release of the GABNet 3--Dr. Annalisa Enrile (Chairperson), Ninotchka Rosca (Founding Chair, writer) and Judith Mirkinson (International Relations Officer, founding member)--who've been placed by the Philippine Department of Justice in a "watch" list and barred from returning home to the US. The mass actions in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco were held in front of four Philippine Consular offices in the United States on August 13, 2007.
AJLPP JOINS U.S.-WIDE VIGIL FOR GABNET 3, BARRED FROM RETURNING HOME (tags)
The Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) forces joined the women's group GABRIELA Network USA (GABNet) last night that held a US-wide vigil to demand the immediate release of the GABNet 3--Dr. Annalisa Enrile (Chairperson), Ninotchka Rosca (Founding Chair, writer) and Judith Mirkinson (International Relations Officer, founding member)--who've been placed by the Philippine Department of Justice in a "watch" list and barred from returning home to the US. The mass actions in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco were held in front of four Philippine Consular offices in the United States on August 13, 2007.
U.S.-WIDE VIGIL FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF GABNET 3--U.S. CITIZENS / PERMANENT RESIDENT BANN (tags)
RALLY AND VIGIL IN SUPPORT OF THE GABNET 3
FILIPINO VETERANS AND COMMUNITY GROUPS CONDEMN HARRASMENT OF US-BASED GABRIELA NETWORK LEA (tags)
Different Filipino World War II veterans and community organizations in Los Angeles today condemned the harassment perpetrated by the Philippine authorities against GABRIELA Network (GABNet) USA National Chairperson Dr. Annalisa Enrile. Dr. Enrile was barred from boarding her return flight to the United States. This act of harassment occurred on the culminating day of the 10th bi-annual Women’s International Solidarity Affair in the Philippines, a conference that draws hundreds of women from all over the globe and covers issues such as sex trafficking and other international human right violations. The Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV), the Society of Guerillas and Scouts Inc (SGSI) and other community organizations like the Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC), Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA and other groups were outraged by the violations of Dr. Enrile’s rights.
LETTER OF CONCERN ABOUT DR. ANNALISA ENRILE , CHAIRPERSON, GABRIELA NETWORK- U.S.A? (tags)
The Philipine Peasant Support Network(Pesante)-USA, a solidarity and advocacy network since 1991 based in the United States, voice our serious concern about the status of US citizens Dr. Annalisa Enrile and human and women's rights activists Judith Mirkinson, and of US permanent resident Ninotchka Rosca, a writer and novelist. Dr. Enrile was prevented from boarding her return flight from Manila to Los Angeles on August 5th and was informed that she was on a "hold" order from the Philippine Department of Justice.
JFAV Pursue Lobbying for Equity Bills,Filipino Vets Win Commitments on Capitol Hill (tags)
Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV )Filipino World War II veterans and their advocates, energized by recent victories and their lobbyist Washington based the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans recently visited Capitol Hill (July 26-27) and thanked their Senators, House members and legislative staff for the progress on their equity pension and family bills. On Thursday evening, the ACFV leaders with JFAV veterans leaders led by Commanders Franco Arcebal,Peping Baclig and Nick Gadia commemorated the the 66th anniversary of the 1941 Military Order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt drafting Philippine Commonwealth soldiers into U.S. armed service.
Joint Alliance-Philippines and International ANSWER Statement in Response to Philippine Pr (tags)
The Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) or Alliance-Philippines, and the International ANSWER Steering Committee of which it is a member, strongly denounce Bush “ally” Philippine president Gloria Arroyo for going forward with the implementation of an Anti-Terror Law (ATL), euphemistically called the Human Security Act, in the Philippines. We express our militant solidarity with the progressive forces in the Philippines who will be staging protests against Arroyo in all major cities throughout the country when she delivers her State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 23. Besides spinning the usual lies and deceit about her regime’s accomplishments, US “major ally” Arroyo is expected to make the ATL the centerpiece of her SONA.
Government forces ready to foil communist attacks--PNP (tags)
Government forces are ready to thwart communist attacks, officials said following threats of more rebel offensives in response to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s “outright threat to use state terror.” Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Oscar Calderon on Thursday said he has ordered intensified security operations to stop the New People’s Army from staging deadly attacks on soldiers and policemen and destroying infrastructures like telecommunication towers.
JFAV Marks 66th USAFFE Day,US Filipino Vets March on Capitol Hill July 26 (tags)
No Justice, No Peace! The Justice for FIlipino American Veterans( JFAV) and the remaining Filipino World War II veterans in California will mark the 66th anniversary of the 1941Military Order of President Franklin D.Roosevelt drafting Philippine Commonwealth soldiers into U.S. armed service. On July 26, 1941, Roosevelt ordered the formation of the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) placing all Filipino forces under the U.S Command. This is in preparation for World War II. retired general Douglas Macarthur was designated as the field marshal placing the 120,000 Philippine Army, Constabulary, navy and aircorps and all Filipino ROTC reserve units under US Command. But despite this very clear consription order for 61 years, the Filipinos were discriminated,
Palace alarmed, denies slash: US State Dep’t cuts aid to RP military (tags)
Aid to the Philippine military has been from slashed from some $30 million to a mere $11 million for 2008 or a cut of two thirds, by the United States State Department, as shown in its Web site. Malacañang executives, clearly alarmed at the report, yesterday claimed that the report was false, while US Embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop failed to provide a categorical response on whether there was a slashing of military aid, saying instead that no US budget has been submitted as yet and that the budget is a “complex” and “negotiated” procedure by Congress, even when the Web site of the State Department showed the slashed figures, which the Washington Post reported was personally allocated by State Secretary Condoleezza Rice, country by country. The Congress Web site, moreover, showed a higher aid figure for the Philippines.
AJLPP Mass Actions Against PGMA SONA Held in U.S Major Cities (tags)
Progressive forces in the United States demonstrated their militant solidarity with the Filipino people by conducting coordinated mass actions against Philippine President Macapagal-Arroyo’s state of the nation address in three major cities of the United States from July 22- 30, 2007. - July 23 from 6;30 to 8;00 PM, scores of Filipino Americans and their allies led by the Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP)-USA held a vigil rally in front of the Philippine Consulate located in 3600 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles. The rally ended with a solemn candle lighting ceremony as a tribute to more than 890 victims of fascism.. During the in one and half hour mass action against US –GMA, AJLPP activists and allies shouted slogans, OUST GMA, RESUME PEACE TALKS, the group displayed banners and signs and lined-up the streets in front of the consulate. AJLPP groups like KmB (Pro People Youth) and Pesante-USA with allies like the ANSWER-LA PWC, YOUTH UNITE and AFW participated AJLPP Mass Actions Against PGMA SONA Held in U.S Major Cities
Response to Philippine President Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 23 (tags)
The Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) or Alliance-Philippines, , strongly denounce Bush “ally” Philippine president Gloria Arroyo for going forward with the implementation of an Anti-Terror Law (ATL), euphemistically called the Human Security Act, in the Philippines. Arroyo’s Puppet Hypocrisy and US Intervention AJLPP strongly denounce the hypocrisy of the US- Arroyo regime for painting a rosy picture of the Philippines while poverty, corruption and repression grips the land. The Arroyo regime pretends to be interested in resuming peace talks with both the Philippine revolutionary movement represented by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) while it ordered an attack against the MILF. The fascist regime continues its alarming spree of extra-judicial killings (now more than 870 since Arroyo took office in 2001) against political opponents and critics, and unleashes legalized fascism against the entire Filipino people through the implementation of the Anti-Terror Law.
Letter to the Philippine President on widespread violations of human, democratic, workers' (tags)
The Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) hereby raises to your office as Chief Executive of the land our concerns about the reports that at the International Labor Organization Conference Committee on Standards meeting held in Geneva, the Philippine representative rejected said committee's recommendation for the ILO to send a high-level mission to the Philippines to look into the case of involuntarily disappeared and murdered trade union activists and leaders.
Joma wants terror tag lifted (tags)
xiled communist leader Jose Maria Sison hit the Dutch embassy in Manila and the Philippine government for defying a European Union Court order, which has ruled that his rights were violated when he was included in list of terrorists by the European Union. Sison said the European Union’s Court of Justice has ruled in his favor but the Dutch embassy in Manila and Philippine government have insisted that he remains in the terrorist watch list.
The Recent Philippine Supreme Court Split Decision, Splits the Public (tags)
The recent Supreme Court split decision on the TRO filed by GO Candidate Koko Pimentel clearly shows how polarize is the Philippine society. The decision again highlights that justice is partial and serves the status quo. The decision, religiously followed by the Filipino American community in the United States, clearly shows how divided the Filipino society is and it is reflected among the 14 justices of the Supreme Court. In its recent decisions especially in the 2007 national elections. It just repeated the injustice perpetrated against presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr in 2004 only now, it is against Koko Pimentel. Basically it refused to decide on the conduct of elections and refers the cases to the Presidential, the
In Protest against the Arrests of Oh Jong-ryul and Jung Gwang-hoon (tags)
We, the Philippine Peasant Support Network-USA are deeply disappointed and troubled by the police suppression of the Korean Alliance against the Korea-U.S. FTA and the arrests of its two officers. We write this urgent letter to demand 1) the immediate release of Mr. Oh Jong-ryul and Mr. Jung Gwang-hoon, two Co-Chairs of the Korean Alliance and 2) an immediate end to police suppression of the Korean Alliance.
Progressive FIlipinos Welcomes US Senate Spending Bill (tags)
Progressive Filipino groups from whose ranks most of the victims of extrajudicial killings have come welcomed the action of the United States Senate appropriations committee prohibiting the use of US military aid against Filipino civilians. The U.S Senate in its version of the Foreign Operations Spending Bill it approved last week, the committee instructed the US Secretary of State to monitor US military assistance to the Philippines so that they won’t be “misused by units of the security forces…against civilians, including civilians who are members of political opposition parties and human rights groups.”
Mammoth electoral fraud in Philippines elections: Padding and shaving (tags)
Nearly three weeks after election day, there are still no definitive results for the Philippine elections to the Senate and House of Representatives. Counting is still continuing and in a number of provinces it has not even begun. This has nothing to do with inefficiency and everything to do with ballot-rigging. The Philippines is one of the most corrupt ‘democracies’ in the world. During the 2004 presidential election, the victory of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was widely attributed to large-scale fraud. A tape was massively circulated of a conversation between the President and Virgilio Garcillano, head of Comelec, the national election commission. Arroyo was heard addressing him familiarly, ‘Hello Garci’, and the election chief proudly assured her that he would guarantee her a million-vote majority.
Philippine farmers demand reform and extension of agrarian reform program. (tags)
Philippine farmers demand reform and extension of agrarian reform program. Asian farmers join rally in solidarity with their struggle
Filipino Ambassador to US besieged by questions on ‘human rights’ during talk In Seattle (tags)
The Honorable Willie Gaa, Philippine Ambassador to the US wrestled with claims of illegal arrest and detention of Congressman and labor leader Crispin Beltran and United Church of Christ Berlin Guerrero, the unabated political killings of unarmed social activists—at least 850 since Pres. Arroyo took power, and the involvement of the death squads affiliated with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, during an open discussion at the Filipino Community Center last Saturday, June 16th. A member of the Ecumenical Fellowship for Justice and Peace, a church-based human rights group, presented the full page advertisement of the ‘statement of concern’ of the church and labor community, demanding among other things an immediate end to state sponsored political violence and the release of all political prisoners in the Philippines.
The Philippine Midterm Elections, an indictment vs. Mrs. Arroyo (tags)
Manila-- The circus that is the recent Philippine midterm elections was an indictment of how Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo "won" her presidency in the last 2004 elections and punctuated her government's acute isolation from the Filipino masses. The 12-0 illusion of Arroyo's Team Unity administration coalition delivered for the people more violence and systematic fraud. The regime's fraud machinery in Mindanao (the hocus-pocus site of the 2004 presidential elections in favor of Arroyo) was apparently exposed in how the recent elections were conducted most especially in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, where bribe money, patronage politics were the rules of the game, ably presided by fraud operators and protectors sitting in the highest echelons in Comelec at the national and local levels.
The Philippine Midterm Elections, an indictment vs. Mrs. Arroyo (tags)
The circus that is the recent Philippine midterm elections was an indictment of how Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo "won" her presidency in the last 2004 elections and punctuated her government's acute isolation from the Filipino masses. The 12-0 illusion of Arroyo's Team Unity administration coalition delivered for the people more violence and systematic fraud. The regime's fraud machinery in Mindanao (the hocus-pocus site of the 2004 presidential elections in favor of Arroyo) was apparently exposed in how the recent elections were conducted most especially in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, where bribe money, patronage politics were the rules of the game, ably presided by fraud operators and protectors sitting in the highest echelons in Comelec at the national and local levels
JFAV Marks RP Independence Day/Battle of Bessang Pass: SGS Inducted in LA (tags)
The Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) and People’s Community Organization for Reform and Empowerment (People’s CORE) and the Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) commemorates the 109th Philippine Independence Day and the 62nd Anniversary of the Battle of Bessang last June 12, 2007 at the Los Angeles City Hall. As a part of the commemorative events, Council Member Herb J. Wesson Jr. of the 10th Council District inducted the newly elected officers of the SGSI at the Mayor Tom Bradley Room or the City Tower at the 26th Floor, Los Angeles City Hall at 200 N. Spring St. Los Angeles, CA 90012
Filipino World War II Veterans dwindling in US Army roster (tags)
Only 18,155 Filipino World War II veterans are still alive out of 260,143 veterans listed in the US Army roster immediately after the war, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Willy Gaa said. He said this “accurate count of surviving Filipino World War II veterans” came from the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) which maintains a list of survivors, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) which has a roster of Filipino WWII veterans.
JFAV Marks RP Independence Day/Battle of Bessang Pass: SGS Inducted in LA (tags)
The Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) and People’s Community Organization for Reform and Empowerment (People’s CORE) and the Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) commemorates the 109th Philippine Independence Day and the 62nd Anniversary of the Battle of Bessang last June 12, 2007 at the Los Angeles City Hall. As a part of the commemorative events, Council Member Herb J. Wesson Jr. of the 10th Council District inducted the newly elected officers of the SGSI at the Mayor Tom Bradley Room or the City Tower at the 26th Floor, Los Angeles City Hall at 200 N. Spring St. Los Angeles, CA 90012
US spy plane could join search for Italian priest In Mindanao (tags)
Manila-- Government troops are hard on the heels of the group who seized an Italian priest from a remote village in Zamboanga Sibugay Sunday. Fr. John Carlo Bossi was seized by armed men in Barangay Bulawan in the town of Payao.
FREE PASTOR BERLIN GUERRERO, NOW! (tags)
On behalf of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), I write to express our alarm and dismay over the abduction of Pastor Berlin Guerrero of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. Our understanding is that he was abducted by members of the Philippine National Police and the Naval Intelligence Security Forces and is still being held by Philippine authorities. We are deeply concerned by reports of the tactics employed in Pastor Guerrero's abduction. We understand that he was taken by armed men who carried drawn weapons. No warrant of arrest was produced at the time of his abduction. Reports indicate that personal affects were taken from members of his family when he was abducted. We urge you to call for, and oversee, a full investigation of the circumstances surrounding the abduction of Pastor Guerrero. This investigation should include the activities of the police and of the military and security forces.
JFAV Marks RP Independence Day/Battle of Bessang Pass with the Induction of the SGSI in LA (tags)
The Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV)/ People’s Community Organization for Reform and Empowerment (People’s CORE ) and the Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) cordially invites the general public to commemorate the 109th Philippine Independence Day and the 62nd Anniversary of the Battle of Bessang Pass with the induction of the new set of officers of the Society of Guerillas and Scouts Inc. (SGSI) on June 12, 2007 at 12:00 PM the Los Angeles City Hall. The SGSI induction ceremonies will be held at the Mayor Tom Bradley Room or the City Tower at the 26th Floor, Los Angeles City Hall at 200 N. Spring St. Los Angeles, CA 90012 Council Member Herb J. Wesson Jr. of the 10th Council District will be the guest speaker and the induction officer of the SGSI officers and board of directors. Some of the incoming SGSI officers are Commander Jack Vergara, Deputy Commanders Nick Gadia Adriano Carino and General Secretary Arturo P. Garcia.
Election Fraud and Violence in the Philippines Exposed at the Annual RP Independence Day (tags)
Sining Pandayan or "forging art" in Filipino is the multi-generational, multi-sectoral cultural group comprised of workers, women, immigrant and second-generation youth, students, young professionals, and LGBTQ, mainly from DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association and Ugnayan ng mga Anak ng Bayan. Sining Pandayan uses various cultural and expressive means such as poetry, music and street theater to project issues of the Filipino people, both in the homefront and locally.
Philippine Govt rejects OIC on MNLF camps (tags)
The Philippines has rejected the request of the powerful Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)—the United Nations of Muslim majority countries, whose official observer for the Philippines is the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)—to give back to the MNLF’s Ustadz Habier Malik the two camps that government troops wrested from Malik on April 15. The OIC is helping all parties in the Mindanao conflicts keep the peace. Its richer members are pouring development aid into Mindanao and have pledged to invest billions to make Mindanao and the Filipino Muslims enjoy prosperity and modernization. Malik had issued a declaration of jihad (holy war) against the government and the Armed Forces of the Philippines after government troops overran his MNLF camps in retaliation for his group’s attack, using mortars, on a Marine base. Malik’s attack killed two Marines.
US Church and Labor Leaders to Pres. Arroyo: “Stop the Killings and Release Ka. Bel (tags)
The Philippines News Today, a local newspaper in the cities of San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver, Canada will release a full page Ad of American and Filipino progressive organizations and individuals calling among other things, an end to political killings in the Philippine and the immediate release of detained Congressman and labor leader Crispin Beltran and all political prisoners. The Supreme Court of the Philippines recently dismissed trumped up case against six Congress leaders including Beltran. Another local newspaper, Diaryo Pilipino, based in Southern California issued the same statement a month ago. Both newspapers have combined circulation of 60,000 that target to reach the majority of Filipinos living in the West Coast of North America.
AJLPP Oppose Another US-Arroyo Sell Out of Philippine Sovereignty. (tags)
SOFA, another grand sell-out”. This is how the Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace (AJLPP)-USA characterize the treasonous action of puppet president when it signed the RP-Australia Status of Forces Agreement. (SOFA) The AJLPP never forget that the United States and Australia connived in supprting the US-Marcos dictatroship and its active involvement in the counter insurgency war against the Filipino and the Moro people since the end of World War II. Expect that the terrorism of the Arroyo regime is further emboldened by VFA and SOFA treaties and the military intervention and hegemonic superpower support of the US and its regional junior partner Australia." ?
AJLPP Oppose Another US-Arroyo Sell Out of Philippine Sovereignty. (tags)
SOFA, another grand sell-out”. This is how the Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace (AJLPP)-USA characterize the treasonous action of puppet president when it signed the RP-Australia Status of Forces Agreement. (SOFA) The AJLPP never forget that the United States and Australia connived in supprting the US-Marcos dictatroship and its active involvement in the counter insurgency war against the Filipino and the Moro people since the end of World War II. Expect that the terrorism of the Arroyo regime is further emboldened by VFA and SOFA treaties and the military intervention and hegemonic superpower support of the US and its regional junior partner Australia."
Philippine-Australia SOFA furthers foreign intervention, fascist terror under Arroyo (tags)
The Philippines revolutionary movement today in a statement posted over the internet scored the Arroyo regime and the Australian government for entering into a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), saying this only furthers foreign military intervention in the Philippines, and also serves to boost the Arroyo regime's fascist repression of the people.
US WARSHIPS ARRIVE IN ZAMBO FOR NAVAL WAR EXERCISES (tags)
Three US warships arrived here yesterday to participate in naval war exercises with the Philippine Navy, officials said. The USS Harpers Ferry from Sasebo, Japan; USS Ford from Everett, Washington; and the USS Jarett from San Diego, California arrived and anchored off Zamboanga City near the Naval Forces Western Mindanao (NFWM) base early yesterday to help upgrade the Philippine Navy’s counter-terrorism capability.
Political Killings haunt GMA in New Zealand (tags)
Protesters greeted President Arroyo and human rights was one of the main issues she discussed with New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark during their meetings here yesterday. After a bilateral meeting between the two leaders at the Prime Minister’s Office at the Parliament House, Clark informed the media that the respective human rights commissions of the two countries “have started a dialogue and are exploring ways in which New Zealand might share its experience and support the work with its counterpart.” The Philippines was called a “disaster area for human rights” by New Zealand parliamentarians and human rights activists, which said hundreds of trade unionists, priests, journalists and human rights advocates had been systematically murdered since Mrs. Arroyo took office in 2001.
Elections in RP successful – US (tags)
A US State Department official said yesterday the May 14 elections were generally successful despite reports of violence and fraud. “I know there have been some problems with violence. But I would say overall the elections have been very successful and a real sign that the Philippines has a very well-developed democracy. It has never been an easy process,” Christopher Hill, US State Department assistant secretary for East Asia and the Pacific, said over Radyo ng Bayan. Hill’s observation followed an earlier statement of concern from the US Embassy in Manila on reports of violence in many parts of the country during the elections.
PROTEST VS POLITICAL KILLINGS GREETS GMA IN TOKYO TRIP (tags)
President Arroyo was greeted with protest on Tuesday as Japan-based human rights groups gathered in front of the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo urging her to immediately end the spate of political killings in the Philippines and prosecute the perpetrators. Members of Amnesty International Japan, Human Rights Now and other groups also called on Tokyo to push visiting Mrs. Arroyo on human rights issues.
AJLPP SUPPORTS FILIPINOS PROTESTS POLL FRAUDS IN MANILA (tags)
The Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace (AJLPP) –USA expresses its militant support and solidarity with the Filipino people's protest in Manila against the US-Arroyo regime, the COMELEC, cheating and violence during the last Philippine elections. This comes as Phillippine media reported that thousands braved strong rains and rallied yesterday near the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), where the national canvassing of votes is being held, to protest what was described as "the Arroyo administration's orchestrated cheating" in the recently-concluded senatorial and local elections.
May 9 Town Hall Meeting on Philippine Overseas Election Held in Los Angeles (tags)
Los Angeles—The first town hall meeting in Historic Filipinotown Los Angeles on the May 14 Philippine overseas voting was held last Wednesday, May 9 at 6;30 PM at the SIPA Multi-Purpose Hall, 3200 W. Temple St. The Historic Filipinotown hall meeting was attended by the Philippine consulate officials and a modest crowd of Filipino Americans. Consul General May Jo Aragon, Consuls Helen Barber and San Agustin who heads the overseas voting at the Los Angeles consulate. They clarified and answered many questions about overseas voting from the interested multi-ethnic crowd.
FILIPINA MILITANTS CONDEMN ARROYO-BUSH FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY (tags)
The 2nd session of the Permanent People's Tribunal (March 21-25, The Hague, Netherlands) marks a historic milestone in the Filipino people's struggle for social justice and true independence from U.S. imperialism and predatory global capital. This brief report sums up the major achievement of the Tribunal, highlighting the role of progressive Filipina women in the fight for freedom and people's liberation.
Philippine Military Put Up P1-M bounty for MNLF Commander Ustadz Habier Malik in Sulu (tags)
The Philippine military is offering a P1-million reward for the capture of National Liberation Front (MNLF) commander Ustadz Habier Malik who has been leading clashes against government troops in Sulu for a week now. Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said Malik, who has some 300 to 500 armed followers, has joined the Abu Sayyaf terrorists, the target of a separate massive military offensive. "We should be very careful about this because definitely there is a group that would try to exploit the situation, at least the Abu Sayyaf," he said. "Let us be very clear," he said. "This is not an operation against the MNLF. This is an operation against Habier Malik so that he will be made to answer for his criminal liabilities, including the death of a child."
AJLPP-USA Denounced Indiscriminate AFP aerial bombing in Davao Del Norte, Mindanao (tags)
The Alliance for A Just and Lasting Peace (AJLPP) vehemently condemened the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) for indiscriminately dropping bombs at Barangay Manay in Panabo City, Davao del Norte, damaging homes and banana fields and endangering the lives of residents who had to evacuate to safer grounds.
Some elements’ in RP security forces behind killings – US report (tags)
"Some elements" of Philippine security forces are "apparently" responsible for unexplained killings, disappearances, arbitrary arrest and illegal detentions, according to the US State Department. In its latest report, "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The US Record 2006," the State Department said members of security services committed acts of physical and psychological abuse on suspects and detainees, and even instances of torture. The report, which was released and submitted to the US Congress last week, said corruption remained a problem in all sectors of the criminal justice system, including police, prosecutorial, and judicial organs.
AKBAYAN denounces US intervention in Philippine elections (tags)
AKBAYAN Party-list condemned today the reported participation of US soldiers Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) initiated campaigns against leftist party-list organizations. The group said that it received reports from the local media in Zamboanga City that US soldiers are also campaigning against party-list groups that the AFP considers as “communist fronts.”
MILF: AFP hawks ruining peace deal (tags)
Muslim MILF leader Hadji Murad on Thursday accused “hawkish” Philippine officials of trying to sabotage peace talks. Moro Islamic Liberation Front Chairman Murad Ebrahim welcomed President Arroyo’s move this week to rein in military units operating in rebel-held areas in Mindanao to salvage the talks but said some officials were undermining these efforts.
RP Accepts US offer to help solve killings (tags)
The Philippines police will accept technical assistance from the United States to help solve a wave of political murders targeting mostly leftist dissidents, a senior police official said Wednesday. Malacañang, however, was more guarded on the issue. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters the government wants to be “more deliberate.” Ermita said Philippine and US officials are “in contact with each other” but that no decision has been made. A special United Nations Human Rights Commission rapporteur last week alleged that that some in the Armed Forces—one of the most powerful institutions in the country—were behind the unsolved killings, which human-rights groups have said numbered in the hundreds since 2001.
APPROACHING THE FILIPINO EXODUS & DIASPORA (tags)
Two new books by noted Filipino author E. SAN JUAN, Jr. explore the predicament of millions of Filipinos leaving the Philippines and working or settling in other countries around the world--an unprecedented 9-10 milllion of 85 million Filipinos are scattered around the planet. Their huge remittance props up a sharply divided class society where a tiny oligarchy (supported by Washington/Pentagon) exploits and oppresses the majority. Over 830 victims of extrajudicial killings occured from 2001 up to the present under Arroyo's corrupt, illegitimate regime. Why is this happening?
US lauds ratification of Philippines' anti-terrorism bill (tags)
The US Embassy lauded yesterday the House of Representatives’ ratification of the anti-terrorism bill and the approval of the bicameral conference committee report on the bill. "For us, it is a very good and positive step (for the Philippines). The Philippine law enforcement and judicial authorities should have this kind of tools that are needed to counter terrorism," press attaché Matthew Lussenhop said. He also said the US government was not disappointed with the delay in the passage of the anti-terror measure, pointing out that "we respect Philippine democracy and its legislative consultative process and it takes time."
AJLPP Condemns the Passage of the Philippine Anti-Terror Bill (tags)
The Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) vehemently condemned the passage of a the anti-terror bill in the Philippine Congress in a special session. The AJLPP expressed dismay over the ratification that came by way of approval by the House of Representatives of the Senate-amended bill -- called the “Human Security Act of 2007” -- which opponents had warned might be used to repress civil liberties.
Former RP Defense Chief ; "Don’t tell us how to handle an insurgency’ (tags)
The Philippine lawmaker who was defense minister during martial law said Thursday that he had told a UN human rights investigator to keep out of Manila’s internal affairs. Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile had harsh words for UN special rapporteur Philip Alston, who is probing the wave of hundreds of political murders that have taken place since President Arroyo took office in 2001.
The Philippine armed forces fielded more than 10 warships around Sulu in what could be the single biggest naval blockade meant to trap Abu Sayyaf terrorists in their lair. Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said yesterday the naval blockade formed part of the "small unit tactics" designed to eventually wipe out local and foreign terrorists holed out in Sulu, as part of the military’s ongoing offensive dubbed Oplan Ultimatum
AJLPP-USA Condemns Philippine Government’s Anti-Terrorist Bill. (tags)
The Alliance for A just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) –USA and its allied organizations in the United States vehemently condemn in the strongest term the passage of the Anti-Terrorism Bill (ATB) in the Philippine Senate yesterday. AJLPP National Coordinator Mario Santos said: The Senate and Arroyo’s action proved that the Philippine government’s brazen puppetry ( kakapalan ng mukha)and lackyism (pagpapakatuta) knows no bounds. It does not only order the killing of Filipinos but also allows the legalization of fascist laws and violation of its constitution.
STATEMENT ON THE POLITICAL KILLINGS IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
We Filipino-American students call for an end to the murder of activists in the Philippines and to a Philippine government that works against rather in the national interest.
RP wants US help in routing communists (tags)
The Philippine government will welcome US counterinsurgency assistance against the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA), Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said on Thursday. Ermita hinted at growing US involvement in the Philippines’ internal security affairs while discussing the coming joint Balikatan war games in Jolo. Interviewed after his sendoff of President Arroyo, who left Thursday morning for Davos, Switzerland, Ermita said the Chief Executive is glad that both counterterrorism and counterinsurgency campaigns are “moving forward, very smoothly.”
Pesante-EFJP Los Angeles Remembers Mendiola Massacre (tags)
Filipinos and their solidarity allies militantly remembered the 20th year of the Mendiola Massacre of January 22, 1987, solemnly paid tribute to the 820 victims of political killings in the Philippines and reaffirmed their solidarity to the people’s struggle in the Philippines last night, January 22, 2007 at Remy’s on Temple Art Gallery in Historic Filipinotown, Los Angeles.
On the 20th anniversary of the Mendiola massacre - Manila (tags)
Protesters clench fists as they march during the anniversary of the Mendiola massacre in Manila January 22, 2007. Demonstrators marked the 20th anniversary of the Mendiola massacre, commemorating 13 protesters who were killed and 80 wounded by a hail of bullets from policemen and soldiers
Pesante-EFJP Los Angeles Remembers Mendiola Massacre 20th Year and Political Killing Vict (tags)
Filipinos and their solidarity allies militantly remembered the 20th year of the Mendiola Massacre of January 22, 1987, solemnly paid tribute to the 820 victims of political killings in the Philippines and reaffirmed their solidarity to the people’s struggle in the Philippines last night, January 22, 2001 at Remy’s on Temple Art Gallery in Historic Filipino town, Los Angeles. Scores of Filipino Americans and their solidarity allies held a 20-minute ecumenical service led by Rev. Frs. Joe Tronco, Dennis and Rene De Guzman. A 12-minute short film “ The Golf War” explaining the situation of the Philippine peasantry was also shown.
AJLPP Support The Petition to the Supreme Court To Declare VFA unconstitutiona (tags)
The Alliance for A Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) –USA militantly support the call of nationalist Filipinos led by Former Senate president Jovito Salonga, former Senator Wigberto Tañada, retired Court of Appeals associate justice Jose de la Rama; and lawyers Emilio Capulong, Harry Roque, and Florin Hilbay to declare as unconstitutional the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) for allegedly creating a "privileged class among criminals." The AJLPP –USA express elation that the Former Senate president Jovito Salonga led complainants in filing the 43-page petition before the high tribunal Friday. They said that the VFA had given the US soldiers "a class above all others" when it allowed the US to have custody of its erring
PHILIPPINES - Smith's illegal transfer: Arroyo's judgment will be through the ballots (tags)
AKBAYAN (Citizens' Action Party) today said that the Philippine President Arroyo's numerous crimes against the Constitution and the country's sovereignty, the latest of which is the patently illegal transfer of Smith's custody to the US Embassy, will tried through the ballots in the 2007 elections.
PHILIPPINES: Smith's Illegal Transfer to the US Embassy: A Case of Multiple Rape (tags)
Rape of the Judicial System, Rape of Nicole once again, and Rape of the Nation's Dignity and Sovereignty
RP, US: VFA review only after Smith case over (tags)
Both Malacañang and the United States Embassy said yesterday that the review of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) will only take place once the rape case against US Marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith reaches its conclusion. While Malacañang said the Philippine government should already study the controversies that resulted from the implementation of the accord, US Embassy charge d’affaires Paul Jones said the US government will wait and see how the case concerning Smith’s custody progresses.
Rally anti-US near the U.S. embassy in Manila - January 8, 2007 (tags)
U.S. Marines Accused of Rape
Militant Lawmakers and Opposition Stalwarts Condemns Philippine Arroyo's Puppetry (tags)
President Arroyo’s public admission that her administration buckled before US pressure in the custody dispute over a convicted rapist makes her government an awkward host for an upcoming summit that includes many countries that have defied American might. Militant legislators called President Arroyo’s action as “downright improper, illegal and bordering on treason.” “This is perhaps the most scandalous crime and most unconstitutional act ever committed by Mrs. Arroyo that makes Proclamation 1017, the Calibrated Preemptive Response, Executive Order 464 and the fake people’s initiative pale in comparison,” House Deputy Minority Leader Satur Ocampo said. Ocampo called the President a “serial violator of the Constitution and the rule of law.” “The opportunist that she is, it is farfetched that she will find shame over this scandal and feel the urge to resign,” he said. “Those incensed by her corruption and cheating are now more determined to compel her ouster due to her sellout of Philippine national interests.” Party-list Rep. Crispin Beltran of Anakpawis said Smith’s transfer in exchange for resumption of Balikatan exercises makes Nicole a victim all over again. “Is there anything President Arroyo will not do to secure Washington’s approval? Her approval for the transfer of convicted rapist US Marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith exposes how low she will go to make sure that she has the support of the US government: she is willing to throw aside Philippine law and ignore severe implications on national sovereignty. For the sake of her government’s one-sided relations with the US, she has abetted the eventual release of a convicted rapist.”
Anti-USA demonstration in Manila - January 3, 2007 (tags)
Philippines court, minister back transfer of US marine rapist
Philippines: shameless act of collaboration of the Arroyo regime and the U.S. government (tags)
"It's an utterly shameless act of collaboration of the Arroyo regime and the U.S. government." This was the statement of Myrla Baldonado, spokesperson of Task Force Subic Rape (TFSR) on the stealthy transfer of custody of Daniel Smith from the Makati City Jail to the U.S. Embassy.
Four Reasons Why Smith Should Be in RP custody (tags)
The AJLPP published this good article: THE UNDERSIGNED groups express their outrage over how the Department of Justice and the Department of Foreign Affairs have taken the cudgels for Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith who, we have learned, has been released to the custody of the US Embassy upon orders of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. These officials have forgotten that they represent the Filipino people and not an American serviceman. Instead of deferring to the judiciary's interpretation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), they have thwarted the legal import of the original provisions of the VFA and substituted their own meaning to justify the transfer of Smith's custody to the United States. This case is not only an issue of custody.
A Tribute to Dr. Ochie Baes- A True People’s Artist (tags)
The Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace (AJLPP)-USA and all his comrades and friends in the United States, pay tribute to the departed Dr. Ochie Baez and express profound condolence to his family and relatives. Ka. Ochie studied, worked and has been a stalwart of the Philippine movement in the United States ever since he emigrated to the continent in 1982 as an exchange student in the state of Minnesota where he got his doctorate degree.
AJLPP-USA Condemns Puppet Philippine Government Order to Return Convicted Rapist Smith to (tags)
2 AM +0800 The Alliance for A just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) -USA condemn in the strongest term the puppet Philippine government order that transferred convicted American serviceman Lance Corporal Daniel Smith to the custody of the US embassy . AJLPP coordinator Mario Santos said: “Arroyo’s action proved that the Philippine government’s brazen puppetry ( kakapalan ng mukha)and lackyism (pagpapakatuta) knows no bounds. It does not only order the killing of Filipinos but also allows the rape of Filipinas and the violation of its own laws and its constitution. Arroyo should stop imploring “law and order” because she cannot even follow the laws of her country. Much more, she should renounce her citizenship and be an ugly American that she is.” .
A Tribute to Dr. Ochie Baez- A True People’s Artist (tags)
The Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace (AJLPP)-USA and all his comrades and friends in the United States, pay tribute to the departed Dr. Ochie Baez and express profound condolence to his family and relatives. Ka. Ochie studied, worked and has been a stalwart of the Philippine movement in the United States ever since he emigrated to the continent in 1982 as an exchange student in the state of Minnesota.
Rape Victim's Mother Accused Arroyo of Siding with the U.S. (tags)
-- News sources today, quoted rape victim's mother describing her family's continuing fight for justice as a bout between David and Goliath, the mother of rape victim "Nicole" on Monday broke her silence and scored the government for siding with the US on the custody dispute over her daughter's convicted rapist.
AJLPP-USA Hails Philippine CA Decision To Junk Smith plea for TRO (tags)
The Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP)-USA , today hail the decision of Philippine's Court of Appeals on Tuesday that junked rape convict Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith’s plea to be returned to United States custody. The court’s Special 16th Division denied Smith’s prayer for a temporary restraining order on Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Benjamin Pozon’s decision to keep him at the Makati City Jail, noting that his petition “precisely involves a determination of the regularity of the act of respondent judge… “We do not share with petitioner’s view and that a grave and irreparable injury would befall him pending determination of this petition,” the court ruled. “The long and short of it is that a full-blown trial has been held with all the rights of the accused accorded to hi
Philippine CA junks Smith plea for TRO (tags)
Manila-- The Court of Appeals on Tuesday junked rape convict Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith’s plea to be returned to United States custody. The court’s Special 16th Division denied Smith’s prayer for a temporary restraining order on Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Benjamin Pozon’s decision to keep him at the Makati City Jail, noting that his petition “precisely involves a determination of the regularity of the act of respondent judge… “We do not share with petitioner’s view and that a grave and irreparable injury would befall him pending determination of this petition,” the court ruled. “The long and short of it is that a full-blown trial has been held with all the rights of the accused accorded to him.”
On the Philippine Judge’s Decision to Deny Custody of a Convicted US Marine to the US Emba (tags)
The Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) USA highly commends Judge Benjamin Pozon of Makati City, Philippines for standing firm on his decision not to give the U.S Embassy custody of convicted rapist Cpl. Daniel Smith of the U.S. Marines despite the lap-dog subservience of the US-Arroyo government and its Department of Justice. What remains now is to ask all patriotic Filipinos to unite and act to scrap the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that is the source of all the indignities and violations of our national territory and honor as a people. The United States will always use the onerous and lop-sided VFA to advance their interest against our people and nation. Truly, it took the courage of a Filipino woman, “Nicole”, who stood up for her dignity as a person to emphasize the unequal relationship between the US and the Philippines. It took another brave Filipino man, a judge, to uphold our sovereignty and the majesty of Philippine laws to make us proud to be on a moral high ground and to stand firm as Filipinos. It will take the people of the nation to unite the country to continue to stand and fight for its sovereign rights.
Migrant Workers, WW2 Vets, Inter-faith Demand Release of Philippine Labor Leader (tags)
AJLPP to Mark International Human Rights Week; Migrant Workers, Pro-Filipino WW2 Vets and Inter-faith groups in NY, SF, LA and Seattle to Raise Political and Financial Support for Detained Philippine Labor Leader
On the Verdict of the the GANG Rape of a Filipina by Four US Marines (tags)
The gang rape of Nicole by four US marines in the Philippines is not only an issue of a woman but a whole nation raped for the last century, made possible through onerous and lopsided military agreements, much like the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).
More Philippine troops sent to hunt for Janjalani, JI operatives (tags)
News sources and the Philippine military said Tuesday it will send another 2,000 troops to Jolo to bolster a US-backed four-month offensive to capture the country's top terror suspects. According ot news sources, about 6,000 Army troops and Marines have been searching for Indonesians Umar Patek and Dulmatin, suspected members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah network, who fled to the southern Philippines after allegedly plotting the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani since August 2006.
US Marines' Gang-rape of a Filipina: A Violation of a Woman’s Right / Nation’s Sovereignty (tags)
On December 4, the Philippine Court released a verdict on the following four US Marine “visiting troops” charged with gang-raping a 22-year old Nicole and a fresh graduate from a Catholic University: Lance Corporals Daniel Smith (principal accused) was found guilty. Dominic Duplantis, Keith Silkwood and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier were pronuced not guilty. The latter three were reportedly at the scene cheering while the principal suspect was raping Nicole inside a cruising van at Subic Bay Freeport, which used to be part of the biggest US military naval base in the last Philippines, last Nov. 1, 2005.
US Marines' Gang-rape of a Filipina: A Violation of a Woman’s Right ... (tags)
On December 4, the Philippine Court will release a verdict on the following four US Marine “visiting troops” charged with gang-raping a 22-year old Nicole and a fresh graduate from a Catholic University: Lance Corporals Daniel Smith (principal accused), Dominic Duplantis, Keith Silkwood and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier. The latter three were reportedly at the scene cheering while the principal suspect was raping Nicole inside a cruising van at Subic Bay Freeport, which used to be part of the biggest US military naval base in the last Philippines, last Nov. 1, 2005.
STOP THE POLITICAL KILLINGS NOW! (tags)
Once more, with deep sadness, the Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-U.S.A vigorously condemns the November 27, 2006 murder of Anthony Licayo , president of Gunglo Dagiti Mannalon peasant association in Cabirauan, Gonzaga, Cagayan Valley.
Pesante-USA Support’s Cagayan Valley Peasant’s Struggle for Land and Freedom (tags)
--The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-U.S.A vehemently condemned the despicable killing of the new Gunglo Dagiti Mannalon peasant association president Anthony Licayo last November 27 at Brgy. Cabirauan, Gonzaga, Cagayan, Licayo has just succeeded Joey Javier, the president of Gunglo was killed by military agents in Brgy, Bagunot,Cagayan. Licayo became the 791st victim of political killings perpetrated by the military throughout the Philippines under the US-Arroyo regime. Pesante is very much aware that the peasant associations led by the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) is taking the brunt of the fascist attacks by the US trained and directed Philippine military, police, its intelligence agencies and paramilitaries all over the country.
Filipino women demand justice for Nicole, speedy resolution of subic rape case (tags)
Women from Akbayan (Citizens Action Party) converged at the Welcome Rotonda today joining nationwide protests for the speedy resolution of the Subic rape case and to call for justice for Nicole.
US Marines' Gang-rape of a Filipina: A Violation of a Woman’s Right ... (tags)
On November 27, the Philippine Court will release a verdict on the following four US Marine “visiting troops” charged with gang-raping a 22-year old Nicole and a fresh graduate from a Catholic University: Lance Corporals Daniel Smith (principal accused), Dominic Duplantis, Keith Silkwood and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier. The latter three were reportedly at the scene cheering while the principal suspect was raping Nicole inside a cruising van at Subic Bay Freeport, which used to be part of the biggest US military naval base in the last Philippines, last Nov. 1, 2005.
Philippine Women's National Day of Protest (tags)
US-BASED WOMEN’S GROUP GABRIELA NETWORK COMMEMORATE PHILIPPINE WOMEN’S NATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST; DECLARE U.S. CULPABLE FOR EXPLOITATION AND OPPRESSION OF FILIPINAS
Filipino Activists protest Charter change, killings in Mendiola (tags)
Thousands of FIlipino protesters led by the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP-The Philippine Peasant Movement) marched Friday to denounce President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's campaign to amend the constitution and what they said was a spate of political killings in the Philippines. The Philippine Peasant Support Network(Pesante-USA) expressed solidarity with this nationwide mass action in the Philippines. As a Filipino peasant advocacy group, Pesante was formed in the U.S in 1991 and is a member of the Aliiance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP).
US Church Leaders Condemn Political Killing of a Filipino Bishop (tags)
Justice for Bishop Alberto Ramento! Justice for all 756 victims of political killings including church workers, peasants, union officials and organizers, journalists, women, student activists, lawyers, doctors and peace advocates who, in their pursuit of justice for the poor and oppressed, have been felled down by the military death squads of the government of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Stand Firm against the Persecution and Senseless Killing of Church People and Other Social (tags)
Justice for Bishop Alberto Ramento! Justice for all 756 victims of political killings including church workers, peasants, union officials and organizers, journalists, women, student activists, lawyers, doctors and peace advocates who, in their pursuit of justice for the poor and oppressed, have been felled down by the military death squads of the government of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
5,700 US troops coming for war exercises in Luzon (tags)
Some 5,700 American military personnel will join Filipino troops this month in major war drills, including live-fire exercises, amphibious landings and ship interdictions, US and Philippine military officials said yesterday.
Pesante-USA Condemns Activist Aglipayan bishop “Rub-Out” (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante-USA) with the highest and strongest indignation, vehemently condemn the “rub-out” Marcos martial law style killing of an Aglipayan bishop who spoke out against the extrajudicial killings under the Arroyo administration and who took up the cudgels for striking workers at Hacienda Luisita.
5,700 US TROOPS COMING FOR WAR EXERCISES IN LUZON (tags)
ome 5,700 American military personnel will join Filipino troops this month in major war drills, including live-fire exercises, amphibious landings and ship interdictions, US and Philippine military officials said yesterday. Unlike recent training in Mindanao, the new joint exercises will not be aimed primarily at battling terrorism but focus on routine drills to enhance both forces’ capabilities to operate together, US Marine Capt. Burrell Parmer said.
PHILIPPINES: The Killings Must Stop (tags)
This is a Statement by European Church and Civil Society Organisations regarding the recent upsurge of political killings in the Philippines.
PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT REJECTS MILF DEMANDS (tags)
The Philippine government (GRP) on Wednesday rejected demands by Muslim rebels for control over vast swaths of land as peace talks remained at a standstill. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita conceded that the talks with the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) “are at a stalemate right now on the issue of territory.”
AJLPP-USA Sept.21-13 Events- A Success! (tags)
The Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace In the Philippines (AJLPP)-USA commemorative activities for the 34th year of martial law and solidarity against political killings in the Philippines that was held in four cities of the United States was a tremendous success.
AJLPP-USA Mobilize for the Martial Law Commemoration and International Global Days of Acti (tags)
The Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP)-USA in solidarity with the people of the Philippines in their militant protest against political killings, call to resume peace negotiations and in commemoration of the 34th year of the declaration of martial rule in the Philippines launches different types of activities from September 21-23 in four major cities in the United States.
US to beef up hunt for Abu-JI terrorists (tags)
The United States is increasing its support for the ongoing military offensive in Sulu against the Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah to hasten the capture of Abu Sayyaf chief Khadaffy Janjalani and Umar Patek and Dulmatin of JI, Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz said here yesterday. Cruz said Rear Adm. William VanMeter Alford Jr., chief of staff of the United States Pacific Command (USPACOM), made the commitment in a meeting with President Arroyo during her stop here on Sunday.
AFP ASSESSMENT THAT THEY WILL ERADICATE THE NPA BY 2010- A BIG BLUFF (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA - a human rights, environemtal and a peasant advocacy network based in Los Angeles, called the AFP assessment that they will destroy the New People’s Army (NPA) by 2010, at the end of the President Arroyo’s term “ A big bluff and an empty pipe dream!.”
PESANTE CONDEMNS AFP RED BAITING (tags)
Philippine Peasant Support Network(Pesante)-USA based in Los Angeles, in a statement issued today, September 14, 2006 vehemently condemns AFP Chief General Esperon’s statement against Ocampo and Casino and other leaders of the progressive mass organizations in the Philippines. “Esperon’s statement is a clear military’s anti communist mind-set. It’s bunker mentality that foments anti-communist with-hunting and a clear signal for the military death squads to go after progressive mass leaders.”
PHILIPPPINE MILITARY CHIEF CALLS BAYAN MUNA's OCAMPO, CASINO -"ENEMIES OF THE STATE.& (tags)
Philippine ARMED FORCES of the Philippines chief of staff, General Hermogenes Esperon yesterday said some party-list representatives, including Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño, were enemies of the state hiding behind the legitimate cover of their organization, Bayan Muna. On the other hand, the Philippine Peasant Support Network(Pesante)-USA based in Los Angeles, in a statement issued today, September 14, 2006 vehemently criticized Esperon’s statement against Ocampo and Casino and other leaders of the progressive mass organizations in the Philippines. “Esperon’s statement is a clear military’s anti communist mind-set. It’s bunker mentality that foments anti-communist with-hunting and a clear signal for the military death squads to go after progressive mass leaders.”
Filipinas in Lebanon treated like ’modern-day slaves’ (tags)
FINDINGS OF INTERNATIONAL MISSION TO LEBANON: Filipina overseas workers in Lebanon are being treated like “modern-day slaves,” this was the main finding of Filipinos who had just arrived from Lebanon as part of an international civil society and parliamentary delegation.
Commemorate August 23, 1896, the Cry of Pugad Lawin: The Start of the 1896 Revolution (tags)
There are limits to what the cedula and terrorist killings can accomplish in keeping the restive Filipino people cowed into submission. Aspiring Mini-Me Dictator Arroyo must realize that Dictator Marcos’ brazen terrorism and iron-fist rule did not last indefinitely. And like the Cry of August 23, 1896, the Filipino people will once again rise up and fight their oppressors. The Filipino people will finish the unfinished Philippine Revolution against US imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism until they become truly sovereign and free.
STOP THE KILLINGS, STOP THE HARASSMENTS IN KALINGA, CORDILLERA (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante-USA) , a human righst and peasant advocacy group based in Los Angeles, express its militant solidarity with the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) in its protest against several cases of escalating harassments by police and military elements in the province of Kalinga. The Cordillera Human rights Alliance (CHRA) reported that cases of harassments were reported from Kalinga province. ?
Privilege Speech of ANAKPAWIS Rep. Rafael Mariano (tags)
Ang bumabalot na pasistang terror sa buong Gitnang Luzon laluna sa lalawigan ng Nueva Ecija ay hindi senyales na nagtatagumpay ang AFP laban sa NPA. Bagkus, lalo lamang nitong ginigising ang mayaman at makasaysayang militante at rebolusyonaryong tradisyon ng mamamayan ng Gitnang Luzon sa pakikibaka laban sa tiranya, pang-aapi't pambubusabos tulad ng ipinamalas nila sa nakaraan.
The Filipino American Community Problems on the Pilipino Language (tags)
August is usually the National Language Week ( Linggo ng Wika) in the Philippines. Pesante-USA presented this paper this week for Filipinos in the Philippines and America to ponder. Its an irony while the Philippine government ( US-Arroyo regime) is reverting to the colonial mendicancy of propagating English to compete in the international market for labor exports, Filipinos abroad and Filipino Americans in the U.S are advancing the propagation of Pilipino in the United States. This is an important development we should monitor and work on. The more than 3 million Filipinos in the United States might be away from their homeland but their patriotism is afire and will never forget their roots.
Get Filipino OFW’s Out of Lebanon, (tags)
Up to now, less than 2,000 out of the 30,000 have returned to the Philippines. The President’s promise to “evacuate all Filipinos out of Lebanon” is just another empty promise that she is fond of making to endear herself to the country but to no avail. What we see now is the slow pace of evacuation being done by the government. There is no serious plan on the part of the Manila government to get the majority of Filipino OFW’s out of harm’s way.
Deport Bolante Back to the Philippines, (tags)
The AJLPP calls on the US government to act and deport Arroyo’s bagman Bolante. We likewise call on the Philippine government to prosecute Bolante as soon as he is returned to the Philippines. Only then we can believe that they are both serious in fighting corruption in the Philippines. Otherwise, we are just watching another charade in the making. Peace will only be another victim in the altar of self-appointed high priests of immorality, corruption and greed.
Start anti-corruption drive with Bolante’ (tags)
If the government is serious in its campaign against corruption, it should start revealing details of why former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn "Jocjoc" Bolante was taken into custody in the United States, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said yesterday.
Dismantle the US-Arroyo Fascist Puppet Regime, Resume Peace Negotiations Now! (tags)
For the sixth time, the fake president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will deliver her State of the Nation Address (SONA) as the traditional year-end report to elucidate new policies like all Philippine presidents do. But her sixth SONA will no different from her previous ones: all the high-tech glitz and fanfare in the world will not be able to hide its emptiness and utter lack of credibility
Warnings she must heed: (tags)
All kinds of speculations have been aired since former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante was arrested in the United States for entering the country without a visa. Could his arrest be a US government warning shot to the Arroyo administration? Opposition voices are saying his arrest was made on the initiative of the Arroyo administration. They allege the administration does not want Bolante to come back to the Philippines and be forced to spill the beans in congressional investigations about his alleged diversion of P728 million from funds for fertilizers to be shared with farmers to President Arroyo’s 2004 campaign kitty. Both the Philippine and American governments are not forthcoming with details. The Philippine government has in fact ordered a total blackout on statements and news about Bolante. US immigration experts are befuddled why Bolante was arrested and held. He is in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement “processing center” in San Pedro, California.
Warnings she must heed: (tags)
All kinds of speculations have been aired since former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante was arrested in the United States for entering the country without a visa. Could his arrest be a US government warning shot to the Arroyo administration? Opposition voices are saying his arrest was made on the initiative of the Arroyo administration. They allege the administration does not want Bolante to come back to the Philippines and be forced to spill the beans in congressional investigations about his alleged diversion of P728 million from funds for fertilizers to be shared with farmers to President Arroyo’s 2004 campaign kitty. Both the Philippine and American governments are not forthcoming with details.
Pesante-USA Condemns the Killing of Isabela Woman Peasant Leader (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network-USA after learning from news sources that Madonna Castillo, 32, succumbed at around 6:30 p.m. to three gunshot wounds to the stomach and feet sustained when she was attacked around 8 a.m. in front of the Isabela State University, condemned in the strongest possible terms the reign of terror being perpetrated by the Philippine military against the progressive mass leaders and activists.
Military batters rebels in Eastern Visayas (tags)
The 8th Infantry Division, Philippine Army has again battered CPP/NPA terrorists in the Eastern Visayas after hitting them in two separate operations in Leyte and Northern Samar, Eastern Visayas, Central Philippines.
Community Radio station set aflame in the Philippines: staff injured, military blamed (tags)
In the latest attack over free media in the Philippines, Radyo Cagavano, a community radio station run by farmers and supported by the left-wing Bayan Muna party, was burned down and its staff member injured and robbed at gun-point. The radio station employees suspect the Philippine Army. Since Gloria Macapagal became President in Feburary 2001, 42 journalists have been murdered. AMARC, the World Association of Community Radio Stations, is organizing a campaign to demand justice for the people of Radyo Cagayano. (includes pictures provided by Kodao Productions from Quezon City, Philippines. Kodao Productions, another AMARC member, is spearheading the national campaign in the Philippines.)
Military fugitives, lawyer nabbed (tags)
UPDATE) AT LEAST six military fugitives and a lawyer linked to a group of rebel officers and soldiers that tried to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2003 were arrested Friday, according to reports gathered by Pesante-USA from Philippine news sources.
PPNP, AFP, agencies to meet on counterinsurgency (tags)
Pesante-USA/AJLPP reported this news about the Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and other government agencies will be meeting to coordinate their efforts to combat the communist insurgency, newly installed PNP Director General Oscar Calderon said Thursday. Calderon said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, at a meeting, instructed the PNP and AFP to create a joint plan to combat communist rebels.
Killing season in the Philippines (tags)
The escalating repression taking place now in the Philippines is no coincidence. Twenty years since the end of the dictatorship and three "people's power" uprisings later, Philippine society is hugely polarized.
US, EU "Terror Lists" Promote Political Killings In The Philippines – Jalandoni (tags)
The Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines took another swipe today at governments maintaining "terrorist lists", saying that the inclusion of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People's Army and NDFP Chief Political Consultant Jose Maria Sison in such lists emboldens the government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to continue on its rampage of extrajudicial killings of civilians, enforced disappearances and other human rights violatio
ROF. SISON EXPOSES BEFORE EUROPEAN COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (tags)
How the State of Education Has Changed Over Time in (tags)
I think, when the school opens this June, it’s high time to send our officials back to school so that they would learn first hand the real sad state of our educational system. #
PHILIPPINES: Local governor belies PDSP claims of communist atrocities in Bukidnon (tags)
The Pesante-USA published the article of Tonyo Cruz to dispute the anti-communist and anti-people propaganda of the soc-dem pro US-Arroyo regime PDSP- a social democratic party of National Security adviser Norberto Gonzales, a clerico-fascist stooge of US Imperialism anf fascists in the Philippines.
Detained Philippine lawmaker files resolution vs. repressive US immigration bills (tags)
Activist Philippine lawmaker Rep. Crispin Beltran recently filed House Resolution 1263 urging the Philippine government to support the call of millions of Filipinos and migrants of other nationalities in the US and actively oppose the passage of the racist and repressive Sensenbrenner-King bill and other similar proposals.
Hundreds of Filipino Americans Join the Two Los Angeles Marches (tags)
Hundreds of Filipinos flying the Philippine flag marched in downtown Los Angeles in the morning and again, in the late afternoon from MacArthur Park to Miracle Mile, Wilshire, west Los Angeles in rallies that drew hundreds of thousands of people up to an estimated number of more than a million people. The Filipino contingent stopped at the Philippine consulate at Wilshire-Kingsley Street for more than three minutes and held a short program. They shouted: OUST GMA, Resign GMA, NO TO CHA-CHA! and STOP THE FASCIST KILLINGS! FREE THE BATASAN 6! They were cheered by the thousands of marchers and the Filipinos who were lining up in front of the St. Basil’s Catholic Church and at the consulate grounds.
Thaksin of Thailand is Out, The Taksil in Malacañang is Next – Pesante (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA is happy to express our greetings of solidarity for the people of Thailand especially to the Thai-Americans who lived in ThaiTown in Los Angeles for their victory in forcing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra out of office. The people of Thailand did not let up their protest and boycotted the elections that Thaksin maneuvered to save his political career.
FILIPINOS IN THE U.S.A. AND AROUND THE WORLD: WHENCE AND WHITHER? (tags)
About ten million Filipinos are now scattered in the U.S. and around the world, chiefly as exploited migrant labor. Meanwhile, 85 million Filipinos--with the exception of a tiny privileged minority--are sufffering and resisting the current repressive regime in a rapidly deteriorating neocolonized social order. The Philippines has one of the most durable and vibrant revolutionary traditions in the whole world--the first Asian people to revolt against Western colonialism. 4.1 million Filipinos died opposing U.S. domination in the Filipino-American War at the turn of the last century. Today Filipinos are engaged in a popular democratic revolutionary process against U.S. imperialism and its local agents. Can overseas Filipinos contribute to the radical transformation of a world afflicted by the atrocities and terrors of global capitalism?
VIDEO REPORT "No to State of Emergency" LA Philippine Consulate (tags)
KmB USA Pro-People News Presents...videos clip of the actions taken in Los Angeles 2/24/06 in front of the Philippine Consulate.
CRISIS AND DISINTEGRATION OF THE ARROYO FASCIST REGIME IN THE PHIIPPINES (tags)
A critical analysis of the inherent contradictions in the current regime in the Philippines would reveal the logic of irreversible fascist decay. While objective conditions have polarized and sharpened the divisions within the ruling bloc, the subjective forces of national democracy and anti-imperialism have not fully organized and united to deliver the decisive blow. Meanwhile, the U.S. and its agents are working behind the scenes to pick a successor to Arroyo and re-consolidate its neocolonial stranglehold. But will millions of concerned Filipinos allow the U.S. and its "guns, goons and gold" to determine again our collective fate and national destiny? Filipinos in the Philippines and around the world will have to decide as the Arroyo cabal, convulved with death-pangs, lashes out at everyone within reach.
Women in US Launch Sustained Protests Against De Facto Martial Law in the Philippines (tags)
GABRIELA Network USA, a Philippine-US women's solidarity mass organization, launches rolling national mobilization that will see daily protest actions in major cities in the US until the Philippine state of national emergency is lifted.
Kabataang maka-Bayan USA Pro-People Youth condemns the outright fascist Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) in its attempt to circumvent the democratic rights of the Filipino people by declaring a State of Emergency.
On the rape of a Filipina committed by 6 US marines (tags)
We demand that the Philippine Government pursue all means necessary to immediately prosecute the six U.S. servicemen charged with raping a Filipino woman in Olongapo City. The Philippine government should do no less. The government owes it to all Filipino women. - Laban ng Masa - Pinay (Fight of the Masses/ Filipino Women's groups)
GABNet Holds Emergency Candlelight Vigil to Protest Crimes Against Humanity in the Philipp (tags)
Women’s group GABRIELA Network commemorates Philippine Women’s Day of Protest, holds emergency nationwide candlelight vigil to protest human rights violations perpetrated by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and US President Bush’s so-called War on Terror.
GABRIELA Network & Allies Across the U.S. Protest War "Of" Terror in the Philipp (tags)
GABRIELA Network, a US-Philippine women's solidarity mass organization est. 1989, leads first nationwide protest against human rights violations and political killings in the Philippines.
The War Against the People: US Scholars Denounce Killings and Calls for a World-Wide Actio (tags)
Northampton, MA - The Critical Filipina and Filipino Studies Collective (CFFSC) condemns the growing spate of killings and human rights violations of political activists, peasant rights advocates and sympathizers, lawyers and priests in the Philippines. The Philippine military is targeting and murdering leftist activists and civilians under the pretense of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo regime’s “War on Terror.” The U.S.-backed Arroyo regime’s campaign of surveillance, abduction, torture, and execution is a campaign of terror against the Filipino people.
BAYAN USA CONDEMNS KILLINGS & EXPRESS CONCERN FOR INT'L HUMAN RIGHTS JUSTICE CAPULONG (tags)
Threats against the Philippines’ premier human rights lawyer linked to Hacienda Luisita massacre, derailment of peace talks and U.S. “war on terror”
GABRIELA Network Intl Women Day March & Rally, Women's History Month Activities (tags)
From California to New York, GABRIELA Network, a Philippine-US women's solidarity mass organization, commemorates Intl Women's Day, demand end to war and occupation, calls attention to the impact of these on women of Philippine ancestry.
Remember the US-Philippine War (tags)
Filipino Youth & Students for Philippine Self-Determination recognizes the 105th Anniversary of the Philippine-U.S. War
Current U.S. Intervention in the Philippines* (tags)
Over the past century, the U.S. has been the leading interventionist power in the world often victimizing small independent countries and national liberation movements and using the military as its chief instrument. In many cases, U.S. interventionism leads to wars of aggression. Other methods used are: political and diplomatic pressures; economic pressures and trade sanctions; covert operations; media manipulation; and others.
US TROOPS TO FIGHT IN PHILIPPINES! (tags)
A U.S. Marine mans his machine gun near a cargo plane that landed at the Zamboanga airport in the southern Philippines on Feb. 20, 2003, carrying U.S. troops & equipment. (Stringer/Philippines/Reuters)
Interview with Jose Maria Sison, target of the U.$. "war on terrorism" (tags)
Text of an interview with Philippine professor and activist Jose Maria Sison, alleged by the U.$. to be a "terrorist." Brief update on his situation, links to petitions and a longer audio interview.
Proof Bush knew about Targets!!! (tags)
This proves the Bush adminastration knew of the targets, but they allowed it to happen because of the profits to be made by carlyle group etc... in which the Bush family has a large stake...
Picket at Philippine Consulate!!! (tags)
JOIN US IN OUR CALL TO END CORRUPTION! ESTRADA RESIGN OR BE OUSTED! END U.S.-SUPPORT FOR ESTRADA!