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Press Release
18 December 2008
For reference: Dolores Balladares
Chairperson
Tel. No.: (852) 97472986
“To reject chacha is to reject GMA and her policy of neglect of OFWs”
HK OFWs rally vs chacha on International Migrants Day
“Our rejection of charter change is a rejection of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
and all that she stands for – corruption, fascism, subservience to foreign
power, all-out sale of Filipino migrants and criminal neglect and
irresponsibility to the plight of Filipinos abroad.”
This was declared today by Dolores Balladares, chairperson of the United
Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK) in a protest action held at
the Philippine Consulate General to mark International Migrants Day.
“GMA has not given anything to OFWs but lies and obsession with photo-ops.
She continually relies on our remittance to keep the economy going, as
well as to fee and taxes she charges to OFWs that she uses for her own
self-serving ends that include keeping herself in power through the past
election and now through charter change,” she stressed.
Balladares said the Filipinos around the world are charging GMA and her
government for the hardships that OFWs are facing and are set to face with
the impacts of the global recession. She said that GMA is responsible for
intensifying the export of Filipinos abroad and putting their lives in
great danger as in the cases of Jocelyn Dulnuan, Marilou Ranario and
thousands others who have been abused, jailed or are in death row.
“She has committed the worst sins in depriving the OFWs of genuine
services and protection since she came into power. We will never forget
the implementation of the OWWA Omnibus Policies, the POEA Guidelines and
the transfer of OWWA Medicare funds that she transformed into her own
election kitty bank,” she added.
While she provides lip service that the OFWs are close to her heart, GMA
has done everything to the contrary. The group relayed that the government
of GMA has never provided enough medical assistance, legal assistance,
repatriation funds, shelter services and assistance to victims of illegal
recruitment and overcharging.
“Now that we are facing yet more problems with the financial crisis, the
GMA government has nothing to offer but empty assurances of support.
Worse, they are not merely empty but blatant lies and media gimmickry as
shown by what happened to laid off workers from Taiwan who were slyly used
for GMA’s media projection,” she remarked.
With such sins to OFWs, Balladares stated, Filipinos abroad shall never
support GMA’s drive to continue her rule in perpetuity as aimed for by the
Charter Change. She also averred that Cha-Cha’s objectives in the economy
– selling out our land and patrimony to foreign powers and availing
foreign loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank – shall
only force millions more Filipinos to migrate.
“We fervently wish for a GMA-free 2009. We OFWs join the rest of our
people in calling for the junking of the charter change and the ouster of
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo” Balladares concluded.#
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The Secretariat
United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK)
2/F., New Hall, St. John's Cathedral,
4 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong SAR
Tel. (852) 31562447 Fax. (852) 25262894
E-mail: secretariat@unifil.org.hk
Website: http://www.unifil.org.hk
Blog: compatriots.blogspot.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/unifilhk
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(art: Antipas Delotavo’s Diaspora)
A Story I will tell the World
Ilena Saturay
I
am just one of those faceless two thousand Filipinos who left the country
that day, one of those two-thousand Filipinos who leave everyday, and just
one of those seven million Filipinos who had to work overseas. There
wasn’t anything special the morning I left: people went to their everyday
work, the masses of the poor were still hungry and burdened of poverty
while they worked to make ends meet and the small group of rich people
were eating breakfast served by their katulong, their maid/s. Beyond my
circle of family and friends, my departure was left unnoticed. But I hope
the story behind my departure wouldn’t be unnoticed, because it is the
story of so many others.
“It could have been me but instead it was you,” my father often sings the
song of Holly Near. “And it may be me dear sisters and brothers before we
are through.”
He was invited by Friends of the Earth to give a speaking tour to
Indonesia and the Netherlands about mining in Mindoro. By that time, the
government had sent more military battalions to Mindoro. A few days before
my father left, human rights organizations organized a fact-finding
mission to investigate reports of abductions, killings, disappearances and
burning of properties by the military. A close friend of his, Eden
Marcellana, was one of those who investigated. He asked her if he could
come with the fact-finding team. Eden Marcellana told him not to go
because it was too dangerous, and to just tell their story to world. So my
father went to Indonesia and the Netherlands to speak about the situation
in Mindoro.
On the day that he left, he received news that Eden Marcellana and Eddie
Gumanoy, who was also with the team, were found dead. The Department of
Justice dismissed the charges although there are many witnesses that point
to the military as her abductors and killers.
“It could have been me but instead it was you,” my father often sings.
“But if you can fight for freedom I can too.”
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When he was supposed to go home, back to the Philippines from the
Netherlands, a friend called him and told him that it was too dangerous
for him to go back. The military is looking for him, too. He should better
stay in the Netherlands and tell their story to the world.
He applied for political asylum here in the Netherlands. After three years
of being away from us and his home, he received a confirmation that he can
stay here as a political refugee. After three years, we, too, had to leave
the Philippines. More and more political activists were being killed or
abducted. During the Arroyo regime alone, there were at least 900
documented political killings.
Life abroad is not as easy and sweet as a lot of people think. There is no
easy money for ordinary people like us. You have to work. And in a place
like these where you have to learn the language first, you have to work
extra hard.
When we arrived here, we had to stay in an asylum center for a week until
our papers and documents were processed and until we were allowed to stay
here with our father. That place was like a prison for us. We were not
allowed to leave the big room for the whole day. When we had to leave the
room to get some things from our bags (which were locked up in another
room), we had to be accompanied by guards. We stayed with other political
refugees. Some of them were allowed to stay here, and some of them were
deported to the place where danger impatiently awaits them. We were
clearly not the only one. I often wonder what happened to them. What was
happening in the Philippines was clearly not happening only in the
Philippines.
Last October 26, we attended a commemoration of the Schiphol fire that
happened in 2005. There was a fire in a detention center where they keep
migrants who were awaiting deportation, locked up like they were criminals
just because they don’t or can’t have the proper paper as evidence that
they are worthy to live here. Eleven of them died. During the
commemoration, I saw a lot of people like me. Behind their faces were
different stories of why and how they came here in the Netherlands,
waiting to be told to the world.
We are hoping to come back home. But while we can’t, we will do what we
can do to improve the world so that the two thousand Filipinos who leave
the country don’t have to leave anymore, so that the people of the other
countries just like the Philippines don’t have to leave their own
countries anymore because of economical and political reasons. Telling our
story to the world would be a good start.
“. . . but if you can fight for freedom I can too,” we often sing.
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