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Press Statement
July 25, 2011

Reference: Bernadette Ellorin, Chairperson, BAYAN-USA, email: chair@bayanusa.org

One Year Later, Filipinos Still in Crisis Under Aquino-- BAYAN-USA

Filipino-Americans, under the banner of BAYAN-USA, are taking part in actions across the US and in Manila during the scheduled State of the Nation Address (SONA) in the Philippines to register strong condemnation and disappointment over the failure of the administration of Philippine President Benigno Simeon "P-Noy" Aquino III to facilitate significant changes to improve the lives of the burdened Filipino people after one year in office.

Citing continuing subservience to foreign dictates and a worsened economic situation as measures of the Aquino's failure to deliver upon promises made during the election and during last year's SONA, BAYAN-USA and its allies in the US remain adamantly unconvinced that the administration is genuinely for change.

Shameless US Puppetry

At the heart of Aquino's failure is unrelenting loyalty and puppetry to US foreign policy.

Within his first year, Aquino has willingly allowed the US to use the Philippines as its puppet state to take advantage of the regional territorial dispute over the Spratly Islands and provoke profit-making military aggression in Asia, and particularly against China.

As war and arms production has become the most profitable industry for the US ruling elite, the US government has in turn been able to rely strongly on the compliant Aquino administration to continue with a sugar-coated version of Arroyo's deadly Operation Plan Bantay Laya by implementing Operation Plan Bayanihan, per the US State Department's Counter-Insurgency Guide (US COIN). The objective of this counterinsurgency program is the same as it was for Arroyo’s administration and as utilized by repressive regimes worldwide: to suppress dissent and eliminate opposition using a combination of deceptive and increasingly violent tactics. The end result is the protection of imperialist economic and political interests at the expense of human lives.

The Poor Get Poorer Under Aquino

Under the thumb of US foreign dictates, Aquino has further pushed a neoliberal economic framework that has made life more miserable for the majority of the Filipino people. Landlord families, such as Aquino's, remain in control of the country's natural resources and push for privatization. Liberalization continues to hike up the prices of basic commodities such as food, gas, and water out of the reach of Filipino families. Contractualization hurts workers by decreasing wages, sowing job insecurity, and busting unions. Under Aquino, there are over 11 million unemployed Filipinos in the country with virtually zero job growth.

Privatization schemes such as the so-called Public-Private Partnership (PPP) not only serve to bulk up the pockets of wealthy and powerful multi-national corporate investors at the expense of ordinary Filipino citizens and workers. They also widen the gap between the few Filipino families that control the majority of the country's wealth and political power and the burdened majority who must pay from their own pockets for the risks of private investors. It is the impoverished majority who suffer the most from the Philippine state's abandonment of its public responsibilities.

Filipinos are left with no choice but to seek opportunities abroad, like in the United States. But in these desperate economic times, many Filipino workers fall prey to human trafficking schemes to the US.

Philippine Government: #1 Human Trafficker

The cases of the Sentosa 27 healthworkers, the Florida 15 hotel workers, and hundreds more similar cases of Filipinos duped into coming to the US under the auspices that they would have contract work waiting for them only to have their money taken, passports confiscated, and be left by their recruiters to fend for themselves as undocumented migrants are another clear measure of the Philippine government's failure to address the country's economic woes.

In addition, the Aquino government continues Arroyo's non-accountability to overseas Filipino workers in distress by not providing adequate social services and protection from abuse, maltreatment, and exploitation abroad.

Last Names Do Not a Great Leader Make

Though he was able to capitalize on his last name and the dirty record of his predecessor to win the election, it is clear that none of these things actually translated into making Aquino a great leader or any improvement to the state of the Philippine nation.

Like Obama, Aquino has proven that he is not much different than his predecessor, particularly with his human rights record. In one year of the Aquino presidency, 45 activists have been slain in politically-motivated killings, 5 have been victims of forced disappearance and over 300 political prisoners remain behind bars. The perpetrators of the 1,206 extra-judicial killings, more than 300 forced disappearances, and over 1,000 cases of torture committed under the previous administration of President Gloria Arroyo remain at-large, including those guilty of abducting and torturing renowned Filipina American poet, artist, and BAYAN USA member Melissa Roxas.

As Aquino delivers his formal State of the Nation Address (SONA) to the Philippine Congress today, Filipino-Americans will be amongst those who refused to be deceived and who understand that real change can only come from ordinary people in collective struggle, not from individual politicians with famous last names. ###

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BAYAN-USA is an alliance of 14 progressive Filipino organizations in the U.S. representing youth, students, women, workers, artists, and human rights advocates. As the oldest and largest overseas chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-Philippines), BAYAN-USA serves as an information bureau for the national democratic movement of the Philippines and as a campaign center for anti-imperialist Filipinos in the U.S. For more information, visit www.bayanusa.org
 

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PRESS STATEMENT
23 July 2011

Reference: Jun Cruz, NAFCON Public Info Officer
Email: info@filipinocc.org

NAFCON Statement on President Aquino’s SONA 2011

This coming July 25, the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON-US) joins millions of Filipinos throughout the Philippines and all over the world in presenting the real conditions of Filipinos at home and abroad.

As the day approaches for Philippine President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III to deliver his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) since he took office last year, 2010, we expect to hear the same lines and promises which still need to be proven with action. In his first year as president, we have seen his performance and are confident to say that he has performed poorly and incompetently in addressing the issues of the people whom he called "boss" in his inaugural speech.

Noynoy, Who's Your Real Boss?

It is definitely not the migrants who produce the bulk of the nation's budget through their remittances. We have not heard Aquino express, during his one year in office, any intention to repeal, or at least take steps, to end the Labor Export Policy (LEP). The LEP enables the continuous massive export of cheap labor to foreign countries without any promise of protection for the more than eleven million Filipinos outside the Philippines.

With the US as the top destination of Filipino migrants, totaling over four million, it is appalling to know how rampant cases of labor trafficking, wage theft and massive layoffs are amidst the Filipino community residing in the land of milk and honey.

Filipino Workers' and Human Rights in US Under Attack

The most recent trafficking and labor-related cases handled by NAFCON and its member organizations across the US include the Florida 15, LA 11, Sentosa 27++, Arizona 34, and the 200+ teachers laid-off in Prince George County, Maryland. Among many others, these cases are obvious indications that the rights and welfare of Filipino workers are under attack and receive no respect from both the Philippines and receiving countries. This proves that the LEP should be scrapped because it has proven ineffective in addressing the poverty and joblessness in the Philippines.

A most alarming scenario is employers' who withhold or refuse to issue proper immigration documents on time causing Filipino workers, who come to the US legally, to lose their legal status and become undocumented. As a result they are put in danger of being branded as "illegal" and are subject to unfair and inhumane treatment by US authorities. To date, more than one million Filipinos in the US are undocumented “tago nang tago" (TNT) meaning "always in hiding") and are at risk of being detained, deported, and treated like criminals.

Genuine Agrarian Reform and National Industrialization are the only Answers to the Problem of "Forced Migration"

The landlessness, lack of jobs, and very low wages are main factors why 4,000 Filipinos leave the country everyday. To address this, the Aquino administration should, first and foremost, heed the calls of its people to both effectively distribute land to the peasants, starting with his family-owned Hacienda Luisita, and develop national industries which could employ more workers.


PhP 125 Wage Increase Across-the-Board Nationwide in the Phils

The Aquino regime should not turn a blind eye to the calls of the workers for a P125 wage increase across-the-board nationwide. The average family living wage (PhP 420) is not enough to cover the daily cost of living (PhP 960). Although the wage increase is not the ultimate solution to the plight of workers, it will prove to be a step towards the goal of giving the people a dignified source of living.


Aquino Called On to Fulfill His Other Promises

NAFCON also joins in demanding from Aquino to fulfill the promises he made from the first day he stepped into office. Among them, one we anxiously await is the prosecution of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who led during one of the darkest eras for Filipino migrant workers'. It is under her reign where the highest recruitment of trafficked workers occurred, coupled with the endless counts of human rights violations--also very wide spread in her nine years as 'president'. Beyond the prosecution of GMA we call on Aquino to stop the pervasive human rights violations happening under his term as well including the release of all political prisoners and Justice for Melissa Roxas.


The Real State of the Nation

We are now into Noynoy's second SONA but the real state of the nation is not just a myth we can easily dismiss. The people see, feel and experience the true state of the nation and Noynoy, as much as he would attempt to hide, cannot deny the fact that he has failed to improve the conditions that our people face during his first year. NAFCON, with its member organizations, hand-in-hand with the millions of Filipinos at home and around the world, would like to remind Noynoy that we, the people, are his "boss".

Join us as our member organizations from across the US, along with other national alliances, present the People's State of the Nation Address. Actions will happen in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

- No to Labor Export Policy!!!
 

- STOP - Stop Trafficking Our People!!!

- Legalization for All! - Philippine Government Take an Active Role on Protecting Rights of Undocumented Filipinos in the US. Support Family Reunification!!!

- Philippine Government to Ratify ILO Convention on Domestic Work as Work!!!

- Stop Political Killings and Release Political Prisoners NOW!!!

- Justice for Melissa Roxas!!!

- Pass P125 Wage Increase Bill!!!

- End Wage Theft (Concerning Filipino caregivers and Other Workers) Philippine Government Address Issues of Filipinos Abroad and Protect them from Employer Abuse!!!

- Education is a Human Right!!! (No to Militarization!!!)###