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Filipino migrants and their
solidarity friends in Canada value truth and justice and demand that
President Arroyo be held accountable
February 29, 2008
The undersigned Filipino organizations, Philippine solidarity groups and
our allies stand in solidarity with the Filipino people who are protesting
in massive numbers in the Philippines to express their outrage against
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s scandal-ridden regime. The
demonstrations throughout Philippines on 22nd anniversary of People Power
1 that toppled the Marcos dictatorship on February 25 and the tens of
thousands of people in the inter-faith rally in Makati on the 29th show
that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is fast becoming one of the most hated
presidents in the history of the Philippines.
As Filipinos living and working abroad, we are disgusted with the recent
developments in the Philippines, particularly the exposé on the
overpricing of the ZTE-National Broadband Network contract between
Philippines and China that allowed some unscrupulous politicians and
bureaucrats to pocket kickbacks, including First Gentleman Mike Arroyo. We
deplore the subsequent attempts of the Arroyo
administration to cover up the scandal through the abduction of senate
witness and telecommunications engineer, Jun Lozada, hired to assess the
broadband contract, as well as the bribery of the former National Economic
and Development Authority chair Romulo Neri.
We Filipinos work hard abroad away from our families and relatives and
send billions of dollars in remittances back home. Migrant Filipinos who
find themselves in crisis abroad are often told that the Philippine
embassies cannot help due to lack of funds. We are therefore enraged with
this latest example of corruption and moral bankruptcy of the Arroyo
regime that has had a record of misusing the Filipino people’s taxes.
Canadians who are in solidarity with the Filipino people are shocked at
the worsening corruption of the Arroyo regime, especially in light of the
continuing human rights violations that includes extrajudicial killings,
disappearances and suppression of fundamental freedoms of expression and
association. As people who value peace and democracy, we are dismayed by
the current situation in the Philippines under President Arroyo that has
become reminiscent of the days of the Marcos dictatorship.
The regime’s repression and corruption have plunged the Filipino people
deeper into poverty and misery. We sympathize with their plight and
support their call to oust the Arroyo regime. It is time that the Filipino
people have a real chance to choose new leadership that is capable of
ushering in genuine development, peace and democracy in the country.
LET THE CORRUPT BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!
OUST GLORIA NOW!
Signatories:
Migrante Ontario (Pilipinong Migrante sa Canada - Ottawa, Filipino Migrant
Workers Movement, Aware, Damayan Migrant Education and Resource Center,
Migrant Workers and Family Resource Center - Hamilton, Migrante Youth
collective, Philippine Advocacy Through Arts and Culture) PINAY – Filipino
Women’s Organization of Quebec Ontario
Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (OCHRP) Philippine Network
for Justice and Peace (PNJP) Centre d’appui aux Philippines/Centre for
Philippine Concerns (CAP-CPC) – Montreal Centre for Philippine Concerns
(CPC) – Winnipeg
References:
Marco Luciano Malcolm Guy (Migrante Global Council Representative for
Canada) (Communications, CAP-CPC) migrante.ontario@gmail.com
capcpc@web.net
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VANCOUVER
"Oust Arroyo Now!" Rally at the Philippine Consulate in Vancouver
Philippine Consulate, Vancouver | February 29, 2008 | Organized by B.C.
Committee for Human Right in the Philippines,
Filipino Nurses Support Group-B.C., Philippine Women Centre of B.C.,
SIKLAB-B.C. (Overseas Filipino Migrant Workers Organization), Ugnayan ng
Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance-B.C.
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Press Statement
Filipinos in Canada demand for the ouster
of Philippine President
Arroyo
For immediate release, February 28, 2008
Tomorrow, Friday, February 29, local progressive Filipinos will rally
outside the offices of the Philippine Consulate (700 West Pender Street,
corner of Pender and Granville) to call for the ouster of Philippine
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. A delegation of leaders from
progressive Filipino organizations in BC will also present the Consul with
an open letter of concern about the intensifying political and economic
crisis in the Philippines.
According to a statement, the group says, “the recent developments in the
Philippines expose the corruption and connivance within President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo’s regime.” Recently, Arroyo signed a $329 (USD) million
National Broadband Network deal that allegedly gives a large sum of profit
to members of her Cabinet, her husband, political and business supporters.
Despite publicly admitting her knowledge of the deal’s anomalies she
signed the deal and did not call for an investigation. “Top government
officials in Arroyo’s regime have desperately tried to cover-up this
scandal and silence the whistleblowers and its opposition through
coercion, kidnapping and intimidation tactics,” says the group.
“As overseas Filipinos in Canada, we are outraged by this scandal and by
Arroyo’s overall disregard for the Filipino people in the Philippines and
abroad,” asserts Glecy Duran, Chairperson of SIKLAB-BC, an overseas
Filipino workers organization.
Since 2004, peoples’ organizations in the Philippines under BAYAN, an
alliance of patriotic and peoples’ organizations, including those in
Canada have been calling for Arroyo’s ouster because of corruption,
electoral fraud, poverty, landlessness, and human rights violations.
“Progressive Filipinos in BC are fed up that the Arroyo regime continues
to freely export Filipino workers to countries like Canada, where Filipino
workers face racism, violence, economic exploitation and oppression, and
little to no protection from the Philippine government. Arroyo’s
Philippine Labour Secretary Arturo Brion recently signed a two-year
memorandum of understanding with the BC government which will import more
Filipino temporary workers under exploitative conditions. Arroyo continues
to send Filipino women to Canada as modern-day slaves under Canada’s
Live-in Caregiver Program. Arroyo continues to ignore the impacts of
family separation on Filipino youth in Canada, especially the children of
the domestic workers. As a consequence of social alienation, Filipino
youth have a one of the highest drop out rates. Some Filipino youth have
even been killed: Deeward Ponte, Jomar Lanot, Jeffery Reodica.”
“We want the Philippine Consulate, the local representative of Arroyo’s
government, to know that overseas Filipinos abroad are not turning a blind
eye to the Arroyo regime’s corruption and theft and to the regime’s seven
years of anti-people rule. We are enraged, we are politicized, and we join
the global call for the ouster of President Arroyo,” continues Duran.
On Friday, overseas Filipinos and concerned Canadians will join the
coordinated international protest mass actions to strengthen the movement
for Arroyo’s ouster. They also support the call of the Filipino people for
a government to replace Arroyo that will promote the advancement of the
people’s struggle for a sovereign, democratic, progressive and pro-people
system.#
RALLY
“Oust the corrupt and fascist Arroyo from the Philippine presidency”
Friday, February 29, 2008
5pm – 6pm
Philippine Consulate in Vancouver
700 West Pender Street (on the corner of Pender and Granville)
Community Forum
On the recent developments and the peoples’ struggle for alternative
pro-people system in the Philippines
Sunday, March 30, 2008
1pm – 4pm
Kalayaan Centre in Vancouver
451 Powell St (between Jackson and Dunlevy)
Organized by the B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines,
Filipino Nurses Support Group, Philippine Women Centre of B.C., SIKLAB-B.C.
(Advance the Rights and Welfare of Overseas Filipino Workers and their
Families), Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino-Canadian Youth
Download statement
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Feb. 25 Press Statement
■
10 reason to oust GMA
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