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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 27, 2008 Contact: Rhonda Ramiro, 415-377-2599, rramiro@gmail.com
Bay Area Filipino Community Pays Tribute
to Late Philippine Rep.
Crispin Beltran
Candlelight Program to Be Held in Solidarity with Nationwide Work
Stoppage in the Philippines
OAKLAND, CA, USA-- The Filipino community of the San Francisco Bay Area
will honor internationally acclaimed leader of the Philippine labor
movement Crispin Beltran with a Candlelight Tribute on May 27, 2008 from
8:00-9:00 PM (PST). The event coincides with a national work stoppage
called for in the Philippines on May 28 (Philippines time) by the militant
union Kilusang Mayo Uno (May 1st Movement – KMU), to be conducted in
homage to Beltran on the day of his funeral. KMU declared the date a
"National Day of Mourning for Ka Bel and Protest Against the US-Macapagal
Arroyo Regime."
The Bay Area program will feature a candlelight program of song, poetry,
and remembrances in honor of Beltran, widely known as "Ka Bel" and
considered a living legend, hero of the working class, and one of the only
incorruptible members of the Philippine Congress. The program will also
feature never-before-seen video footage of Beltran at international
rallies. Organizers of the Bay Area tribute said that the candlelight
program seemed a fitting tribute to Ka Bel, who shone a light on the
corrupt and fascistic administrations of numerous Philippine presidents
including the current administration of Philippine President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo, and served as a guiding light to millions of people
around the world fighting for a just and fair society.
KMU Chair Elmer Labog stated, "In his over half-century of service to the
Filipino people and the Philippine struggle for genuine democracy and
freedom, Ka Bel never wavered for an instant in his conviction and
commitment." The nationwide work stoppage in the Philippines and
international tributes such as the event in the San Francisco Bay Area
will call attention to the widespread poverty, soaring prices of goods and
services, corruption, political killings, and other ills of the
Philippines that Ka Bel staunchly fought against and which still persist
under Macapagal Arroyo. "The fight of Ka Bel lives on. We will continue to
campaign for the ouster of a corrupt, fake, fascist, and US puppet Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo--the same president who made an innocent Ka Bel suffer
despite his old age and frail health," Labog said.
Details of the Bay Area event follow.
LIWANAG | LUZ | LIGHT
Candlelight Tribute to Ka Bel
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
8:00-9:00 PM
At the Asian Resource Center
310 – 8th Street, Room 101
Oakland, CA 94607
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