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Filipino groups in US hold People’s SONA protest

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By Nuel M. Bacarra

Filipino workers, students, community members and solidarity partners in the Washington DC-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) region in the United States of America (USA) held a protest action last Sunday, July 23, in front of the Philippine Embassy ahead of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Manila.

Calling for wage increases and decreases in the prices of commodities in their home country, the protesters criticized deplorable economic condition of Filipinos both in the US and the Philippines.

Migrante USA and BAYAN USA assailed the signing of the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) Law that established a corporation where the board members are all Marcos Jr.’ appointees.

“[The MIF is] a sovereign wealth fund that is supposed to come from the surplus of the government, but which will actual dip into the national coffers, the people’s money, our families’ pensions and will only be used for more patronage politics and shady corrupt deals,” BAYAN DMV said.

The organizations debunked government claims that MIF will stimulate economic growth and create jobs for people in the Philippines.

They said says it will further bury the country in deeper debt that will force many Filipinos to seek for better jobs abroad.

Protest action at the Philippine Consulate in Washington DC, USA. (BAYAN USA photo)

Plight of migrant workers in the US

Lily Guzman, worker-leader of PAWIS (Pilipino Association of Workers and Immigrants of South Bay), said migrant workers experience low wages and overwork because of continuing labor export programs under the Marcos Jr. government.

“When I was a live-in caregiver, I was working for 24 hours a day with a wage of only $1,200 per month,” Guzman said.

Undocumented workers are also often replaced by employers at a whim or, worst, reported to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency for deportation, Guzman added.

Philippine consulates  do not offer protection to Filipinos in the USA, the groups complained.

Nerissa Roque, a victim of an Asian hate crime in the USA, related: “When we visited the Philippine consulate in Los Angeles to ask for assistance, we were told the Assistance to Nationals (ATN) had a budget of 1 billion pesos for all overseas Filipinos, and that it was not readily accessible at that time,” she said.

Roque also said they were subjected to surveillance and their meeting at the consulate was in the presence of a Philippine National Police attaché.

Increased labor export

These complaints are different from Marcos Jr.’s rosy reports on the state of migrant workers in his SONA, however.

“We are engaging with our partners in the international community to ensure a safe working environment for our countrymen. As we do so, we are also putting in place responsive mechanisms for the social welfare, repatriation, and reintegration of our returning OFWs into the Philippine economy,” Marcos Jr. said Monday.

In his second address before Congress, Marcos Jr. praised the policy that first became a government program under his late father’s government.

“With the reopening of global economies post pandemic, the country has recorded an increase of migrant workers deployed abroad in 2022. They have contributed 32.5 billion dollars, or roughly 1.8 trillion pesos, to the Philippine economy,” he said.

Bayan USA however pointed out that things are not as well as as Marcos Jr.’s SONA makes it appear, citing a campaign launched by terminated workers of Jollibee in Journal Square, New Jersey who complain of “unfair and illegal labor practices the Philippine-based corporation practices abroad, including wage theft, chronic understaffing, and mistreatment of workers.”

“[W]e must also put pressure on the multinational corporations like Jollibee that continue to exploit the people. Both of them (Jollibee and Marcos) go hand-in-hand in furthering the suffering of the Filipino people,” Anakbayan Montgomery County (Maryland) said. #

DC police arrests 4 Fil-Am activists at ‘lavish’ Marcos dinner

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By Nuel M. Bacarra

Another picket protest hounded a dinner organized for Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his party, and Filipino billionaires at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Washington DC last Tuesday, leading to the arrest of four Filipino-American activists.

Continuing their series of rallies against the president’s official visit to the United States, activists chanted “Marcos is not welcome here!” both inside and outside the Fiola Mare restaurant where Marcos was set to dine with billionaires Enrique Razon Jr., Lance Gokongwei and Sabin Aboitiz.

House of Representatives Speaker Martian Romualdez and former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo were among the president’s party to the dinner.

The four activists chanting their slogans inside the restaurant were the ones arrested by the police, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-USA (BAYAN-USA) said.

The four has since been released from jail, Kodao sources said.

The group refused to disclose the names of the arrested activists, saying they were so advised by their lawyers.

Anakbayan-USA said those arrested are their members. The group has since launched an online appeal for donations for their defense.

In a statement, Anakbayan-USA said it salutes its members “for facing off against the cowardly and fascist US-backed Marcos II regime.”

“Anakbayan USA condemns the arrests of four, brave Anakbayan members after rightfully disrupting an excessive and lavish dinner between President Marcos, his cabinet secretaries, and some of the Philippines’ richest billionaires,” the group said.

The Marcoses are the ones who should be arrested, the youth group added.

Malaya Movement’s Julie Jamora said the police arrested the wrong persons.

“If you want to arrest someone, arrest the thieves inside. The only reason Marcos was not detained when he stepped foot inside this country is because of diplomatic immunity,” Jallora told the police during the rally.

Marcos Jr. and his mother Imelda were held in contempt by a US court in 1995 for “contumacious conduct causing direct harm to [a class of human rights victims].”

The continuing contempt offense already amounted to US$353 million in 2011.

Marcos Jr.’s ongoing visit is his first in decades, allowed by diplomatic immunity that he gained after assuming the presidency in 2022. # (with reports from RB Villanueva)

Filipino-American activists join protest caravans in US

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By redlamp.net

WASHINGTON DC –Filipino American activists and allies representing various community and grassroots organizations joined protest caravans in solidarity with the Black community demanding justice for George Floyd and other victims of police racism and brutality.

George Floyd was a security guard, who, after being suspected of using a counterfeit $20 bill, was murdered by police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, Minnesota last May 25.

Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes leading to his death.

The incident sparked massive protests throughout the United States and in key cities around the world.

“This fascist government gives police state impunity not only to monitor and harass but to actively murder and kill all elements deemed as threat to security,” said Jo Quiambao of GABRIELA Washington DC.

Filipino-American activists join protest caravans in the Washington DC area against the killing of George Floyd and others by the police. (RedLamp photo)

Janeva Duran, a recent immigrant from the Philippines, said:  “For someone who just arrived in the States and is aware of the injustices here, it’s our social responsibility to show up and stand in solidarity with the Black community. I recognize that the issue of police brutality and militarization is happening here and also back in my home country of the Philippines.”

“In these times, it is crucial to build solidarity and work towards genuine systemic change, change that can address the fundamental causes of racial violence and police brutality. I hope that Fil-Ams continue to stand on the right side of history.” added Chrissi Fabro of Kabataan Alliance. “I hope that Fil Ams continue to engage in productive discussions about anti-blackness and what genuine solidarity is like,” he added.

The activist Fil-Ams likened what it called fascism in the US with events in the Philippines, especially with the Congress certifying the anti-terror bill as urgent.

The activists said the versions being pushed by administration legislators are tools that will clearly help the Philippine government violate civil liberties and further stifle dissent.

“There is a parallel with what’s happening both here and in the Philippines. In the US, we’re seeing it in the form of police brutality and racial profiling among Black and Brown folks. In the Philippines, we’re seeing it in the form of the Anti-Terror Bill and the $2 billion arms deal. Both of these perpetuate state violence against activists, human rights defenders, indigenous communities, and more,” said Jay Cleofe of Anakbayan Washington DC.

BAYAN USA coordinator Jhong Delacruz, added: “In the face of COVID-19 and police brutality, and against a system that values profit and property over lives, both here in the US and back home in the Philippines, we will continue to fight. In the wake of this deplorable rise in police-killings and of this historic caravan protest, we will continue to breathe.” #

Solidarity with Paris and Beirut

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Delegates of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) for its 5th International Assembly marched in the Philippines to light candles and offer flowers for the victims of terror attacks in Paris and Beirut. They called for justice and condemned the US as the “No. 1 terrorist” for its wars and using the Daesh or ISIS/ISIL for its imperialist interest.

IPT 2015: A victory of the Filipino People

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(While waiting for the verdict by the jury of the International Peoples’ Tribunal on US-Aquino governments’ crimes against the Filipino people./Photo by Jonna Baldres)

July 19, 2015
 
The Philippines Chapter of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS-Phils) hails the conclusion of the International Peoples’ Tribunal (IPT 2015) in Washington, D.C. as it finds the US and Aquino governments guilty beyond doubt of rights violations, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
 
The 32 witnesses and several experts braved all odds amid the intensifying crisis and political repression in the Philippines to testify on record before the tribunal.
 
The wealth of data, information, facts, analyses and other evidence clearly established the factual basis of the indictment, and the culpability of respondents Defendant Benigno Simeon Aquino III and Defendant Government of the United States of America.
 
We laud the panel of international jurors, prosecutors and staff of the tribunal as well as the militant and progressive peoples of the world who showed solidarity with the Filipino people in the fight for righteousness, justice and freedom.
 
The blood of our martyrs and victims of rights violations in the Philippines are not lost with the resounding success of the tribunal.
 
The guilty verdict on Pres. Aquino and the US government goes into the annals of the historic fight of the Filipino people against US imperialism and local reaction.
 
We are one with the IPT 2015 in calling “to seek redress, to pursue justice, and to transform this oppressive, exploitative and repressive global state of affairs exemplified by the experience and plight of the Filipino people, to challenge the international “rule of law”, and to construct a global order founded on full respect for the rights of all peoples, everywhere.”
 
We intend to pursue cases of rights abuses and violations as copies of the verdict reach the Prosecutor´s Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Inter-American, European, African, and Asian regional courts or systems, as well as lawyers associations, human rights defenders, law schools, and human rights programs of study throughout the world.

A significant stride has been made with IPT 2015 as we march forward ever more resolutely to punish the perpetrators, render justice for the victims and end impunity in the country.###