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Gabriela: Illegal recruiter ni MJV, dapat kasuhan

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Kasama ng iba pang progresibong grupo, Gabriela hiniling sa Department of Justice (DOJ) na pabilisin ang pagdinig sa kaso ni Mary Jane Veloso laban sa illegal recruiter na sina Cristina Sergio at kapartner nitong si Julius Lacanilao. Ngayong araw sinimulan ang preliminary investigation kina Sergio at Lacanilao para alamin ang naging papel nila sa limang taong pagdurusa sa kulungan ni Mary Jane Veloso sa Indonesia sa kasong pagdadala diumano ng droga sa kanilang bansa. Si Veloso ay biktima ng human trafficking at hindi kriminal ayon sa Gabriela secretary general Joms Salvador.

Department of Justice, Manila
May 8, 2015

Save Mary Jane Movement: Tagumpay ang sama-samang pagkilos ng mamamayan

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Panayam ng Kodao Productions kay Cristina Palabay pangkalahatang kalihim ng Karapatan hinggil sa pansamantalang pagtigil ng execution ng pamahalaang Indonesia kay Mary Jane Veloso.

Quezon City, Philippines
April 29, 2015

US intervention in Venezuela and Ph denounced

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Local affiliates of the Philippines Chapter of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS-Phils) led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) picket the US embassy in Manila to denounce the intensifying US intervention in Venezuela and the on-going US-Ph Balikatan military exercises. They demanded the repeal of Obama’s March 9 Executive Order vilifying Venezuela as a security threat to the US while, in the Philippines, protesters called for the junking of the US-Ph Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). The protest is part of the Global Solidarity Campaign with Venezuela.

ITANONG MO KAY PROF: Podcast on Peace Talks – GPH and NDFP & GPH and MILF

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Panayam ni Ms. Sonia Capio ng Kodao Productions kay Prof. Jose Maria Sison, NDFP Chief Political Consultant hinggil sa kalagayan ng usapang pangkapayapaan sa pagitan ng GPH at NDFP at GPH at MILF.

April 9, 2015

Mga Tanong para sa peace talks sa pagitan ng GPH at NDFP at GPH at MILF

1. Ano po ang update sa usapang pangkapayapaan sa pagitan ng GPH at NDFP? Matutuloy pa rin po ba ito bago pa matapos ang termino ni Pangulong Noynoy Aquino?

JMS: Patuloy na handang makipag-usap ang NDFP. Pero ang GPH ang hindi handa. Kung gayon, nagiging malabo na ang resumption ng formal talks ng GPH  at NDFP.  Sabi ng Malakanyang na nakabuhos ang atensyon nila sa pagtutulak ng BBL at paghahabol ng peace with  MILF.

Hanggang ngayon walang maliwanag na negotiating panel at chairman ng GPH para makipag-usap sa NDFP.  Lumilitaw na sa buong panahon  ng rehimeng Aquino wala talagang interes sa peace talks kundi paggamit ng dahas laban sa kilusang rebolusyonaryo.

2. Ano po ang inyong masasabi sa usapang pangkapayapaan sa pagitan naman ng GPH at MILF? Tila nagkahati-hati po ang mga pananaw ng mga nasa pamahalaan at matindi ang mga banggaan sa usapin ng Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) at ang kawastuhan kung dapat pa bang ituloy ang pakikipag-usap nila sa MILF o hindi na.

JMS: Sa loob at labas ng GPH, lumakas ang sumasalungat sa BBL dahil sa Mamasapano at constitutional issues. Tiyak na maraming susog ang gagawin sa Kongreso, laluna sa Senado, hanggang sa posibleng ayaw na ng MILF ang lalabas na final draft ng BBL.

Kahit tanggapin ng MILF ang anumang BBL na aprubahan ng Kongreso, may mga magdadala pa rin ng constitutional issues sa Korte Suprema. Baka mauuntol ang BBL hanggang maubos na ang termino o buhok ni Penoy Bugok.

3. Ano po ang inyong pagtingin sa Bangsamoro Basic Law o BBL?

JMS: May constitutional issues na nakasalang sa  Kongreso ng GPH. Hanggang ngayon, walang pinal na anyo ng BBL dahil susugan nang susugan pa yan sa Kongreso. Habang wala pang pinal na anyo ng BBL, mahirap mangahas ng opinion ng pagkatig o pagtuligsa sa kabuuan ng BBL.

Aquino Resign: Establish the People’s Council for National Unity, Reform and Peace

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Illustrated manifesto of the Noynoy Out Now (NOW) Movement, which was launched March 5, 2015 at the Quezon City Sport Club, laying down the context, basis, and goals of the people’s ultimate drive for the ouster of President Noynoy Aquino.

Venezuela stands up to US bullying

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The failed coup in Venezuela last February and US President Obama’s declaration this March that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is a “national security threat” to the US have escaped most Filipinos’ notice. Understandably so, with the entire country preoccupied with another monumental blunder by the Aquino government that has cost scores of lives including elite police forces and has undermined the GPH-MILF peace negotiations.

Yet Filipinos should sit up and take notice. These recent events in Venezuela underscore hard lessons learned by the Venezuelan people and its democratically-elected government as they try to chart their nation’s destiny towards greater equity, social cohesion and national progress. In the process they find themselves continuously, systematically and violently opposed by the small but still powerful socio-economic elite with the solid backing of the US government.

Fifteen years ago, under the leadership of President Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan society underwent sweeping reforms that aimed to redistribute the revenue from its oil wealth for the benefit of the greater majority. This entailed nationalizing the oil industry and utilizing its earnings for government programs to make basic goods and services such as food, housing and education universally accessible and affordable. The Chavez leadership also pushed aggressively for genuine land reform. It capitalized on its huge popularity with the masses to build grassroots-based people’s organizations such as worker-managed cooperatives and community councils. All these galvanized the popular will behind Chavez and his reform programs.

The Chavez government prevailed over unrelenting destabilization moves by its opponents including an army coup d’état in 2002 that deposed Chavez for 48 hours, until millions of Venequelans poured into the streets to demand his release and loyal officers of the armed forces restored him to power. He ruled from then on winning a series of democratic elections until his death from illness in 2013.

The Maduro government that took over and has carried on the sweeping reforms of Chavez (dubbed the Bolivarian Revolution) has been met from day one by a new round of attacks from the US-backed right-wing forces code named “El Salida” or “The Exit”.

The elements of the plot are: 1) sabotage of the supply and distribution chain for food and other basic goods in order to induce artificial shortages and run-away inflation; 2) widespread, violent “protests” that would cause chaos in the streets; 3) systematic and sustained anti-government reportage by the elite-owned private mass media outlets beamed to global media; 4) vilification of President Maduro and his government and the projection of unrepentant coup plotters as representing the legitimate political opposition and deserving international support 5) military actions such as assassinations of government officials, bombings of government centers and false flag operations such as the assassination of some rightist leaders and deaths in violent street protests blamed on state security forces.

For two years now the government has been exerting every effort to overcome the economic sabotage measures. According to reports, while scarcities and inexplicably inflated prices are being fought back through government police action such as forcing stores to lower their prices and raiding warehouses to flush out hoarded goods, the economic warfare continues. But the disturbances have not resulted in the kind of mass unrest they were meant to incite; Venezuela’s poor hold fast to their experience of much better times under the Chavez and Maduro governments.

The so-called mass protests have died down despite the efforts of opposition leaders holding the reins of local government in rich enclaves to sustain these with sporadic thrashing of public parks and government buildings by hoodlums. The destabilizers have been trying to project the image that the Maduro government is unable to enforce basic law and order, much more, is violating its citizens’ right to freely assemble and express their grievances. But this has not been able to stick despite willful media manipulation echoed by imperialist-controlled global corporate media.

What has become more starkly clear is that the right-wing opposition is resorting to the more dangerous option of military actions up to a full blown coup d’état to bring the government down. It would appear from the account of the latest attempt in February of this year that the plan was to conduct aerial bombings of the Presidential Palace, the government media center Telesur, the Ministries of Defense, Interior and Foreign Relations, the Department of Military Intelligence and the Attorney General’s Office. The publication of a manifesto in a national newspaper calling for a transition government would be the plotters’ signal fire. There would be a call for street protests once more with intentions of fomenting wanton violence and confusion in order to portray the events as the result of government repression. A video of a detained general, a confessed coup leader in an earlier failed attempt, would be repeatedly shown to agitate members of the armed forces. Failing this, a video of men in the uniforms of the different services of the military would be shown to announce to the country and to the world that the armed forces had risen up against the Maduro government.

This plot was nipped in the bud and fell apart when a recidivist coup-plotting general was turned in by another officer he was trying to recruit. The government acted quickly to preempt any of the plotters moves. According to Mark Weisbrot (Al Jazeera), “The Venezuelan government has produced some credible evidence of a coup in the making: the recording of a former deputy minister of the interior reading what is obviously a communiqué to be issued after the military deposes the elected government, the confessions of some accused military officers and a recorded phone conversation between opposition leaders acknowledging that a coup is in the works.

The government also categorically accused the US embassy in Venezuela of direct involvement in this latest as well as previous attempts to topple it. It pointed to the “close relationship” of the political and military figures at the core of the February attempt at another putsch with US embassy officials.

After the standard US denial of any involvement, came in quick succession US President Obama’s declaration that the Venezuelan government is a “national security threat” to the US and that US sanctions would be imposed on seven Venezuelan officials. This is indeed ironical given the long history of US political interference up to armed intervention not only in Venezuela but the entire breadth of Latin American countries to remove governments not to its liking or to prop up those that are its vassal states.

Aside from being a defensive reaction to the revelation of US complicity in attempts to subvert and overthrow the Maduro government, Obama’s declaration of Venezuela being a threat to US national interest is primarily due to Venezuela’s continuing key role in building and strengthening alternative political and economic alliances among Latin American and Caribbean states such as Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and Petrocaribe. These alliances further the interests of these states and their peoples more than the traditional US-initiated and dominated alliances such as Organization of American States (OAS) and the so-called “Caribbean Initiative”.

Rather than isolate Venezuela, Obama’s move to attack and isolate Venezuela is yet another futile attempt to stem the decline of US global supremacy in its own hemisphere. #

Published in Businessworld
23 March 2015

Prof. Jose Maria Sison on Cuba-Philippine relations

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INTERVIEW WITH PROF. JOSE MARIA SISON
ON CUBA AND THE PHILIPPINES AND THEIR PEOPLES

By Julia Camagong
Special Representative to Latin America
International League of Peoples’ Struggle

As special representative of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, I wish to interview you both as the Chairperson of the ILPS International Coordinating Committee and as the outstanding leader of the Philippine national liberation movement, no less than the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed.

1. The Philippines and Cuba belong to two different continents and are thousands of miles from each other. But there is a certain closeness between the Cuban and Filipino peoples. How do you describe it?

JMS: There is a strong sense of solidarity and empathy between the Filipino and Cuban peoples because they have suffered under Spanish colonialism and US imperialism and struggled against these two foreign powers. They admire each other’s revolutionary struggles and victories. The Filipino people are inspired by the great victory of the Cuban people in liberating themselves from US imperialism and local reactionary classes of big compradors and landlords represented by the Batista regime.

I presume that there are a considerable number of Cubans with Filipino ancestry because many Filipinos were brought in to work in the tobacco industry, the “tabacaleros”. There were so many Filipinos that the Pinar del Rio Province in Cuba was formerly called “Nueva Filipinas” in the 18th and 19th century. The Cubans called them “Chinos de Manila”.

Currently, the closeness of the Filipino and Cuban peoples is manifested by the Philippine-Cuban Friendship in the Philippines. From year to year, there are solidarity activities in the Philippines and cultural exchanges between Cuba and the Philippines. Since the struggle of the Filipino people against Marcos fascist dictatorship intensified in the first half of the 1980s, the Cuban embassy has shown sympathy and support for BAYAN and other organizations in the national democratic movement of the people.

2. It can be said that the historical experiences and destinies of the Cubans and Filipinos are intertwined. Can you explain further?

Spanish colonialism imposed on the Philippines and Cuba similar patterns of theocratic rule, feudal economy and medieval culture. It used the encomienda system, slavery and forced labor and feudal tributes to lay the foundation of feudalism in both countries. Both the Cuban and the Filipino people were able to liberate themselves from Spanish colonial rule.

But the US intervened. As a rising modern imperialist power, the US defeated Spanish colonialism in the American-Spanish war of 1898 and grabbed Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to impose US colonial rule under the Paris Treaty of December 1898. Since then the Filipino and Cuban peoples have been bound by a common desire to fight and defeat US imperialism and its puppets. The Filipino people can learn a lot from the Cuban people in liberating themselves from US domination and maintaining their national independence and social system.

3. In your personal experience, how did the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro first attract your attention and interest? How did your interest grow subsequently?

JMS: While Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolutionaries were still in the Sierra Maestra, their revolutionary struggle caught the attention of the world and of course the student organization to which I belonged in the University of the Philippines. Our organization was engaged in forming study circles for the purpose of resuming the unfinished Philippine revolution for national and social liberation against foreign and feudal domination. Thus, we were attracted to the revolutionary struggle of the Cuban people led by Fidel Castro,

Che Guevara and other young people like us.We celebrated the victory of the Cuban revolution in 1959. We did so with meetings and publishing articles about the Cuban revolution in the Philippine Collegian, the student publication. We were further excited by the end of feudal ownership of the haciendas and
the dramatic nationalization of the United Fruit and other US enterprises in the US. We admired and we were inspired by the revolutionary actions taken against US imperialism and the local reactionaries.

We were among the most enthusiastic in attending the film showings at the Cuban embassy in Manila in 1961. The more the US ranted against the Cuban revolution, the more we supported the just cause of the Cuban revolution. We were outraged when the Philippine authorities, under US orders, closed down the Cuban embassy.

4. Can you narrate and evaluate how the Cuban revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro fought and won the revolution against the Batista regime. How did they carry out the social revolution after the seizure of political power?

JMS: The attack on the Moncada barracks was an important initiative by the Cuban revolutionaries to signal the necessity and start of the armed revolution. But it was the guerrilla warfare in Sierra Maestra that broke the back of the Batista regime. 5000 troops of the regime were defeated there. We can say that the Cuban revolutionaries used the countryside to mobilize the peasants and farm workers and have the room of maneuver for building the revolutionary army. At the same time, the urban based mass movement was growing and developing. Thus, it became possible to bring down the Batista regime with a combination of a successful rural-based guerrilla warfare and the urban based mass uprising which welcomed the forces of Castro to Havana.

After the seizure of political power, the Cuban revolutionaries wanted to carry the social revolution through to the end. Thus, they decided to carry out a socialist revolution. For a certain period, Communist cadres were trained for this purpose. The Cuban Communist Party was established as the advanced detachment of the working class to lead the Cuban people along the line of socialist revolution. Internal preparations had to be made for the seizure of US enterprises. The violent reaction of the US was anticipated. To augment the Cuban revolution the Cuban CP raised the banner of proletarian internationalism and established close relations with socialist countries, including China and the Soviet Union.

5. What was your reaction when the US tried to overthrow the Cuban revolutionary government with the use of an invasionary force at the Bay of Pigs and assassination plots against Fidel Castro? And what did you think of the Soviet emplacement of nuclear weapons in Cuba?

JMS: It was despicable and outrageous for the US government to have organized the invasionary force that landed at the Bay of Pigs and to have plotted several times the assassination of Comrade Fidel Castro. We launched protest mass actions and publications against the US acts of intervention and aggression against Cuba and the Cuban people.

On the whole, the emplacement of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba helped to deter any full scale attack on Cuba by the US. Even when Khrushchev withdrew the nuclear weapons, the US still could not make any full-scale aggression or use nuclear weapons against Cuba because the US was bound by agreement not to threaten Cuba with nuclear weapons and was strongly reminded that the US military base in Turkey was also vulnerable to Soviet retaliation.

6. In retrospect, what do you think of the break-up of Cuba-China relations in the 1960s and the subsequent developments?

JMS: I was immediately saddened when I first learned about it. There was an issue about rice. And subsequently a range of ideological and political issues arose. But the Filipino communists refrained from siding with the Chinese side against the Cuban side although we sided with the Chinese Communist Party against the Soviet party. We maintained our high respect for the Cuban party, people and revolution and refrained from any pronouncements against them.

7. What do you think of Che Guevara?

JMS: Comrade Che Guevara was an outstanding proletarian revolutionary fighter and was a selfless revolutionary martyr. He exerted heroic efforts to promote the world proletarian revolution and advance the national liberation movements, especially in Latin America and Africa. I admire his revolutionary spirit and deeds. These inspire the Filipino revolutionaries.

8. What do you think of Cuban support for the African national liberation movements in the 1970s?

JMS: I have appreciated highly the support of Cuban revolutionaries to the national liberation movements in Africa in the 1970s. The Cuban comrades acted in the spirit of proletarian internationalism by helping the African people liberate themselves from colonialism and by breaking the capability of the South African reactionary army to engage in aggression and thus causing the apartheid regime to ultimately weaken and seek a compromise with the African National Congress.

9. What do you think of Cuban relations with China and Russia in current times?

JMS: Cuba can benefit from diplomatic and trade relations with China and Russia. The two latter countries can also benefit from the relations. They are formidable countries that can countervail the worst economic impositions and aggressive acts of US imperialism and its NATO allies. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS economic bloc, in which Russia and China are major partners, are counters to US imperialist hegemony.

10. What do you like most about Cuba in socio-economic and political terms?

JMS: I admire most the determination and militancy of the Cuban government and people in asserting, defending and promoting national independence and in working and aspiring for socialism. They have made great political, social, economic and cultural achievements despite the so many decades of economic blockade and acts of aggression unleashed by US imperialism.

11. Are there relations between Cuban and Philippine revolutionary organizations?

JMS: According to their respective publications, the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines have relations with the Cuban Communist Party and other revolutionary forces of the Cuban people.

12. In recent years, have you been involved in any movement to support the Cuban people?

JMS: Of course, I have stood in solidarity with the Cuban people on major issues in defense of their national independence and social system. The International League of Peoples’ Struggle of which I am the Chairperson has supported the anti-imperialist and democratic positions of Cuba. I have attended meetings and spoken for the freedom of the Cuba 5. I have been therefore very happy with the complete freedom of all 5. They were all released ultimately because of the broad solidarity support demanding their release.

13. Within the context of the ILPS, what is most significant about the Cuban revolution?

JMS: I have always said that the Cuban revolution is outstanding and unique. It was a socialist revolution that arose not as the direct consequence of a world war, different from Russia where the revolution occurred during WWI and China and other countries where socialist revolutions emerged as a result of WWII. If the Cuban people can make revolution only 90 miles away from the beast, why cannot peoples elsewhere in the world? The Cuban revolution is an inspiration to the people everywhere, not just Latin America or Africa.

When the revolutionary will of the people is asserted and the correct line, strategy and tactics are adopted, the revolution can advance and succeed in many parts of the world.

14. What do you think of the normalization of the relations between the US and Cuba? Do you think that Cuba can stand its ground in the negotiations with US to complete the lifting of the embargo? And also do you think that Cuba will be able to manage the entry of US companies, their technology and their own ideas of modernization or even subversion in more blatant language.

JMS: The normalization of diplomatic and trade relations between the US and Cuba is welcome. Such relations should exist between countries, irrespective of their respective ideology or social system. I believe that Cuba can stand its ground in negotiations with the US. It has the principles and the revolutionary experience to uphold Cuban national independence and work out the normalization of diplomatic and trade relations. The Cuban president Raul Castro is highly principled and competent. He enjoys the support of the Cuban people and Fidel Castro.

With revolutionary principles and with the 59 years of combating and countering US aggression, embargo, electronic propaganda and subversion, the Cuban government and people should be able to stay vigilant and adopt the policies and measures to control and direct the entry of US companies and technology, counter imperialist ideas of modernization and prevent the subversion and destruction of their national independence and socialist aspirations.

15. Should not the US give up Guantanamo and what should be done to pressure the US to give it up?

JMS: Certainly, the US should give up its military base in Guantanamo. The Cuban people and Cuban government should demand the dismantling of that military base in Guantanamo. The US is holding Guantanamo in violation of Cuban sovereignty and territorial integrity. The people of the world should support the Cuban people in this regard.It is not too difficult for the US to give up Guantanamo. The British gave up Hong Kong. The US gave up Taiwan in principle under the one-China policy. Under pressure from the Filipino people, even the Philippine puppet government was able to reduce the perpetual lease agreement covering US military bases and reservations to only 25 years in 1966. The US also gave up its military bases in Thailand soon after the Vietnam War. The Filipino people were able to remove the US military bases in 1991. The Cuban people can certainly do the same.

16. Have you ever been to Cuba? When and under what circumstances? If so, what places did you visit?

JMS: Yes, Julie and I were in Cuba in 1988. We came from Nicaragua to observe the progress of the Sandinista revolution. We met leaders of government, trade unions, women, youth and other sectors of Cuba society. We visited many places in and around Havana and went as far as the vicinity of the US military base in Guantanamo.

17. You are known to be able to sing? Do you know any Cuban song from memory? Can you sing it.?

JMS: I can sing Guantanamera both in the Spanish original and my Tagalog translation of it. I can sing both versions now, especially if you join me. I have a CD recording of the song. It is on my website: www.josemaiasion.org

18. Why do you like Guantanamera much that you have memorized it and you sing it even on CD?

JMS: I like Guantanamera because the lyrics written by Cuban revolutionary patriot Jose Marti are beautiful in a lyrical and metaphorical way and is full of revolutionary meaning. And the rhythmic music is very lively. You can dance to it. Now, let us sing it.

Guantanamera in Spanish
Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera

(Repeat couplet)
Yo soy un hombre sincero
De donde crecen las palmas
Y antes de morirme quiero
Echar mis versos del alma

Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera

Mi verso es de un verde claro
Y de un carmín encendido
Mi verso es un ciervo herido
Que busca en el monte amparo

Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera
(Repeat couplet)

Con los pobres de la tierra
Quiero yo mi suerte echar
El arroyo de la sierra
Me complace más que el mar

Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera
(Repeat couplet)

GUANTANAMERA, Translation by Jose Maria Sison

Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera
(Repeat couplet)

Ako’y lalaking sinsero
Sa lupa ng mga palma
Ako’y lalaking sinsero
Sa lupa ng mga palma
Nais kong bago yumao
Maghasik ng tula ng diwa.

Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera

Tula ko’y luntiang malinaw

At pulang nag-aalab
Tula ko’y luntiang malinaw
At pulang nag-aalab
Tula ko’y usang may-sugat
Na nagkanlong sa gubat.

Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera
(Repeat couplet)

Sa piling ng mahihirap
Ay nais kong makibaka
Sa piling ng mahihirap
Ay nais kong makibaka
Ang bukal sa kabundukan
Mas maginhawa kaysa dagat.

Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera
Guantanamera, guajira Guantanamera

(Repeat couplet)
http://www.josemariasison.org/sightsandsounds/Music&Poetry/Joma%20Sings%20CD/Gu
antanamera.mp3

International Women’s Day 2015

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March 8, 2015

International Women’s Day

Women from different sectors held protest actions in Manila and other major cities in the country under the banner of GABRIELA, the largest women’s organization in the Philppines. They reiterated their call for truth and justice for the Mamasapano victims and demand for Aquino’s resignation.

“Our demand for Aquino’s resignation is not just about his failure in Mamasapano but everything about the failure of his presidency to serve the interest of the people and uplift the situation of women. In his 5 years in power, he served the interests of the US and big businesses despite the fact that women and their families are already deep into poverty,” said Joms Salvador, Secretary General of GABRIELA. She cited the rise of poverty incidence to 25.8%, amounting to a quarter of the population.

The group paraded a large effigy of Pres. Aquino perched in a drone emphasizing the US’ role in in Mamasapano and the drone, in turn, is perched on board the USS Pelleliu to symbolize the violence that women experience as a result of US intervention in the Philippines.

Earlier at daybreak, members of GABRIELA trooped to Camp Crame to give support and express solidarity with the widows of Mamasapano in their quest for truth and justice for their loved ones in the activity tagged as “Walk With Widows, Run for Heroes” led by Philippine National Police Alumni.

“International Women’s Day provides a platform for all women to express their issues and demands as one voice,” Salvador said. “The widows of Mamasapano are fighting for a legitimate issue – truth and justice – and we are standing with them in this fight.”

The mobilization in the capital is just one of the many Women’s Day actions led by GABRIELA in different cities in the country and abroad. A total of 25,000 people, mostly women, are expected to join the actions nationwide, with Metro Manila accounting for half of the total.

Aside from Metro Manila, International Women’s Day protests are also ongoing in major cities like Baguio City, Angeles City, Tuguegarao City, Calamba, Batangas, Daet, Naga City, Masbate, Legazpi City, Sorsogon City, Iloilo City, Roxas City, Tacloban City, Bacolod City and Davao City. GABRIELA overseas chapters in the US East and West Coasts, Australia and Hongkong also spearheaded protest actions today

IPT- A chance to hear the voice of the victims

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Rights victims and people’s organizations launch the International Peoples’ Tribunal (IPT) on March 12, 2015 at the University of the Philippines with convenors Barry Naylor (ICHRP), Jeanne Mirer (IADL), Vanessa Lucas (NLG), and IPT Juror Azadeh Shahshahani. Atty Edre Olalia of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) serves as IPT Clerk of Court. The Tribunal seeks to render judgement on the crimes on the Filipino people committed by Pres. Aquino and the US government represented by Pres. Obama.

Cases to be filed at the International People’s Tribunal (IPT)

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The International People’s Tribunal (IPT) on Crimes against the Filipino People by Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III and the US Government represented by Pres. Barack Obama is convening on July 16-18, 2015 in Washington, DC at the behest of victims of rights violations. At its public launching in U.P. Diliman, Karapatan Secretary-General Cristina Palabay presents the cases to be filed. The IPT is convened by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), the US-based National Lawyers Guild (NLG), International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP), and IBON International.