U.S. WOMEN'S GROUP GABRIELA NETWORK STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINE

STATEMENT
21 September 2006

Reference:
Dorotea Mendoza, Secretary General, GABRIELA Network USA
Tel: 1.212.592.3507; Email: secgen [at] gabnet.org

U.S. WOMEN'S GROUP GABRIELA NETWORK STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES; DECLARES BUSH, MACAPAGAL ARROYO ENEMIES OF HUMANITY

At the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, September 19, 2006, President George W. Bush, referring mostly to Al Qaeda, said, “the enemies of humanity [are continuing] their campaign of murder.” He would have been absolutely correct if he had included himself and his loyal pawn Philippine de facto president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as major engineers and implementors of such a campaign. The US-led so-called global war on terror is indeed a campaign of murder. In the Philippines, the Second Front of this borderless and timeless war, scores of activists and community organizers have been assassinated. Opponents and critics of Macapagal Arroyo’s regime are being persecuted.

Since 2001, Bush and Macapagal Arroyo’s campaign of murder in the Philippines has so far killed 752 labor leaders, youth and community organizers, political activists, women’s rights advocates, church leaders, journalists. Eighty of those killed are women, half of whom were organizers for or leaders of Gabriela Women’s Party and/or GABRIELA national women’s alliance. Many more have been disappeared, abducted, illegally detained, or harassed. Progressive members of Congress, including Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Liza Largoza Maza, continue to face threats of warrantless arrest and assassination. One congressman, Crispin Beltran of Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Party, has already been arrested for baseless charges of rebellion, and is still being detained despite the Philippine Supreme Court’s ruling against his warrantless arrest on February 25, 2006. Tens of thousands of innocent women, men and children have been displaced by US-Philippine military exercises. Filipino women face intensified violence exacerbated by the presence of and perpetrated by US military, as in the case of a 22-year old Filipina allegedly gang-raped by US marines.

In its report (released 8/15/2006) on the Philippines, Amnesty International concluded that “the attacks are not an unconnected series of criminal murders but constitute a politically-motivated pattern of killings.” Investigations by human rights organizations in the Philippines also point to state and military culpability. In fact, Macapagal Arroyo has time and again praised and promoted a certain General Jovito Palparan whose military command posts are littered with bodies of the assassinated, and who the Filipinos have therefore nicknamed “The Butcher.” Early last year, Macapagal Arroyo’s military issued a PowerPoint presentation, entitled “Knowing the Enemy,” in which leaders and members of legitimate and legal people’s organizations and political parties were named as targets for its “war on terror.” Indeed, Macapagal Arroyo and her armed forces no longer distinguish between those exercising their democratic right to fight for parliamentary change and those who are taking part in the armed revolution. In the campaign of murder, anyone who is critical of the government is fair game.

Macapagal Arroyo, who continues to face charges of election fraud and people’s demand for her impeachment and ouster, advances her campaign of murder in an effort to maintain her power. In her State of the Nation Address last July, she said she’s determined to be her country’s number one salesperson. That’s precisely what those being killed and persecuted are fighting against: the selling of Philippine resources to multinational companies and of Philippine women and men into the international labor market and sex industry. Macapagal Arroyo has already given multinational companies exploration rights and virtual ownership of areas in the Philippines that are rich in oil and natural gas -- natural resources that could rescue the nation from chronic economic crisis and entrenched poverty. Last year, Macapagal Arroyo exported 1 million Filipinos, 750,000 of them women and at least 30% of whom ended up in the sex trade.

Macapagal Arroyo is further attempting to hold on to power by clamoring for a change in the Philippine Constitution. This charter change, popularly known as “cha-cha,” will see the Philippine Constitution amended and manipulated to guarantee that Macapagal Arroyo remains in power until 2010.

The US supports and funds Macapagal Arroyo’s venture. The global “war on terror” is a campaign of murder largely financed by the US and has so far cost US taxpayers more than $437 billion. Bush has given Macapagal Arroyo’s local campaign $400 million for her armed forces, the fourth largest US foreign military aid.

Today, September 21, 2006, international day of action against political repression in the Philippines, we in GABRIELA Network call on our fellow citizens and residents of the US to assert and exercise their freedom and democratic right to demand an end to the political persecution and killings justified under the so-called “war on terror.” Bush, Cheney and company are razing the whole of Philippines in our name. We implore you to raise higher the flag of solidarity and intensify international pressure on Macapagal Arroyo. The global “war on terror” is a campaign to murder the very values it purports to spread around the world: democracy and freedom. And we must respond by claiming responsibility for holding our government accountable. ###

What you can do: 1) join and volunteer for GABRIELA Network; 2) find out more about GABNet and our campaigns. Visit http://www.gabnet.org or call 1.212.592.3507; 3) help us spread the word. Distribute this statement to your contacts. Bring it to the attention of both mainstream and alternative media; 4) in SF, come to Seeking Answers, an all-women human rights delegation's report back from the Philippines, Oct. 13, 7-9PM, New College Of California, 771 Valencia; 5) join us on Oct. 28 in a national action against war and to commemorate Philippine Women’s National Day of Protest. In NYC, join the women’s contingent at the rally and march, and continue on to the Women’s Variety Show: Celebrate and Strengthen Women’s Resistance Worldwide (6:30-9:30PM, Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, Manhattan). To volunteer or for more info on events in your area: gabnet [at] gabnet.org or 1.212.592.3507.