Press Release

Filipino-Canadians denounce declaration of national state of emergency in the Philippines

February 24, 2006

(Vancouver, BC) -- Filipinos across Canada are outraged with the recent declaration of national emergency by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Arroyo made this announcement Friday to squash a supposed uprising by military forces that sought to overthrow her administration.

“We condemn Arroyo in her latest act of desperation to cling on to her ill-gotten and corruption-laden presidency,” points out Cecilia Diocson, Executive Director of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC). “Such iron-handed extremes only exposes Arroyo’s willingness to trample on the democratic aspirations of the Filipino people for justice and genuine peace,” states Diocson.

Since 2000, Arroyo’s fake administration has broken her promises to the Filipino people, plunging the country’s economy deeper into crisis, and has done nothing to alleviate the widespread poverty and unemployment plaguing the country. Her horrid policies have pushed down wages in the face of increasing prices of basic commodities and services.

Arroyo’s declaration comes at less than six months after the House Committee on Justice’s one-sided decision to dismiss all three impeachment complaints filed against President Arroyo. The complaints included charges of human rights violations, bribery, graft, corruption, and betrayal of public trust.

“Victims of these human rights violations are mostly peasants and farm workers demanding genuine land reform, workers fighting for just wages and working conditions, and members of progressive organizations and party-list groups considered by Arroyo’s administration as ‘enemies of the state’”, explained NAPWC’s Diocson. “De facto martial law legitimizes and will only worsen these acts of state terror against the people of the Philippines,” she continued.

Filipinos in Vancouver and across Canada have denounced Arroyo’s declaration of national emergency. They believe that this state of emergency is the latest signal of the weakness of Arroyo’s fake presidency and call for her immediate ouster.

“Due to Arroyo’s anti-people policies, we have been pushed out of our country because the rottenness of the Philippine system could not provide us meaningful work,” explained Roderick Carreon, Chairperson of SIKLAB-Canada, a national formation of Filipino migrant workers. “We are sold to the lowest bidder, separated from our families, stripped of our dignity and skills, and exploited as sources of cheap labour on the global market,” continued Carreon.

Local Filipino groups are organizing a rally Friday, February 24, 12 noon in front of the office of the Consulate General of the Philippines, 700 West Pender Street (at Granville Street), Vancouver.

Filipino groups in major cities across Canada also plan to hold a national day of protest on Monday, February 27.