Press Release

Ouster Arroyo Call Intensifying Among Filipinos Across Canada

For immediate release: July 22, 2005

Filipinos across Canada are gearing up for protests this weekend to coincide with expected massive protests in the Philippines and internationally on July 25, 2005 when Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo plans to give her annual State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Calls for her ouster, impeachment or resignation have been intensifying worldwide since she was implicated in cheating in last year’s presidential elections.

Filipinos in Vancouver will rally on Sunday, July 24, 2005 at 11:00 a.m. beginning at Main St. and 18th Avenue and marching through "Filipino-town" to Broadway. Filipinos in Montreal will picket outside the Philippine Consulate on Monday, July 25, 2005 at 4:30 p.m. The Consulate's location is conveniently located on the corner of Plamondon and Victoria Avenue, a busy street intersection where many Filipinos pass through each day after work. Mobilizations will also take place in Toronto with the highest urban concentration of Filipinos live.

Filipinos are the fourth largest visible minority group in Canada, estimated to number around 500,000.

Around 30 Filipino-Canadians and their supporters rallied and marched in Vancouver last July 19 during rush hour outside a busy skytrain station to call for the ouster of Arroyo. They collected over 100 signatures for a petition campaign calling for Arroyo’s ouster.

The rallyists held banners which read, "Oust GMA!" and "Corrupt Arroyo, Resign Now!" catching the attention of many workers, commuters and drivers, many of them Filipino.

The protesters have been rallying almost weekly to call for the ouster of Arroyo since damaging evidence implicating Arroyo cheated in the last presidential elections was released on June 11, 2005.

"Filipinos worldwide are intensifying their call to oust Arroyo as an illegitimate president," said Cecilia Diocson, Chairperson of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC). "Canadians are looking for ways to express their solidarity with the Filipino’s call for Arroyo’s ouster," she added.

"We are highly suspicious of Arroyo’s announcement that she will form a Truth Commission to investigate allegations of fraud in last year’s presidential elections," said Diocson. "The Commission must be assured to be impartial and therefore its members should not be appointed by Arroyo" said Diocson.

The rallyists also criticized pro-Arroyo politicians’ call for "constitutional" methods of voluntary resignation or impeachment trial as the only acceptable solution to the current political crisis in the Philippines.

"The U.S. has said they only support so-called ‘constitutional’ forms of resignation and impeachment," said Diocson. "This is an attempt to belittle the people’s democratic right to protest to call for the ouster of Arroyo," she added.

"Despite Arroyo’s claims that the Filipinos suffer from ‘People Power’ fatigue, Filipinos including many migrant workers, youth and older Filipinos here in Canada show no signs of fatigue and are raring to rally to call for the ouster of Arroyo," said May Farrales of the Philippine Women Centre of B.C. She pointed to the almost weekly protests in Vancouver and almost daily protests in the Philippines as signs of the Filipino people’s anger with Arroyo’s presidency.

"We know first hand that the lives of Filipinos at home and abroad are not improving despite Arroyo’s glossy commercial ads and pronouncements," declares Glecy Duran of SIKLAB (or "Flameburst" whose acronym in Tagalog stands for Uphold and Advance the Rights of Overseas Filipino Workers.) "We are fed up with the Arroyo government who continues to rely on our remittances to prop up her ailing economy, yet does nothing to protect or defend our interests once abroad," added Duran.

After a short program the rallyists marched up Broadway attracting attention from many Filipino residents in the area. Many Filipinos came out onto their apartment balconies to ask for the educational flyer, "Seven reasons why we should oust Philippine President Arroyo" and to sign the petition letter calling for her ouster. Two youths even joined the rally.

The rallyists then dispersed into groups to circulate their petition into areas of high concentration of Filipinos in Vancouver.

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For more information, please call Hetty Alcuitas at: 604-215-1103