Media Advisory

Local Filipinos Join International Call to Oust Current Philippine President

July 8, 2005

VANCOUVER, B.C. – Local Filipinos and their supporters are expected to *rally today to call for the ouster of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo* outside a farewell dinner to be held for outgoing Philippine Consul-General Zenaida Rabago *tonight at 6:00 p.m. outside of the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown (6083 McKay Ave.)*.

"As Filipino migrant workers in Canada it is our remittances that prop up Arroyo’s ailing economy, yet we receive little or no protection from the Philippine government," said Glecy Duran of SIKLAB (Advance and Uphold the Rights of Overseas Filipino Workers). "As migrant workers who are neglected by our own government we say Arroyo should step down now!" said Duran.

Since 1995 SIKLAB has been campaigning the Philippine Consulate to open their offices on the weekends when most domestic workers have their days off and to provide free services. In April they also launched a petition campaign to the Philippine Consulate to provide free repatriation for Filipino domestic workers who cannot complete their 24 months of required live-in work under the three year period and are ordered deported from Canada. Rabago has finished her six-year term as the Consul-General for Western Canada.

Almost 100,000 Filipinos have come to Canada since the 1980s as domestic workers under Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s Foreign Domestic Movement and Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). Filipinos are the fourth largest visible minority group in Canada and the third largest in B.C. with an estimated 500,000 across Canada.

More Filipinos are demanding for Arroyo’s resignation as she recently admitted it was her voice caught on tape in a phone conversation with election official Virgilio Garcillano after the presidential elections last year.

"Even former President Corazon Aquino and 10 Cabinet officials have called on Arroyo to resign," said Cecilia Diocson, national Chairperson of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada. "Yet she stubbornly and arrogantly refuses and holds on to her power even though she is an illegitimate president," said Diocson."

The groups along with other progressive Filipino people’s organizations in Canada are calling for unity amongst the Filipino community to oust Arroyo. They did not support Aquino and some sectors call however for Arroyo to be replaced by vice-president Noli de Castro. Instead they said they support the call for organizations in the Philippines such as BAYAN, Migrante and Gabriela for the formation of a democratic coalition government.

- 30 –