MEDIA ADVISORY

Filipinos rally at U.S. consulate to denounce gang-rape of Filipina by U.S. Marines

For immediate release, 8 November 2005

Vancouver, B. C. – Filipinos will rally in front of the U.S. consulate at 1095 Pender St. in  downtown Vancouver tomorrow, Nov.9 at 12 noon  to denounce the gang-rape of a 22-year old Filipino woman by  six U.S. Marines last week in the Philippines.
 
They will carry a mock-up coffin splattered with red paint symbolizing the death of democracy in the Philippines and will also perform a street theater with a woman dressed in the Philippine flag being trampled upon by a U.S. soldier carrying a mock-up rifle.
 
Nationwide protests and simultaneous rallies abroad had been happening almost daily since the alleged rape was reported.
 
The demonstrators are calling for immediate justice for the victim and the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement signed by the Philippines and the U.S. allowing the unrestricted entry of U.S. forces. The marines involved in the rape are part of this agreement and were in the Philippines for joint military exercises with Philippine troops in the name of fighting terrorism.
 
They demand that the soldiers be tried in the Philippines and not returned to the U.S. as had happened in cases of crimes committed by U.S. troops in the Philippines.
 
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Contact 604-215-1103 for more information.