National Statement of Concerned Canadians on the Philippine President’s State of the Nation Address

CANADIANS URGE PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT ARROYO TO STOP THE KILLINGS

July 24, 2006

This Monday, July 24, the President of the Philippines will deliver the State of the Nation (SONA) address in Congress amidst heavy guard and security. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will sum up the accomplishments of the government in the past year and outline the priorities of her government for the coming year.

The SONA is also an occasion for the people’s organizations to demonstrate their grievances against a repressive government. On that day, a massive nationally coordinated protest action will hit the Parliament of the streets. The People’s SONA will declare the real state of the nation that the President herself refuses to address.

On the same day, the People’s SONA will reverberate overseas with pickets and rallies in front of different Philippine consulates and embassies, as expressions of solidarity with the Filipino people’s demands for the ouster of Arroyo and a stop to political killings.

At the June 21 Conference “Prospects for Peace, Human Rights, and Democracy: Canadians Answer the Filipino People’s Call for Support and Solidarity”, Canadians renewed our commitment to be in solidarity with the Filipino people in these troubling times of harsh state repression and out-right fascism. We recognized that now, more than ever, people-to-people solidarity is necessary to support the Filipino people’s struggle to free themselves from state repression and rid themselves from a fascist dictator.

The 70 participants of the conference resolved to carry-out a nationally-coordinated day of action for this year’s SONA in cities in Canada and the United State to resonate our solidarity from overseas.  We also committed ourselves to participate in a fact finding mission to the Philippines to answer the Filipino people’s call for support and solidarity.

What is the real state of the nation?

The Philippines is a nation marked by an ever worsening economic crisis.
The combined unemployment and underemployment rate of 32.4% is the worst in almost two decades. The economy is severely unable to provide sufficient livelihood for millions of Filipinos and their families as evidenced by some 8 to 9 million Filipinos forced to go overseas to get jobs. The irony of this continuous drain of the country’s human resources has been that the annual remittances of the overseas workers, USD10.6 billion in 2005, serve to prop up an ailing, failing economy that has forced this diaspora.

Prices continue to rise and real wages continue to decline. Oil prices increased 13 times in the first six months of 2006, at an average of 43 to 48 per cent. Since 2001, water rates increased by 121%. Power rates increased automatically every quarter since 2001.

The daily cost of living for a family of six in the National Capital Region is P665.00 ($15 Cdn), more than double the daily minimum wage of P325 ($7 Cdn). Low incomes and a high cost of living mean that most Filipinos are unable to meet basic needs – unable to buy
enough food,have trouble paying electric and water bills, have difficulty paying for children’s schooling, buying medicines or paying for medical treatment. 12.8 million people are experiencing hunger. (Surveys by IBON, a Philippine independent research think tank, and the Social Weather Station).

The Philippines is a nation marked by an ever-worsening political crisis.
"Illegitimate” describes the character of the Arroyo government -- a government tainted by the much publicized electoral fraud  (“Hello Garci tapes”), the corruption charges against Arroyo and her family, the resignation of her Cabinet secretaries in 2005, the continuing unrest within the Philippine Armed Forces, two impeachment moves against her, and even the strong anti-Arroyo statements from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. This is the government that has lost the confidence and support of the Filipino people. The demand for her resignation or ouster continues even as Arroyo declares that she has no intentions of resigning.

Arroyo pushes for Charter Change (or Constitutional Change, known as Cha-Cha) to provide a legal basis for staying in power, even beyond the end of her term in 2010. Charter change will arm Arroyo with combined executive and legislative powers and make it easier for her to declare and use martial law powers without the Supreme Court or Congress. Charter change will do away with the few remaining provisions that protect Philippine patrimony when foreign ownership takes over Philippine lands, mines, public utilities, educational institutions and advertising firms in the guise of economic development.

The Philippines is a nation at war: with the Arroyo government having declared an all-out war against her own people.  Undeclared martial law exists to silence the opposition and curtail democratic and civil rights. To date, Karapatan, the Philippine human rights alliance, has recorded 704 extra-judicial killings and 181 “disappearances” since Arroyo assumed power in 2001. They are journalists, lawyers, church people, human rights workers, union leaders, farmers, students, indigenous community leaders, Bayan Muna (People First) leaders, youth, women and children and political opposition leaders. The Philippines is now the second most dangerous country for journalists (second to Iraq) and trade unionists (second to Colombia.) Arroyo, who is also the country’s Commander-in-Chief, says she condemns extra judicial killings but has done nothing to prosecute the perpetrators. Her responses, which betray her complicity and approval, has been to promote military officers with human rights violations against them and to allocate an additional one billion pesos (US$19 million) to her counter-insurgency campaign and to wipe out the Communist Party and the New People’s Army in two years. Instead of pursuing and completing the peace talks with the National Democratic Front, she has decided to stop the peace talks.

The Philippines is a nation marked by subservience to the United States.  Arroyo continues to sell the national sovereignty of the country to the U.S.  Arroyo has allowed a very strong U.S. involvement in the Philippines, from the entry and continuous presence of US military personnel and troops, to the series of joint war maneuvers in the country, to her approval of the Visiting Forces Agreement, the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement and the recent Strategic Exchange Board, which would see U.S. troops participating in almost everything from “terrorism,” drugs, and even epidemics and calamities in the guise of humanitarian intervention.

The Philippines is a nation where the people continue to struggle for their rights, for freedom, democracy and justice at great odds. The Filipino people who steadfastly fight and defend their rights and sovereignty must be understood and supported. As Canadians, we must ask ourselves why our government continues to deal with and aid the repressive Arroyo government. As Canadians, we can and must use our resources and networks to help stop the political killings in the Philippines. As Canadians, we must extend our solidarity to the Filipino people.

Stop the Killings in the Philippines!
Justice to the Victims of State Terrorism!
No to Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s All-out War!
Resume the peace negotiations!
Stop aid to the repressive regime of Philippine President Arroyo!
Support the Filipino people’s struggle to oust Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo!
Long live international solidarity!

July 24, 2006

Statement of:
B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (BCCHRP)
Ontario Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (OCHRP)
Philippine Network for Justice and Peace -- Toronto (PNJP)
Centre for Philippine Concerns - Montreal
Centre for Philippine Concerns -- Winnipeg

E-mail: bcchrp@kalayaancentre.net
Website: www.kalayaancentre.net