Statement

Celebrate and unite to continue the struggle for genuine peace and development!

June 11, 2006

As overseas Filipino workers, women, and youth we unite in celebration of the Filipino people's victory against Spanish colonization 108 years ago. We salute the Filipino people's rich and vibrant history of struggle and resistance that continues until today.

While we share in that spirit of resistance at the same time we raise alarm and voice our grave concern of clear violations of Philippine sovereignty, the state of democracy,and its peoples basic human rights under the Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime.

Despite being abroad, our ties to our homeland remain strong. Any time spent in the Philippines exposes us to the undeniable reality that the country is still predominantly an agricultural-based society where peasants and farm workers constitute the majority of the population, yet hold the least amount of power. Part of this reality is the prevalence of a lack of national industries in the country since the interests of foreign big businesses are given preference over local. Decades of colonization and neo-colonization have led to extreme levels of poverty, unemployment and underemployment which push 3,000 Filipinos abroad every day. Desperate for work, Overseas Filipino Workers risk life and limb in order to ensure their families’ survival.

Can a country celebrate independence given that its 'leader' continues to exercise her power illegitimately as the calls for her ouster for electoral fraud, corruption, and numerous anti-people policies and actions grow?

Can a country assert its sovereignty when foreign troops from the U.S. continue to arrive at its shores wholeheartedly accepted by the regime, while they rape our women and 'train' the Philippine military?

Can a country celebrate its autonomy as a nation when over 600 people have been victims of extrajudicial killings over five years and hundreds more suffer from ongoing political persecution and repression?

We must not allow our hard-won independence of over a hundred years ago descend into open fascist and authoritarian rule under the Arroyo regime. Through history the Filipino people have been victorious in rising up against foreign oppressors and toppling fascist and inutile presidents. Now is the time to continue this tradition of resistance! As Filipinos abroad we can truly celebrate our history by taking part in the current struggle for genuine peace and development for our people and our country so that we have a truly independent, free and prosporous homeland to return to.

Mabuhay ang sambayanang Pilipino!

Filipino Nurses Support Group
Philippine Women Centre of B.C.
SIKLAB-Vancouver
Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance/Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada