Contact: Rhonda Ramiro
Secretary General, BAYAN-USA
secgen@bayanusa.org

Philippine Congresswoman Liza Maza distributing relief packages

DAGUPAN CITY, PHIILIPPINES–Filipino-Americans under the banner of BAYAN-USA, a US-wide alliance of 14 Filipino organizations, have been actively responding to the needs of the victims of typhoons Ketsana (Ondoy) and Parma (Pepeng) that slammed through the Philippines in the past few weeks killing hundreds and devastating thousands. In addition to conducting on-the-ground emergency relief operations in the Philippines, the alliance reached its projected goal of $15,000 for BALSA (Bayanihan Alay Para Sa Sambayanan), a broad, multi-sectoral disaster relief organization affiliated with its mother alliance, BAYAN Philippines, in addition to gathering dozens of boxes across the US filled with in-kind donations of clothes, food, and medicine.

This week, members of BAYAN-USA traveled to the Philippines to deliver their monetary donations and participate in relief operations. In Dagupan City, Pangasinan, BAYAN-USA joined Congresswoman and Senatorial Candidate Liza Maza of the Gabriela Women’s Party and MAKABAYAN Coalition for one day in handing out over 2,000 sacks of food to long lines of families who had been devastated by the typhoon’s destructive force, but met with the inadequate response of the Philippine government in providing relief. Pangansinan, one of the most impacted provinces in the nation, was 80% submerged due to the man-made disaster of the San Roque Dam opening that unleashed more than 8 million cubic meters of water.

“We have seen with our own eyes how the Philippine government has neglected the needs of the typhoon victims at a time of tremendous need for basic necessities like medicine, food, and shelter,” commented Bernadette Ellorin, chair of BAYAN-USA and one of the members of the relief team. “It has been the responsibility of people’s organizations, like BAYAN-USA, to provide the emergency response needed for our families and loved ones back home who are suffering and will continue to suffer from the Arroyo government’s greedy, disaster-creating policies.”

Relief Distribution Plans

In relaying its monetary and in-kind donations, BAYAN-USA expressed distrust over the Arroyo government’s recent directive for all donations from abroad to be coursed only through accredited organizations with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) or face taxation and other types of penalties and fees.

Furthermore, Philippine Consular offices in the U.S. have imposed restrictions on courier services from shipping relief goods collected by organizations whose efforts are not affiliated with the Philippine government. Courier services face high penalty fees should they choose to ship goods from people’s organizations collecting donations such as BAYAN-USA.

“In this time of calamity, it is unconscionable that the Arroyo government sees this as an opportunity to make money off of suffering,” Ellorin added, “especially when its own corruption of the National Disaster Relief Funds to pay for Arroyo’s lavish lifestyle is at the root of this disaster.”

Like other donors from the U.S., BAYAN-USA is calling for the Arroyo government to lift restrictions on goodwill, including the DSWD accreditation requirement and the taxation on relief goods, as it is posing a concrete obstacle to donors to send relief to the Philippines.

“Donors from the U.S. are not responding to the directives because of clear distrust. How can they be assured that their donations will reach their loved ones and the neediest communities back home?” Ellorin questioned. “Donors are choosing to go through alternative routes to circumvent the Arroyo government’s greedy paws.”

With the approaching super-typhoon Lupit expected to hit the Philippines within the next few days, the need for long-term or permanent disaster relief efforts becomes more apparent. “In the face of government corruption and inutility, people’s organizations should develop long-term relief operations to meet the escalating needs of the people to fight off the looming threats of cholera, dengue and other health epidemics as well as widespread hunger and homelessness,” ended Ellorin.

Members of BAYAN-USA and GABRIELA-USA with Congresswoman Liza Maza

For more information on how to donate through BAYAN USA, visit www.bayanusa.org.

Contact: Rhonda Ramiro
Secretary General, BAYAN-USA
secgen@bayanusa.org

“Rep. Alcover is only deceiving himself if he thinks that anyone is going to believe his malicious lies and slanderous statements. He should apologize to the Filipino people for wasting their money and time, and issue an immediate retraction of his slanderous statements,” remarked BAYAN-USA Chair Berna Ellorin, in reaction to Representative Pastor Alcover Jr.’s privilege speech to the Philippine House of Representatives on August 17, 2009.

The US Chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, or BAYAN-USA, denounced Rep. Alcover’s privilege speech as another pathetic attempt by the Arroyo regime to wash its hands of responsibility for the thousands of state-sponsored human rights violations plaguing the Philippines and to discredit the testimony of torture victim Melissa Roxas. “Melissa Roxas’ strong credibility as a victim of torture, backed unanimously by the Commission on Human Rights in the Philippines, has created a diplomatic nightmare for the Arroyo government. Roxas’ brave pursuit of justice and accountability is expectedly bringing out the witch-hunters in the Arroyo government, namely ANAD Partylist Representative Jun Alcover,” stated Ellorin.

Throughout the speech, Rep. Alcover made baseless claims and stated erroneous information as facts. Such information included Rep. Alcover’s branding of BAYAN-USA as “an organization under the NDF [National Democratic Front] international in the United States.”

“Rep. Alcover is stooping to slander as a means to absolve the Arroyo government of the more than 1,000 cases of extrajudicial killings and over 200 cases each of enforced disappearances and torture—including the most recent case of Melissa Roxas. This is no surprise, given the overwhelmingly credible testimony provided by Melissa,” said Ellorin. “The Arroyo regime has a history of recycling the ‘communist boogeyman’ every time it gets put on the defensive. Rep. Alcover should be reminded that these McCarthyist red-baiting tactics were discredited last century, for their utter failure to do anything but demonize innocent people and make the world less safe for everyone.”

Rep. Alcover also referred repeatedly to a “hate campaign” being waged to shame the government. “Did Rep. Alcover mis-read the reports by the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights watch, which all point to government responsibility for the overwhelming majority of human rights violations committed against innocent Filipinos?” stated Ellorin. “Clearly, the hate campaign being waged is the one that GMA and her supporters have been waging since 2001, against any person courageous enough to speak up for justice and criticize the failed policies of the Arroyo administration.”

“Alcover is abusing his position in the legislature to advance the Philippine military’s agenda within. His red-baiting and inflammatory remarks also serve to undermine the resumption of peace talks between the Philippine government and the NDF, even though the NDF has every right to assert its platform for genuine national freedom and democracy, lasting peace, and a progressive Philippines. Rep. Alcover should spend his time, and the Filipino people’s money, concerning himself with public service for a nation in grave need, and not with bloody, ineffective counter-insurgency tactics.” ended Ellorin.

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
20 October 2006

The International League of People’s Struggle (ILPS) calls on its participating organizations and on all progressive forces throughout the world to join and support the International Day of Action Against Trade Union Repression and Political Killings in the Philippines on November 16, 2006. This event is aimed at condemning the intensified attacks being carried out by the government of Gloria Arroyo against the Filipino workers and expressing solidarity and support to the struggle of the workers and the rest of the Filipino people for self-determination, democracy, social justice and development.

The Philippines is now considered second only to Colombia as the most dangerous place for trade unionists. Since Arroyo became president in 2001, sixty-four trade union leaders and organizers have been murdered in extra-judicial executions. They are part of the more than 750 victims of political killings of unarmed legal activists perpetrated by government forces.

Some 982 cases of human rights violations victimizing 77,028 workers have been documented by the independent Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR). The violations include assaults on the picket line, illegal arrest and detention, disappearances, grave threats, abduction and various forms of harassment and intimidation.

Among those killed were union leaders in multinational corporations and local big business establishments notably Diosdado “Ka Fort” Fortuna, union president in Nestle Philippines and Ricardo “Ka Ric” Ramos, union president of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union (CATLU).

Member of Congress Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran–veteran labor leader, May First Movement (KMU) Chairman Emeritus and former Chairperson and current Honorary Chairperson of the ILPS–has been illegally detained since he was arrested on February 25, 2006, a day after Arroyo declared a “state of national emergency”. He was arrested on trumped-up charges dating back two decades ago that had been previously quashed by Philippine courts.

In its recent 115th assembly in Geneva, the Inter-Parliamentary Union passed a resolution expressing concern over his arbitrary detention and calling on the Philippine government for his immediate release or at the very least for his transfer to the custody of the Philippine House of Representatives like his progressive congressional colleagues who had also been framed up in the same false charge of rebellion. We must demand the complete and immediate release of Rep. Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran. The injustice done to him is an in injustice to the entire working class which is deprived of its elected representative and its voice in Congress.

To gain political advantage over the legal opposition and to serve her interest in bureaucratic corruption, Arroyo has long pushed the US policy of “neoliberal globalization” and “labor flexibility” in the Philippines in order to aggravate and deepen the exploitation of the working people in the Philippines. She has promoted the denationalization, liberalization, privatization of state assets and deregulation of the Philippine economy in order to expand the interest of the US and other foreign monopolies.

She openly declares that her war against the workers and the Filipino people is part of the wider war of terror instigated by US imperialism to keep the world safe for big business. She has vilified as “economic terrorists” the workers who act concertedly to demand better wage and living conditions. She was among the first presidents of US puppet states to declare subservience to George W. Bush’s so-called “war on terror”. Bush “rewarded” her shameless obeisance by calling her government a “major non-NATO ally” and naming the Philippines as “the second front in the war on terror”.

Fact-finding missions by independent international bodies have confirmed the rampant trade union and human rights violations committed by government forces in the Philippines. The extra-judicial killings, forced disappearances and other human rights abuses have generated international condemnation and outrage from such bodies as Amnesty International, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, the World Council of Churches and many others.

The International Day of Protest on November 16 coincides with the second anniversary of the infamous Hacienda Luisita Massacre where seven striking workers and supporters were killed and scores more were injured in a violent dispersal of the strike at Hacienda Luisita by police, army troops and private armed goons on November 16, 2004.

What you can do on November 16, 2006 among others:

a) Hold a protest action in front of the Philippine Embassy or Consulate in your country. b) Send a message of solidarity and support to the Kilusang Mayo Uno (May First Movement), kmuid@tri-isys.com. c) Send a protest letter to the Arroyo government. d) Ask your government to stop giving financial aid to the Arroyo government because such aid is used to attack the Filipino workers and people under the guise of anti-terrorism.

STOP TRADE UNION REPRESSION!
STOP EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS OF POLITICAL ACTIVISTS!
FREE CONGRESSMAN CRISPIN “KA BEL” BELTRAN AND ALL POLITICAL DETAINEES!
STOP AID TO THE CORRUPT AND REPRESSIVE ARROYO REGIME!
SAY NO TO BUSH’S WAR OF TERROR AGAINST PEOPLE OF THE WORLD!

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
6 October 2006

On behalf of the participating organizations of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) in scores of countries, I hereby express deepest condolences to the family of Most Reverend Bishop Alberto Ramento, to all the clergy and members of the Philippine Independent Church and to all his colleagues in the people’s movement for national freedom, democracy, social justice and a just and lasting peace.

All of us are in grief and feel a deep sense of loss over the murder of Bishop Ramento. But we are all comforted by the fact that he has lived a full and meaningful life in the service of his faith and the oppressed and exploited people. His contributions to the people’s struggle for a better life constitute a vital legacy and will continue to shine. His martyrdom inspires us to struggle ever harder for the people’s rights.

May I mention that I had the good fortune of knowing Bishop Ramento personally. We worked together with others in 1994 to persuade the president of the reactionary government to release from prison a revolutionary cadre, whose arrest by the military was prejudicing the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations. Since then, we had fruitful relations in pushing forward said negotiations, especially after his visit to the NDFP Negotiating Panel.

We of the ILPS condemn in the most vigorous terms the brutal murder of Bishop Alberto Ramento last October 3, 2006 in his parish in San Sebastian, Tarlac City, Philippines. We are informed by his immediate relatives and colleagues in his church and in the people’s movement that before his murder he was categorized as an “enemy of the state” and listed in the “order of battle” of the military and that he received death threats by text messages for opposing the charter change campaign of the Arroyo regime, condemning the extrajudicial killings and supporting the workers and peasants in Hacienda Luisita.

But Bishop Ramento could never be cowed. He was firm with his principles and was an experienced fighter for justice. Since the time of the struggle against the Marcos fascist dictatorship, many people have come to know him as a staunch and fearless fighter for the people’s rights. He was always conscious of adhering to and promoting the revolutionary heritage and the continuing patriotic and progressive character of the Philippine Independent Church.

The ILPS is well informed that the Philippine Independent Church was a product of the Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonialism and then against US imperialism. It is the largest church alternative to the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines. It has millions of church members. At the same time, it respects the principle of the separation of the church and the state. It has concordat relations with the Anglican provinces and the old Catholic Church abroad.

Bishop Ramento was ever conscious of bringing to the defense of the Filipino people the strength and influence of his church in the Philippines and abroad. But he was always personally a humble and hardworking priest even as he rose to the highest positions in his church and in the ecumenical movement. He served as the Supreme Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church (PIC), chairperson of the National Council of Churches and co-chairperson of the Ecumenical Bishops Forum.

He upheld the revolutionary legacy of his church by word and by deed. He stood and fought for the rights of the poor, the exploited and the oppressed. He was on the side of the workers and peasants of the vast plantation Hacienda Luisita when they launched a strike for the implementation of land reform, higher wages and the return to work of dismissed union officials. Together with the workers and peasants, he faced the attacks of the military against the striking workers. Loved and respected by the masses, his clergy and the faithful he served, he was honored as the “bishop of the poor workers and peasants.”

Bishop Ramento was an outspoken critic of the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, questioning the legitimacy of her rule and asking her to step down. He also denounced the US-backed Arroyo regime and her repressive instruments, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and the paramilitary. He condemned the rampant acts of state terrorism. In the strongest terms, he denounced the Arroyo regime for its culpability for the extra-judicial killings, abductions, torture and other human right violations.

Bishop Ramento was a strong advocate of just peace. He was indefatigable in pointing out that the civil war in the Philippines can be resolved through peace negotiations only by addressing the fundamental problems of the people through economic, social and political reforms guided by the principles of national independence, democracy and social justice. He was outstanding in spearheading associations and actions for a just and lasting peace.

Bishop Ramento’s parish in Tarlac is a parish of the poor and his church is simple with no treasures of holy icons or golden tapestry. That is why no one believes the precipitate claim of the police that robbery was the cause of his murder. His wealth is his pro-people principles as manifested in all his efforts to uphold, defend and promote the rights and interests of the people, especially the toiling masses.

In the last pastoral letter that he signed as Chairman of the Supreme Council of Bishops, he called on the people to “find courage and confront the darkness that is engulfing the very soul of the nation and continue to tread the path towards the establishment of a just society under a government that genuinely serves the interest and welfare of the Filipinos.”

His moral leadership and his active participation in the people’s struggle have earned the ire of the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo regime. Arroyo, her cabinet oversight committee on internal security and her minions in the military, police and its paramilitary and death squads are all responsible for the dastardly murder of Bishop Ramento. It is within the framework of the Bush-directed war of terror and Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya that our beloved Bishop Ramento has been taken away from us, like the hundreds of other victims of extra-judicial killings.

The extra-judicial killings by the Arroyo regime’s cabal of assassins have failed and will fail again to intimidate and stop the Filipino people from fighting this puppet, corrupt, brutal, illegitimate and immoral regime. The murder of Bishop Alberto Ramento brings to a new and higher level the outrage of the people. His martyrdom arouses us to heighten our fighting will and capabilities in order to get rid of the Arroyo regime as soon as possible. It also inspires us for a long time to come to fight for national liberation, democracy, social justice and peace. ###

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison

Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples’ Struggle

We, in the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, hereby manifest our high respect for Daniel Boone Schirmer as an outstanding fighter against US imperialism and as an exponent of international solidarity of the peoples in the revolutionary struggle against imperialism and reaction and for a better world of greater freedom, democracy, social justice, all-round progress and peace.

We join all the organizations and individuals in the U.S., Philippines and in the whole world in conducting meaningful memorial activities from the day after his passing away last April 21 to June 18 in order to honor him for his militant political work and scholarship in support of the peoples’ struggle against US imperialism. He was a genuine American patriot and revolutionary internationalist in the tradition of the Anti-Imperialist League and Mark Twain.

He was already a veteran of ideological, political and organizational work among the youth and the workers when he went back to school in Harvard University in the 1960s. He became involved in the movement against the US war of aggression in Vietnam. It was by way of supporting the Vietnamese people’s struggle for national liberation that he chose as the subject of his doctoral dissertation the Anti-Imperialist League and the Filipino-American War which started in 1899.

After he got his Ph.D. in 1972, the proclamation of martial law in the Philippines and the imposition of the US-instigated fascist dictatorship on the Filipino people moved him to work for the organization of the Friends of the Filipino People. This was accomplished in 1973. It consisted of American and Filipino-American academics who were determined to support the Filipino people in their struggle for national freedom and democracy.

Through the Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino (Union of Democratic Filipinos), I was able to observe immediately the work of Daniel Boone Schirmer and his colleagues for the Filipino people. I am always proud to be among the first Filipinos in the underground in 1973 to read Boone’s Republic or Empire: American Resistance to the Philippine War. This carried a personal inscription from him which was very inspiring. It was brought to the Philippines by a Filipino who had apprenticed in The National Guardian in New York.

Since then, I had occasional communications with Boone in writing or orally through traveling mutual friends. I received from him interesting reading materials, even while I was already under military detention. Julie and I are grateful that he was able to visit our home in Quezon City twice to express concern about my situation in prison and about issues.

Daniel Boone Schirmer and the Friends of the Filipino People had a major share in gathering support from the American people, in keeping up the spirit of resistance among the Filipinos in the US, in exposing the imperialist motives of the US for propping up the Marcos dictatorship, in influencing American public opinion against the collaboration of the US and the Marcos ruling clique and in contributing to the isolation and fall of the fascist dictatorship.

The service that Boone rendered to the Filipino people did not end with supporting them in the struggle against Marcos. He considered the US military bases in the Philippines as the key point in US imperialist interests in the country. Indefatigably, he demanded and fought for their dismantling. After the US bases were dismantled in 1992, he denounced every attempt of the US and the puppet regimes to somehow allow US military forces to violate Philippine national sovereignty and territorial integrity and to engage in military intervention under such deceptive signboards as “status of forces”,”access and cross servicing” and “”visiting forces.”

It is of great importance to hold in the highest regard and constantly honor the noble tradition of the Anti-Imperialist League and the inspiring work and legacy of progressive Americans like Daniel Boone Schirmer. The more of such Americans in the belly of the beast, the greater is the confidence of the peoples of the world that the No. 1 plunderer and terrorist power will be defeated in many parts of the world and someday in the US itself.

Office of the Chairperson

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples’ Struggle

The International League of People’s Struggles (ILPS) extends its firm solidarity with the people of the US, especially the millions of immigrants and their supporters who have taken to the streets in order to oppose the “Border Protection, Homeland Security, and Illegal Immigration Act, also known as HR4437. We salute and congratulate you for your resounding success in mobilizing yourselves and standing up for human rights against the criminalization of immigrants and the intensification of the US war of terror against the oppressed nationalities of the Americas and in other parts of the world.

The massive rallies that surged up in the last few weeks in various US cities, signals the waking of the sleeping giant that is the immigrant communities and oppressed nationalities within the belly of the imperialist beast. It is a just cause to defend and fight for the human dignity and democratic rights of twelve million immigrants and their supporters against imperialist oppression, racism and the looming monster of fascism. Such a just cause enjoys abundant support throughout the world.

House Resolution HR4437 or the Sensenbrener Act, named after US Congressperson F. James Sensenbrenner would have made routine immigration violations “aggravated felonies” and having routine contact with an undocumented person a felony. The measure would have criminalized whole immigrant communities, as well as individuals or organizations that provide basic social services to the millions of undocumented individuals residing and working in the US. Immigrant advocates, lawyers, priests, service providers and employers would be subject to heavy fines and prison time if they refused or otherwise failed to report their client to the authorities.

While these provisions would have been totally unworkable given the millions of people it would criminalize, it would have no doubt led to intensifying immigrant scapegoating, racial profiling, and providing the license or legal device for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to go after critics, political opponents, and advocates of immigrant and civil rights. Congressman Sensenbrener, the author of this bill which passed the House of Representative in December 2005, is the same person who in June 2005, shut down the House Judiciary meeting on the Patriot Act when his congressional colleagues began to raise tough questions about the curtailment of civil rights in the US and the Bush administration policy on the use of torture.

Besides the egregious attacks against immigrants, the bill also includes billions of dollars for the construction of a wall between the US and Mexico border and billions more just to study the feasibility of building a wall on the border of the US and Canada. These provisions surely were pushed by US corporate interests that stand to benefit through billions of dollars worth of government contracts. These proposed walls promise to further isolate Americans from the rest of the world, and will burden generations of American taxpayers. Surely, this boondoggle will misdirect public funds away from the basic services that the American working people need.

The unprecedented mobilizations of the immigrants and their supporters during the last few weeks have definitely jolted members of the House Judiciary Committee into putting out a version of the bill with a few of the most punitive sections left out. The bill is still replete with provisions that are obnoxiously punitive, biased and discriminatory. Moreover, the bill being considered by the Senate is still fatally packed with extreme provisions that would effectively bar millions of people from the chance to earn legalization, take away the right to a fair hearing, legalize the indefinite detention of non-citizens, and allow domestic military bases to be used for immigration detention.

Since the major mobilizations in Chicago, Milwaukee, Phoenix, and the million-person Gran Marcha in Los Angeles, there has been continuous mobilization of communities””from high school walk-outs to hunger strikes, and now the call for a 40 city national mobilization on April 10. These are promising signs for the further development of a sustained movement for democratic rights against imperialism, fascism and racism. While some are calling this the new civil rights movement, ILPS hopes that the rising consciousness, broad mobilization, and alliance building are revitalizers of a much-needed anti-imperialist movement in the heartland of the number one imperialist nation in the world.

This latest attack against immigrants in the US is an intensification of the US War of Terror on all oppressed nationalities. Your struggle is one with the struggle of people around the world against US imperialist aggression and outright disregard for human rights. We fully support you in refusing to be scapegoated and labeled as terrorists and criminals. The real terrorists in the world are the imperialists and their local reactionary accomplices that oppress and exploit the people and force an increasing number of them to emigrate, especially to the US, which has aggrandized itself with resource-grabbing and superprofits under the auspices of neoliberal globalization and the US permanent war of terror against the people of the world.

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle looks forward to your ever greater success in organizing and mobilizing more millions of people on April 10 and in subsequent actions to further condemn and isolate the crisis-ridden and increasingly repressive US imperialism, particularly under the aggressive and rapacious Bush regime. We call on the ILPS participating organizations in the US to join in the forthcoming mass actions, as they have done since last month. We also call on the ILPS participating organizations all over the world to make manifest their fervent solidarity with and militant support for all the oppressed nationalities in the US and the millions of immigrants who have risen up to oppose the ever hateful anti-people policies of the US monopoly bourgeoisie.