Statement and urgent call to action: Justice for our sister Inday Estorba!

Contact: Marisa Mariano, Secretary General, babae San FranciscoEmail: info@babaesf.org, 415-412-8915, www.babaesf.orgbabae condemns the murder of Gabriela party member, Inday Estorba. On April 3, 2006 at 3:00 am in her home, Inday Estorba was shot in close range and died shortly after. She leaves behind 2 children and a husband in critical condition. Estorba's active history in GABRIELA women's organizing and women's rights advocacy in Bohol made her a clear target for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's minions. Essentially, however, Estorba was murdered under the watchful eyes of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. "Inday Estorba, for being an active Gabriela member and an advocate of women's rights, has been identified as a target of Arroyo's military," said Lisa Maza, a similarly politically persecuted Gabriela partylist member.Last week alongside our comrades, we celebrated the life of Cris Hugo, slain LFS national member and contributor to the youth and students movement in the Philippines. And within a short week, we are again in utter disbelief and now, in absolute rage with the unjust murder of Inday Estorba.GMA has made an example out of Inday Estorba. She is announcing to the whole world that her fascist administration will stop at nothing to extinguish to growing movement of opposition towards her rotten and corrupt regime. GMA in her cowardly silence has proven to everyone around the globe that her dictatorship will not discriminate against mothers and women. Inday Estorba is the 68th woman killed under her regime. Although herself a Filipino woman, GMA will allow for the brutal massacre of Filipino women, who without complain, are the "mules" of the Philippine economy. These women are offered up in this capitalist machine as sex slaves, cheap factory labor, exploited farmers and simultaneously our mothers, sisters, daughters, bearers of our Philippine culture.They too will be sacrificed in the name of the fascist control tactics "Anti-Terrorism Bill" up for deliberations this week. The "Anti-Terrorism Bill" seeks to mute the emerging National Democratic movement by giving GMA's regime authoritarian rule, allowing her to continue the mass murders she's sustained in her term as puppet president. Inday Estorba's death demonstrates the failure of the Philippine administration, GMA's regime, to protect and care for its people.Inday Estorba was a servant of the people. She offered the life and the energy that she could to forward the rights and welfare of her Filipino sisters. Challenging the biggest terrorist in the Philippines, the heinous Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Estorba was an example of the resilience of Filipino women and the strength of Filipino mothers. She understood that her contributions to this bigger movement were not just for her and her immediate family, but for her posterity and the future of the Philippine people.Inday Estorba will not be forgotten! Her life will be a catalyst for Filipino women in the Philippines and worldwide to intensify our fight for women's rights and human rights. Inday Estorba will live on in our voices. We will remember her while we match her intensity and dedication to her women's work. Her life and death is not in vain, for our spirits are not broken because of her absence rather we are fueled by her presence in this movement.We demand justice for Inday Estorba's death! Convict the assailant responsible for her death! Convict GMA for her outright attacks of Filipino organizers and activists! Mabuhay si Inday!JUSTICE FOR OUR SISTER INDAY ESTORBA!!!BABAE NG BAYAN! NGAYON AY LUMALABAN!!!END THE KILLINGS OF OUR WOMEN ORGANIZERS!!!OUST THE FASCIST GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO!!!babae (Tagalog for "woman") is an organization that serves to address the rights and welfare of multi-generational Filipino women in the United States. We strive to connect concrete material conditions here in the United States and the Homeland through deepening our understanding of our history and culture by applying theory with practice.We seek to mobilize and organize with Filipino women in the San Francisco/Bay Area community by engaging in our collective struggles and promoting holistic well-being in solidarity with National Democracy in the Philippines and international women's emancipation.info@babaesf.orgwww.babaesf.org