SONA YOUTH SECTOR STATMENT FROM BAYAN USA

Press Statement

22 July 2007

Reference: Melanie Medalle, Anakbayan Honolulu/Bayan-USA

GMA regime threatens quality of education and safety of campus communities, continuing the disenfranchisement of youth and students

Exposurists from New York, Honolulu, and San Francisco have traveled across the Pacific to understand the issues and conditions of the Filipino people. Our sentiments regarding government policies are shared by the entire youth and student sector under our umbrella organization, BAYAN-USA.

As students from various colleges in America, we are appalled that the educational system here is being cut short and left out to dry. Students are forced to carry the burden of tuition increases by over 300% in many campuses, while unnecessary beautification projects are implemented to mask the deterioration of the failing learning systems within. Increasing commercialization of college campuses result in the displacement of small local vendors, mercilessly cleared to make way for corporate business interests. At the same time, students' civil right to voice criticisms against the government is now severely repressed by the implementation of the Human Security Act.

This hysteric legislation will have direct impact on the ability of the youth and all that dare to challenge repressive government policies. Its striking resemblance to the US Patriot Act is far from coincidental and illuminates the political partnership that guides continued US-Philippine relations.

As students in the US, we also face attacks on affordable education in favor of military spending and commercial profit. Filipino students in the U.S. and the Philippines are seeing our tuition skyrocket, while the quality of education deteriorates. The cost of U.S. President George W. Bush's so-called "war on terror" looks to reach $758 billion, not including its military aid to the Philippines which tripled to $30 million. U.S. tax dollars will be funneled into the continued harassment and oppression of the Filipino people.

The real state terrorism here is the sad state of facilities. We're astonished that the state has failed to maintain quality education but has the means to increase military spending.

The struggle we face as students in the Philippines and the U.S. is what unites us. In solidarity with the international delegates, we stand in strong support of the challenges that the youth, students and all communities are making against the oppressive GMA regime.

JUNK the Human Security Act!!!

DEFY State Terrorism!

Long live the youth movement!

Peace and justice to the people now!

Sulyap sa Kalayaan (A Glimpse of Freedom)

A Glimpse of Freedom

An Interactive Forum on Political Repression in the Philippines
with Professor Jose Maria Sison and Invited Speaker Philippine Congressman Crispin "Ka Bel' Beltran
(via skype video-conferencing)

Organized by the US Chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN USA), Anakbayan NY/NJ, the International Action Center, and the International League of People's Struggle (ILPS)

When: July 29th, 2007 (Sunday) 6:30 p.m.
Where: International Action Center's Solidarity Center, 55 West 17th Street, bet. 6th and 7th Aves in Manhattan


With the recent ruling by the European Court de-listing exiled Philippine leader Jose Maria Sison from the EU foreign terrorist list and the Philippine Supreme Court's ruling against the sedition and rebellion charges against Philippine labor leader Ka Bel, the US-Arroyo regime, the number one proponent to the expansion of the US War on Terror to the Asia Pacific region is suffering major blows by way of a massive people's movement for human rights in the Philippines as abroad.

The international front is also striking blows with the recent reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the US Senate Hearings, and the verdict by the Permanent People's Tribunal that all indicate the Arroyo military's primary role in perpetuating the national pattern of extra-judicial killings that have now claimed nearly 900 lives of human rights defenders since 2001.

Now with the implementation of the Human Security Act of 2007, the Philippines will become the testing ground for the foreign versions of the US Patriot and Homeland Security Acts, opening the country to the rotten domestic policies of state-sanction terrorism and the arbitrary curtailment of civil liberties.

Join us for a discussion with two of the Philippines most prominent anti-imperialist leaders and recent victors over Arroyo-sanctioned political repression in the Philippines.

PARTY LIKE ARAK STAR

Anak Bayan NY/NJ and FIRE (filipinas for rights and empowerment) Present:

Big Things Poppin'
Party Like ARAK star!
AUGUST 5, 2007 SUNDAY
8PM-1AM
$10 ALL AGES

Who's Performing:
Kiwi from Native Guns
Geo from Blue Scholars
Kadena
Koba
Hanalei Ramos
Deep Foundation
Mike Swift
Manny P.
Romeo
... and many others!

Where:
Terraza Cafe
40-19 Gleane St.
Jackson Heights, NY 11373

Directions: Take the 7 train to 82nd Ave and walk to 83rd and Roosevelt

Funds will be going towards local organizing within the filipino community and the medical bills of one our organizers.

NY Filipinos Protest Arroyo's State of the Nation Address

New York-- Fifth Avenue's Philippine Consulate was the sight of a 50+ strong protest action last Sunday jointly organized by the US Chapter of Bagong Alysang Makabayan (BAYAN USA) and the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON), two nationwide coalitions of cause-oriented Filipino groups and individuals across the United States.

Member organizations from the two coalitions each delivered speeches of concern over the annual State of the Nation Address (or SONA) delivered by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo this week in the halls of the Philippine Congress.

Both groups feel strongly that Arroyo be disqualified from delivering a reliable report of the state of the nation.

"If she omits the fact that she has commands one of the most deadly and terroristic state forces in the world, she has no clue about the true state of the Philippine nation. State terror is intensifying under the Arroyo rule," states Christina Hilo of the Anakbayan Filipino Youth Collective, and a member organization of BAYAN USA.

"This administration has a primary interest in saving its public image with the international community. But after all the bad press it has gotten this year with its human rights record, we doubt that such a tarnished image is even salvagable," stated Hanalei Ramos of the women's group Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment or FIRE New York.

Protest hightlights include solidarity speeches by representatives of the International Action Center, Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum, and the Free Hawaii Solidarity Committee. Other organizations present include Philippine Forum, NY Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, Lakas Diwa Filipino Youth Alliance of New Jersey, Kabalikat Domestic Workers Support Network, Movement for a Free Philippines, and even memebers of the Sentosa 27, a group of Filipino nurses trafficked to the US by way of illegal recruitment by the Sentosa Healthcare Agency, a Long Island-based company.

"The plight of overseas Filipino workers, such as the Sentosa 27, is a more reliable gage of the State of the Nation, more so that any fabrication by the Arroyo government," stated Rico Foz of NAFCON.

"Arroyo seems to believe she can transform the Philippines into a first world country, but she is clearly not using her economics degree in this instance. She is using her lack of reason and logic, and puppetry to foreign multi-nationals, to come to this conclusion. As migrant Filipinos, we bear the economic brunt of keeping the Philippine economy afloat with our hard-earned remittances, especially from the US. There is no indication that this trend will ease up anytime soon," Foz added.

Protesters also lambasted the recently enacted Human Security Act of 2007, also known as the Anti-Terror Bill, as a means to open up the Philippines to the domestic policies of the US War on Terror by outlawing peaceful and legitimate dissent in the country.

Protesters presented two petitions to the Philippine Consulate representative, who opened the door to receive the Justice for Sentosa 27 petition, which carried nearly 2000 signatures in support of the trafficked nurses, and for a shutdown of the Sentosa Agency and another petition against the state of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines.

"The government's neglect of overseas Filipino workers is also a human rights violation in itself," Foz ended.

Protesters concluded the action by "spearing" the large effigy of Arroyo depicted as a blood-sucking Aswang, a mythical and demonic creature of Philippine folklore.

In 2001, the Bush administration declared the Philippines the Second Front on the War on Terror, resulting in the massive deployment of US troops to Mindanao and a signifant boost in US military aid to the country. The Philippines has since become the largest recipient of US foreign aid in the Asia-Pacific region.

International watchdogs such as Amnesty Internatational, Human Rights Watch, and even the US Senate hearing have narrowed in the on the claims that this money funds death squads and the Philippine military who have claimed the lives of over 850 BAYAN members and other broad Arroyo opposition forces in the country.

The New York action is also part of a nationally-coordinated day of protest action with other member organization of BAYAN USA in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. As the only overseas chapter of the Philippine national alliance, the actions were coordinated heavily with BAYAN Philippines.
By BAYAN USA ny@bayanusa.org http://www.bayanusa.org www.bayan.ph

JULY 22 SUNDAY in front of the Philippine Consulate

Dear Friends,

President (?) Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will again deliver her State of the Nation Address (SONA). As usual, we expect nothing but self-directed praises and outright lies; the complete opposite of the sad state of reality where more than 80% live in poverty.

On our part as Filipinos and Filipino-Americans, we will present our basic rights and welfare concerns to the Philippine Consulate office in New York. This will illustrate the true state of our Philippine nation. Sectoral and organizational leaders are expected to deliver their respective concerns.

Participating are: Anakbayan NY & NJ, Philippine Forum, Kabalikat-PF, Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FiRE), New York Committee on Human Rights in the Philippines (NYCHRP), Movement for Free Philippines, SENTOSA 27++, BAYAN-USA, Lakas Diwa of New Jersey, Bagong Alyansa ng Kabaklaan at Lesbyana sa Amerika (BAKLA), Sandiwa, Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines, and NAFCON.

Invited friends to deliver their solidarity messages are: New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), International Action Center, May One Coalition, CAAAV, DRUM, DWU, PAKISTAN, NYCLAW, KAWAN, RCP, FREE Hawaii, and Malcolm X Group.

Details of this event are as follows:

WHAT: Genuine State of the Nation (SONA) Mass Action

WHEN: Sunday, July 22 at 2pm

WHERE: Philippine Consulate of New York

556 Fifth Avenue, NYC, NY 10036

WHO: Neglected Overseas Filipino and Filipino-American Workers with Allies and Friends

HOW: Peaceful Demonstration

Come bring your friends and relatives with you as we unite on this historic day of action.

Kindly pass this to at least five (5) of your colleagues.

Mabuhay,

Rico Foz

Executive Vice President

National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON)