The Illusion of Aquino’s “Tuwid na Daan”

Street theater, Aquino's SONA

Photos of Montreal People’s SONA

Press Statement

BAYAN CANADA

June 24, 2011

After one year in office, President Benigno Aquino III has not improved the lives of the Filipino people. His promise of “Tuwid na Daan” (straight path) is nothing but the crooked and edgy path for the Filipino people to tread on. His campaign promises during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) have become illusions for the majority of the people.

Misguided by the illusion of popularity, the Aquino administration refuses to address the chronic problems of the country. These are the rampant unemployment and poverty, inadequate social services, continuing human rights violations committed with impunity, landlessness, continuing rise in the prices of basic commodities, uncontrollable prices of gasoline and petroleum products, and destruction of the environment.

These problems, further encouraged by the government’s labour export policy, continue to drive many Filipinos to leave the country to work abroad. At least 4000 men and women leave the airports everyday to work overseas; there are 10 million Filipinos working in 196 countries and territories.

If President Aquino is sincere in keeping his promises, he needs to concretely act on these. In the socio-economic front, instead of taking the neoliberal economic path, he and his economic managers must take the path to national industrialization and genuine land reform. Instead of dole-outs and short-term socio-economic programs like “Pantawid Pasada” (gas subsidy to drivers) and conditional cash transfer (CCT), the Aquino administration must undertake long-term socio-economic measures that will bring lasting, not temporary, relief to the people’s suffering. The Aquino administration needs to look beyond economic rhetoric and failed policies of the past regimes.

Like his predecessor the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime, President “Noynoy” Aquino has opened the country to foreign capital and investments. President Aquino has aggressively attracted foreign investors and has placed little or no restrictions to their operations.  In particular, we refer to Canadian mining companies that operate in the Philippines which have not complied with genuine, free, prior and informed consent from the indigenous peoples and which have put profits before environmental destruction and displacement of peasant and indigenous communities.

Fighting corruption is empty rhetoric when President Noynoy Aquino has shown no urgency in prosecuting Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her cohorts for their graft and corruption, as well as the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of those who advocate for social change. Declaring that the Filipino People is the President’s “Boss” carries no weight when the same President also wages an all out war against the people with the US-inspired state counterinsurgency plan Oplan Bayanihan. President “Noynoy” Aquino cannot profess to be for peace until he orders the general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty of all political prisoners.

The first year of President Aquino has therefore been found wanting. The state of the nation, the state of the people has only gone from bad to worse.

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Struggle for Peace: the highest common denominator

April 25, 2011

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

What do Easter, Cordillera Day and the anniversary of National Democratic Front of the Philippines have in common?  Well they fell on the same day this year, and for Montreal Filipino community organizers and their friends it was enough for celebrations.  So on April 24^, 2011, indigenous people originally from the Philippine Cordillera region, the Philippine Independent Church in Montreal (PIC), Filipino migrant workers and community activists gathered for an event under the theme of “Prospects for Peace in the Philippines”.  The day’s celebration was organized jointly by Bayan Canada, Migrante Quebec and the Centre for Philippine Cocnerns.

The Cordillera Organizing Committee, a member of the Migrante alliance also added the theme, ”Live out our glorious history of struggle; fight for land, life & honour” to highlight their continuing struggle to defend their ancestral domain.  Significant since the day marks the 27^thanniversary of Cordillera Day in the Philippines.  It is a day to remember the martyrs of the struggle to stop development aggression against the indigenous people of the Cordillera during the Marcos Dictatorship.

While others also came for spiritual reflection and celebration of Easter, Fr. Atemio Calaycay of the PIC reminded people in his sermon that “peace” is holistic. As he put it, “the absence of war does not necessarily equate peace.”  Fr. Art wanted to remind people that poverty hunger and social injustices still exist to prevent genuine peace and democracy from taking root in the Philippines.

This was the theme also taken up by guest speakers via video message and Skype.  While Dr. Chandu Claver of Bayan Canada drove home the theme for the Cordillera Day celebrations, he also spoke about the ongoing political killings and the need of all Filipinos, including those abroad, to learn from the struggles of the Cordillera People.  “We must unite with each other and engage in determined struggle,” says Dr. Chandu, “together we can dare to win.”

Meanwhile, Coni  Ledesma and Luis Jalandoni of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) spoke via Skype.  The presentation reminded people that there is a growing revolutionary movement in the Philippines challenging the corrupt and repressive system dominating Philippine society today.  Like in many parts of the world currently, more and more people are turning to revolution to change their society for the better.  Also important was the determination of the NDFP to fight for genuine peace even across the negotiation table from the Philippine government despite the ploys of the latter to subdue the resistance without any commitment or action to real changes in society.  Both the NDFP speakers explained that peace must be based on real justice, like the end to human rights violations, securing people’s health, ending foreign intervention in the country, genuine land reform and developing and nationalizing industry to provide meaningful livelihood to the people.

Odaya, a Native American drumming and singing group who opened the celebrations introduced one of their songs as a song of renewal or rebirth.  Perhaps here lies the more appropriate answer to the question above.

Joey Calugay

BAYAN Canada

The Free the 43 Committee Visits the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver

L-R: Erie Maestro, Aiyanas Ormond, Atty. Gail Davidson, Valerie Raoul and Yvon Raoul at the main lobby of the 700 Pender Place where the Consulate General has its office.

Vancouver. — The Free the 43 Committee (B.C. Canada) personally delivered its letter of concern to the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver early this afternoon, November 8, 2010. The Free the 43 Committee was represented by Yvon and Valerie Raoul, both members of the 2010 International Observers Mission to the Philippines, Atty. Gail Davidson, Founder and Executive Director of Lawyers Rights Watch Canada, Aiyanas Ormond of the Alliance for People’s Health and Erie Maestro of the Canada-Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights. Vice-Consul Melanie Balisi Diano invited the group to her office, received the letters from the Committee and from Lawyers Rights Watch Canada and promised that the letters would be forwarded to President Aquino.

Aiyanas Ormond said that he and his family personally know Dr. Merry Clamor and Reynaldo Macabenta when they stayed in the Philippines in 2005 and know of the good community and medical service that they do. Valerie and Yvon Raoul shared that they visited the detainees when they went to the Philippines as independent observers of the 2010 National Elections. Atty. Gail Davidson who attended the Conference of Lawyers in the Asia Pacific in September went with other lawyers to visit the Morong 43 and met and talked with the detained health workers.  All have been closely monitoring the developments (or lack of progress) in the case of the Morong 43. Lawyers Rights Watch Canada is still waiting for a response from the Philippine Government for the two letters that it had sent out.[ http://www.lrwc.org/letters2.php?aid=335]

“We want the Philippine government to know that the detained health workers have friends in Vancouver who are concerned about their situation and who are committed to helping secure their release,” said Yvon Raoul, a retired school teacher and a human rights advocate.

The group specifically made mention of the two nursing mothers, Carina Oliveros and Mercy Castro, and their two new babies who were both born in detention– and are still waiting for their release.

The Free the 43 Committee‘s letter comes in the wake of the recent Presidential order of release for some 300 soldiers and officers who were involved in uprisings against the former President Gloria Arroyo.

Vice Consul Deano promised to get back to the group on any feedback on their letter. The group responded in turn that they are willing to meet again with the Consulate General’s office to discuss the case of the detained health workers. -30-

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Letter from the Free the 43 Committee personally delivered and stamp Received by the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver

8 November 2010

H.E. Benigno C. Aquino III                                                                                                                                                                           President of the Republic of the Philippines                                                                                                                                         Malacañang Palace,                                                                                                                                                                                                        JP Laurel St., San Miguel                                                                                                                                                                                        Manila, Philippines

Cc: Atty. Leila De Lima                                                                                                                                                                                        Secretary, Department of Justice                                                                                                                                                                          Padre Faura St., Manila

Dear Mr. President,

We, the Free the 43 Committee (B.C. Canada), are concerned about the continued detention of the detained 43 health workers who were arrested nine months ago, on February 6, 2010. We are especially worried about the situation of the two nursing mothers, Carina Oliveros and Mercy Castro, and their babies who were born in detention.

As President and as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, you have commented that the search warrant used by the arresting military officers and soldiers was defective. The tainted evidence as a result of this defective search warrant and the questionable search process that happened, on which basis the 43 health workers have been charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives surely cannot be used in any court of law. Likewise, the forced confessions obtained by the military from the detainees by the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and other violations of their constitutional, civil and political rights surely cannot be used in any court of law.

We urge your Excellency to take the decisive step and order the Department of Justice, who has already made recommendations on the case of the “Morong 43,” to file a motion before the courts to withdraw these charges. We also ask that the military officers and soldiers responsible for the torture and other violations of human rights of the detainees be held accountable for what they did and are duly punished.

We are aware of your order for the immediate release of some 300 soldiers and officers involved in military uprisings against your predecessor. Can we expect the same decisiveness and the same compassion for the detained health workers, most especially the nursing mothers and their new babies?

We ask that the charges against the “Morong 43” be withdrawn. We ask that the “Morong 43” be immediately and unconditionally released.

We will be monitoring the developments in the case of the detained health workers.

Respectfully yours,

Yvon Raoul and Valerie Raoul

On behalf of the Free the 43 Committee (B.C. Canada)                                                                                                                              1230 East 13^th Avenue, Vancouver, BC Canada                                                                                                                                                  Tel: 604.224.3723

END THE INJUSTICE! FREE THE MORONG 43 NOW!

Press Statement                                                                                                                                                                                               November 5, 2010

Reference:

Joey Calugay, 514-947-3662, jcalugay2@yahoo.ca                                                                                                                          Yasmeen Khan, 613-558-1625, yazmaryam@hotmail.com

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Canada [BAYAN Canada] today joins Bayan in the Philippines, people’s organizations and advocates of the Morong 43 in different corners of the globe in calling on President Benigno Aquino III to order the immediate and unconditional release of these health workers who are now in their ninth month of detention.  The 43 – that include two doctors, two midwives and a nurse – were arrested on February 6, 2010, on the basis of a defective search warrant issued and on evidence planted by state forces. They were charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

Early on in those nine months, some of them were subjected to grueling physical and psychological torture, and various forms of indignity. They were denied legal counsel and family visits in Camp Capinpin, a military prison camp in Tanay, Rizal.

Today, women detainees Judilyn Oliveros and Mercy Castro have already given birth while in detention. Both are under hospital arrest at the Philippine General Hospital. Both mothers have fought for their right to breastfeed their babies. The other health workers are still detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.

There is no reason why Aquino cannot direct the justice department to file a motion withdrawing the criminal charges against the 43 before the Morong Regional Trial Court and the Metropolitan Trial Court. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has indicated that her recommendations to President Aquino should lead to the release of the detainees. The President himself has admitted that the search warrant was defective. The courts would then have no choice but to release the 43. And with this simple act, Aquino would have been able to end the injustice done to these community health workers.

Furthermore, the Aquino government granted amnesty to 300 rebel soldiers detained by the Arroyo regime for staging three coup attempts, even before a Makati Trial Court could even decide on the case of one of the rebel officers.  Why then can it not order the release of the innocent 43 health workers who want nothing more than bring medical services to the poor?

The Aquino government has always been saying they want to rectify the injustices committed by the Arroyo regime. It is time to right these wrongs. And President Aquino can start by freeing the Morong 43, releasing all political prisoners and addressing all cases of human rights violations committed by state forces.

Free the Morong 43!

Release all political prisoners!

Justice to all victims of state repression!

November 6, 2010 marks the ninth month in detention of the Morong 43

First posted on Philippine Reporter. Int'l delgation visit Morong 43.

As part of the internationally coordinated action called for by BAYAN, organizations in Canada will be holding a demonstration in front of the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa on November 5, 2010, between 4pm and 5pm.  A petition signed by health professionals will be presented to the Embassy on that day. Join us and support the call for the immediate and unconditional release of the 43 illegally detained health workers in the Philippines.

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Original message from BAYAN in the Philippines:

On February 06,  2010, over 300 elements of the 202 Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines raided the farmhouse of Professor Emeritus of the College of Medicine of the University of the Philippines Dr. Melecia Velmonte. The AFP and the Philippine National Police arrested 43 health workers on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The state forces used a defective warrant and planted evidence to justify the arrest of the 43. The health workers were subjected to physical and psychological torture, denied counsel and visits and subjected to various indignities will inside a military camp. They have since been known as the “Morong 43”.

Bayan is calling for an internationally – coordinated action to press Pres. Benigno Aquino

III for the immediate and unconditional release of these community health workers who are now detained at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig, Rizal.

The Philippine Department of Justice has submitted its review and recommendations to the Philippine President. The DOJ secretary Leila de Lima has indicated that her recommendations should lead to the release of the detainees.

Aquino himself has admitted  that the search warrant was defective.  Furthermore, the evidence “wrongly gotten cannot be used, and therefore ( cases ) cannot prosper”. However, he said that the release of the health workers will have to be sanctioned by the courts.

Despite his admission, Aquino has yet to act on the DOJ recommendations.

The advocates of the 43 have suggested that President Aquino direct the Department of Justice to file a motion withdrawing the criminal charges against the 43 before the Morong Regional Trial Court and the Metropolitan Trial Court . The courts would have no choice but to release the 43.

Aquino’s statements on the 43 comes in the wake of his granting of amnesty to some 300 rebel soldiers who were detained by the Arroyo regime. Many have asked why the detained health workers have not been released given that there is really no case against them and that their constitutional rights were violated.

Two women detainees have already given birth during detention. Judilyn Oliveros gave birth in July while Mercy Castro gave birth this October.  Both are under hospital arrest at the Philippine General Hospital. Both mothers have fought for their right to breastfeed their babies.

Various well-known international organizations have sent letters of appeals to Aquino for the release of the 43, to cite a few: World Council of Churches, World Student Christian Federation, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the Japan Lawyers Intl Solidarity Association, the General Assembly of Presbyterian Church, the United Church of Canada, and many more.

Let us continue to press the Aquino regime to act to rectify the historic injustices committed by the US – Arroyo regime and to respect all the rights of the Morong 43 as well as all political prisoners in the Philippines.

On November 6, various organizations will converge at Camp Bagong Diwa where the health workers are being detained and hold a protest action, religious service and short program. Allies and supporters of the 43 health workers are expected to attend the gathering.

We appeal to friends and organizations abroad to launch actions at the Philippine embassies and consulates to press for the release of the 43 health workers. ###

WILL THERE BE CHANGE?

Statement of Dr. Chandu Claver on the September 17 National Day of Action to free the Morong 43 and all political prisoners

Toronto rally to free the 43 and all political prisoners

I was a physician-surgeon working with a Community-based Health Program in the province of Kalinga since 1987. Years of experience in alternative health care has taught us that the best and most effective approach is to work with the people where they are at. Area-based community health worker training has therefore been one of the main components of any effective health initiative especially in the light of the inability of the State to effectively deliver the necessary health services to its constituents.

Such was the activity that the health professional and health workers known as the Morong 43 were engaged in on February 6, 2010 when more than a hundred heavily-armed military and policemen swooped down and took them into custody. While in the hands of the military they suffered physical and psychological torture. To this day, they remain behind bars despite a growing realization among observers of the infirmity of the State’s case.

Traditionally, health personnel and religious workers have been relatively immune from vicious reactionary backlash. But this has not been true in the last ten years. Goaded on by mad generals and cabinet members, the Philippine State Security Forces have literally gone into a rampage of killings, abductions and illegal detentions. This they do for their stated goal of crushing the longest running liberation movement in Asia today – an obvious impossibility considering that they have kept moving forward their self-imposed deadline for many years. The fire of this crazed witch hunt is stoked even more by the logistic support of the most powerful nation in the
world.

State oppression is usually done by deception or by force. In the last several years, State has had to employ more and more the latter means, as the carrot does not seem to work anymore. Unfortunately, this has resulted in a lot of dead bodies, missing people, and hundreds of political prisoners. And like the Morong 43, there are 338 more political prisoners languishing in jail. None of them deserves to be there.

But now we have a new president. In the first two and a half months of his term, I still have to see some concrete action on his part to actually put a stop to the blood bath. The nation has put its hopes on him. Will he fail us? Will he change things? We will know in the next few months.

Otherwise, it will again be up to us, the Filipino people to change things for him.

Chandu Claver*
17 September 2010

*Chandu Claver – Kalinga-based former coordinator of the Community Health Concerns for Kalinga, a community based health program. Former member of the Board of Trustees of both the Community Medicine Development Foundation (COMMED), and the Council for Health Development (CHD). An ambush by suspected State forces resulted in the death of his wife and severe damage to himself. Continuing threats on himself and his children forced him to relocate to Canada as a refugee. After investigation a formal hearing, Canada has found his refugee claims as valid. Presently he is the Chairperson of BAYAN – Canada.

An Open Letter to President Benigno Aquino III

Dr. Claver with his wife Alice who was caught in the crossfire and became a victim of an assination attempt on the doctor's life in 2006.

I am Chandu Claver. My family was the target of an ambush by suspected State agents nearly four years today on July 31, 2006 in the province of Kalinga. My wife Alice was killed, as a result. Because of continuing threats on what remained of my family, I was forced to seek political refuge in Canada. In the Canadian hearing connected with this, I testified that the death of my wife was linked to the present Philippine counter-insurgency
Operation Plan Bantay Laya which specifically targets civilians and social activists. The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada has found my claim for refuge to be valid and has declared me and my family as Convention Refugees.

Like many hopeful Filipinos hungry for change, I have intently listened to your recent State of the Nation Address. As a victim of the extra-judicial killings perpetuated in the name of Oplan Bantay Laya, and as one of the families actively continuing to seek justice, I found your speech very disappointing.

I had hoped to hear from you bold and definite steps to stem the carnage that has resulted in more than 1000 bloody executions and more than 200 abductions. I had hoped that you would prevent more killings by at least putting Oplan Bantay Laya under review. I had hoped that you would implement the recommendations of the United Nations Special
Rapporteur Phillip Alston on the matter. The link of Oplan Bantay Laya to the killings and disappearance has been established many times in the recent past by respected institutions, both in the Philippines and abroad. But you never even mentioned Oplan Bantay Laya in your speech.

I had hoped that you would make some positive pronouncements regarding the plight of political prisoners, especially the Morong 43 – health workers like me, who have been languishing in jail since February on obviously trumped up charges. Considering all these, I am hoping that this is not because you are afraid of intimidating the military institution.
In your speech, it was good that you had initiated steps to try to solve the cases of the six new cases under your administration. But your failure to mention any plans to solve the very large number of extrajudicial killings and disappearances during the past administration made me very uneasy.

This fear was increased when you laid down your intention with the Truth Commission. The only reference to going after human rights violators as part of the Truth Commission was a short vague phrase about “going after killers”. Much of your speech was spent painting a very detailed and graphic picture of the corrupt practices of the past administration. In contrast, you only mentioned a very few vague words on an issue that has taken the precious lives of many and devastated countless family members. I cannot
help coming away with a very strong suspicion that you would prefer not to deal with the problem of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. To me, it felt that you were washing your hands of the cases occurring in the past administration, and that your lack of adequate reference to the issue felt like you were sweeping the dirt under the rug. I fervently hope that I am wrong in thinking that.

At the very minimum, I had hoped to hear from you a clear and unequivocal warning that members of the military linked to these killings would face the full force of the law. This was a crucial statement that human rights organizations (both in the Philippines and abroad) have long been recommending to the previous administration. This was a
necessary first step that we believe would serve as a strong warning that would start to counter the “culture of impunity” related with these killings and disappearances. This initial statement would start the process of preventing similar tragic events.

But Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was never able to make that simple statement. You have not done that in your SONA speech either, nor in any of your public speeches. I can only think of three possible reasons why you did not make that crucial, simple and logical statement: that you harboured hidden feelings that the killings served a good purpose; that you did not have the will to go against the military establishment; or your speech writer forgot to put it
in. Which is it, Mr. President?

We need the killings to stop. Your spokesman had declared that extrajudicial killings are not your administration’s policy. Then prove it, sir – shut down Oplan Bantay Laya, and truly investigate and actively prosecute the military perpetrators and their political coddlers, whether in the past administration or in yours.

For as long as the perpetrators of these extrajudicial killings and disappearances believe that their leaders are tacitly approving their heinous crimes through inaction and mixed signals, the blood will continue to flow. And unless you act more decisively, that exactly is what would happen. ##

Chandu Claver
chandu_claver@yahoo.com
31 July 2010

On Aquino’s 2010 SONA

Statement of BAYAN Canada
On Aquino’s Philippine State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 26, 2010

BAYAN Canada, an alliance of progressive Filipino organizations in Canada is outraged and concerned about the direction the newly-elected Aquino administration is leading the country.  During his first State of the Nation Address, President Aquino cited the scandalous pilfering of the previous administration, which has left the country’s finances in peril.  The president then began to list the solutions needed to heal the country’s economy.  Streamlining investment, increasing privatization and developing infrastructure, according to Aquino, are the necessary actions to improve the depressed Philippine economy.

“What was said in the address to the nation was at the least, lacking and a step in the wrong direction” Joey Calugay, Secretary General of BAYAN Canada said. “Despite the fact that the neoliberal policies of the past have ruined the economy and has favoured foreign corporations, Aquino is still insistent on further destroying the nation’s finances by implementing and repeating the tested and failed policies of the past.” Calugay added.

BAYAN members in the Philippines, U.S., Canada, Australia and Hong Kong have laid out their own demands for the Philippine government to address, which tackle the real issues facing the country’s citizens and the millions of Filipino migrants around the globe.  The demands and issues of the people are based on the four K’s: Katurungan, Kalayaan, Karapatan, and Kabuhayan.

Katurungan (Justice)
During the previous administration, there were approximately 1200 cases of extrajudicial killings and over 200 cases of enforced disappearances.  BAYAN Canada Chairperson, Chandu Claver stated, “Nowhere in his address did Aquino acknowledge the extrajudicial killings that plagued the country during the last decade…. his silence on the killings does very little to comfort the families of the victims who are still hoping and demanding for justice.” The United Nations, U.S. State Department and countless people’s organizations have accused the state security forces of the Philippines and for carrying out the extrajudicial killings.

We demand that former President Arroyo and all perpetrators be investigated for human rights violations.

Kalayaan (Sovereignty)
VFA: There are currently 5000 U.S. soldiers in the Philippines permitted under the Visiting Forces Agreement between the U.S. and the Philippines.  Although the presence and actions of the U.S. forces are embroiled in secrecy and controversy, the soldiers remain on Philippine soil—free to engage in combat and harass Filipino citizens.

Mining Act of 1995: The Philippines is one of the top producers of chromium and gold. Unfortunately the resources and profit of the country’s vast mineral wealth are not shared with its citizens. Multinational corporations are able to extract minerals, destroy the environment while displacing indigenous populations and above all they are permitted to repatriate all profit!

We demand the repeal of this unconstitutional agreement and legislation, which debase our national sovereignty.

Karapatan (Rights)
The International Federation of Journalists declared the Philippines as the most dangerous country for journalists for the past two years.  Death squads have targeted and killed workers, unionists, journalists, politicians and students.

We demand that the Aquino administration dismantle the military program “Oplan Bantay Laya (OBL)” or “Operation Plan Freedom Watch”, which targets mainly civilians critical of ggovernment and people’s organizations suspected as communist fronts for “neutralization”.

Kabuhayan (Livelihood)
Over one million Filipinos leave the country every year to find work. Despite its rich resource base and educated population, the Philippines economy cannot employ its own workforce. The majority of Filipinos work as landless tenant farmers. The economy is based on the export of its physical and human resources. There are no heavy industries that employ a significant portion of the population.

We demand that the Aquino administration implement genuine agrarian land reform.   We demand that the Aquino administration create jobs in the Philippines instead of promoting the Labour Export Policy, which was instituted by the late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos.

Justice for Fernando Baldomero and all victims of extrajudicial killings

The following statement was read by Fr. Artemio Calaycay, IFI, a member of the Centre for Philippine Concerns in Montreal, at an event on the island of Panay in the Philippines today, July 13, 2010, to demand justice for Fernando Baldomero, Bayan Muna coordinator. Baldomero was killed July 5 in front of his 12-year old son.

Justice for Fernando Baldomero and all victims of extrajudicial killings

Joint Statement from Bayan Canada and ILPS Canada

July 13, 2010 — Our thoughts and hearts go out across the miles that separate us to the family and friends of Fernando Baldomero, the first activist killed under the new Aquino administration. We were shocked when we heard that Baldomero, a Bayan Muna provincial coordinator in Aklan, had been gunned down in front of his son by motorcycle-riding men right outside his home.

Just when we hoped the spate of killings begun under the former Arroyo regime would be coming to an end, it took barely five days after the new President was sworn in for the first extrajudicial killing of a political activist to occur.

But the shock had not worn off when the news of more killings reached our shores: Anak Pawis member Pascual Guevarra, 78 years old, from Nueva Ecija was killed right in his home on July 9, the same day as Mark Francisco, 27, an ACT Teachers partylist member and Edgar Fernandez, 44, another public school teacher, both from Masbate. Another ACT member and public school teacher, Dexter Legazpi, 36, also from Masbate, fortunately survived a shooting on July 6.

When are the these killings going to stop! When will the bloody climate of impunity put into place during the Arroyo reign be ended once and for all!

It is obviously not enough that the new President instruct the military to uphold human rights in its counter-insurgency campaign. They appear not only incapable of doing that, but instead are on a killing spree.

When will the new President have the strength of character and the human decency to do what is right and scrap Arroyo’s bloody counter-insurgency program known as Oplan Bantay Laya that has targeted unarmed activists?

Fernando Baldomero, a political detainee in the 1980s, paid the ultimate price for wanting justice, true democracy and a decent standard of living for the majority of Filipinos. Despite previous threats on his life he continued as a councillor of Lezo, Aklan and as the coordinator of the party-list group Bayan Muna and an official of the Makabayan Coalition in the province.

Just last March, two men on board a motorcycle with no plate number lobbed two grenades at Baldomero’s house. This was only one of several attempts on Fernando’s life in the last year.

Be assured that we in Canada, part of Bayan Canada, along with our friends in ILPS Canada and the member groups of the Stop the Killings campaign will continue to be at your side across the miles demanding justice for Fernando, Pascual, Mark, Edgar and the hundreds of victims before them

We will not stop until the perpetrators of these atrocities have been brought to justice, no matter how high up the chain of command in the military structures it is necessary to go, and until the counter-insurgency campaign Oplan Bantay Laya has been scrapped. Human decency and a respect for fundamental human rights demands no less.

Stop the Killings in the Philippines
Justice for Fernando Baldomero and all victims of extrajudicial killings

AWAKENING

BAYAN Canada May First Statement

May 2010

Danny (not his real name) wakes up to the buzzing noise of his alarm clock.  It is 4:30 am on a cold Canadian morning, made even colder by the fact that he and his roommates are still without furniture and sleeping on the floor.  There was a late April snow storm that passed during the night.  He was sure of two things; he should have woken up earlier to be in time to travel the 3 hours to get to the worksite, and he will surely need the pick axe that day. The pick axe is needed to chip away at the ice on the tower where he and his co-workers install telecommunications equipment. Every day is like hanging on for dear life 200 meters up in the air in gusty winds. This is definitely not normal conditions for someone who comes from the tropics.

He sucks in some of the musty air in his cramped apartment and wakes up his six companions to make sure they all get to work on time.  They do this almost ritualistically everyday because they have no other choice.  Their families back in the Philippines are relying on them.  More news about tuition fee increases, the price of oil and rice going up and some family member needing medical attention gets them going every morning.  It’s either this or they are sent packing by the company that sponsored them to work as temporary foreign workers under the Canadian government’s program.  Just a year ago the telecommunications company had broken the back of the union in the lengthy labour dispute.  The company now subcontracts a firm that hires the migrant workers.  Danny and friends are not aware of this.  All they know is they have to make a living to pay off the loan sharks for the money they spent paying the recruitment agency.  So they wake up and they work.

Len-Len, as her friends nicked named her is also getting up.  It’s the third time she woke up since she’s gone to bed at eleven last night.  The elderly woman she is caring for in the household where she works had called for her several times for assistance.  No, she doesn’t work the graveyard shift; she’s a live-in caregiver under Canada’s federal program.  After her long shift starting at seven in the morning preparing breakfast for her employers, she can’t refuse the wake-up calls. She’s afraid that the accusations and insinuations surrounding missing jewellery will start up again.

Anyway, isn’t Len-Len lucky that her employer gives her more hours by letting her work for the neighbour’s household? She caters their dinner parties which last late into the night.  There’s no overtime paid though, just more exhausting work. She has ten more months to finish the Live-in Caregiver Program before she can apply for permanent status.  Luckily, if she keeps her complaints to herself, she won’t be dismissed like she was in her last employment.  It causes her so much anxiety knowing that being fired jeopardizes her status in Canada. So she wakes up and she works.

Manong (older brother) wakes up early as well.  His old bones are sore in the mornings. His arthritic hands are beginning to get worse in his old age.  This is a result of years of working in the textile industry, starting from the Philippines when he was a young man to the garment factory he now works for in Canada.  He worries that the factory will close soon.  He is sixty nine now, but he was only sixty when he first started working for the Canadian company.  He and his wife who also works for the same employer were sponsored by their daughter who is a former live-in domestic.  After years of their daughter’s sacrifice for the chance to get status in Canada and to sponsor her family, manong and his wife feel indebted.  They feel obliged to help their daughter to augment the family income by continuing to work until their old age.  Anyway, it’s for their grandchildren, and the other family members in the Philippines they support with their monthly remittance.

They can’t retire yet and collect old age pension even after nine years of working for the company. There are requirements for how many years one has to work in Canada before they can apply for their pensions.  But manong is proud, because they have contributed to the productivity of the company who just purchased another plant in the U.S.  A fact that makes him wonder why the company threatens to shut down their operations and move to China and India.  Will the workers get fair compensation for their years of work when the factory doors finally shut?  But that doesn’t matter, manong and his wife still wake up and they work.

Across this vast country on the other coast line, Doc wakes up to his youngest daughter’s screams. She is having her nightmares again.  While attending to his daughter, his sister-in-law peeks in and asks, “Doc is everything ok?”

Doc who lives with his brother’s family to help keep his living expenses down is uncomfortable with this title.  He hasn’t been able to practice his profession since he sought political asylum in Canada.  He believes he can no longer be a surgeon again.  The Philippine military elements that shot him with nine millimetre rounds that gruesome day a couple of years ago had sealed this fate.  It is a testament to the elusiveness of democracy in the Philippines.  Doc, a strong critic of the Philippine government, campaigned for a pro-people electoral party called Bayan Muna (People First).  Doc always wondered how accepting the existing political system would be to progressives running for elections.  Doc got his answer.  His good arm that used to hold the scalpels to heal the sick still bears the scars from the bullet wounds.  But it is his spirit that is most scarred.  His wife died the day of the machine gun attack.  In the highest form of self-sacrifice she covered him and took most of the hail of bullets.  It is this image that his daughters sometimes wake up to, screaming.

Doc’s spirit may be scarred but it hasn’t been crushed.  He still puts himself in the line of fire making statements against political killings in the Philippines.  He still makes public appearances appealing to his compatriots and Canadians alike to take a stand and denounce the corruption and violence just weeks before the presidential elections in that country.  He also gets up everyday working several jobs to make a living for himself and his young daughters.  So he wakes and he works.

On May first 2010 we wake up and we work.  We prepare for the various actions under the banner of BAYAN Canada.  Some of us wake up early to prepare for our press statements and speeches for the crowds.  Others prepare their phone list to mobilize for the actions across the country.  Today we march shoulder to shoulder with all Canadian workers.  They too may be awakening to the fact that the gains won from the workers’ struggles since the first May Day more than a hundred years ago are under attack.  The exploitation of migrants, immigrants and refugees in Canada is the exploitation and oppression of all workers.

Philippines, a nation of labourers and landless peasants is also awakening.  The thousands of people marching in Manila will make the streets rumble to the rhythm of their marching feet.  Soon the fascists in the halls of power will be the ones to wake up in cold sweat.  Their worst nightmare is advancing.  We in BAYAN Canada march to this rhythm – the rhythm of our people’s resistance.

Toronto

Winnipeg

Montreal