[Info-Bureau] FW: STATEMENT ON FILIPINO HOSTAGE

[Philippine Women Centre of B.C.]

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY.

A Statement from GABRIELA Network USA
12 July 2004
 
For reference: Dorotea Agustin Mendoza
Secretary General, GABRIELA Network USA
secgen at gabnet.org;  1212.592.3507

 
SAVE THE LIVES OF ANGELO AND OVERSEAS FILIPINO WORKERS IN IRAQ!
WITHDRAW FILIPINO TROOPS NOW!
 
If unable to provide for and serve the interest of the Filipino people, to
meet the demands of the Filipino people to pull the country’s troops out
from and save one Filipino worker’s life in Iraq, to act with pride and
integrity and not through the strings of US puppetry, Philippine President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) has no business being in such a position of
great duty and responsibility.
 
The Philippine government’s handling of the recent hostage crisis involving
the abduction of overseas Filipino worker Angelo de la Cruz once again shows
where its loyalties lie: more with the United States government interests
than the Filipino people.  If the GMA administration’s commitment is to the
Filipino people, then there should be no hesitation whatsoever in
withdrawing Filipino troops out of Iraq to save a man’s life.  More
fundamentally, if the GMA administration’s commitment were to the Filipino
people, there would be, in the first place, no token Filipino contingent of
45 soldiers and 6 police officers in Iraq.
 
>From the very beginning, the Filipino people have militantly denounced this
US-led so-called war on terror.  GMA was vehemently vilified by the masses
when she announced her all-out support for George W. Bush and company’s
agenda.  Countless mass actions protested the opening of the archipelago for
further US military intervention.  GMA heeded not the voice of the people
but the US demand to choose a side: “if you’re not with us, you’re against
us.”  GMA’s support of the so-called war on terror has led to political
repression and greater national instability;  it has led to further
oppression of the populace;  it has led to the country’s involvement in an
unjust war in Iraq.
 
It is indeed ironic that GMA sent troops to Iraq for “humanitarian” and
“peace-keeping” purposes while her own administration has yet to deal with
countless human rights issues and charges of state-sponsored terrorism.  GMA
’s administration has not concluded or, in many cases, has not even started
investigations on thousands of human rights violations and killings of
community organizers by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and
para-military units.  Under GMA’s first presidential term, vowing to support
at any cost the so-called war on terror, cases of human rights violations
numbered over 2,200 (affecting 169,343 individuals, 18,740 families, 70
communities and 196 households), political killings at 260, disappearances
23.  The “return” of US troops to the Philippines has led to a 600% increase
in the sex trafficking of Filipino women and children.
 
Furthermore, this recent hostage crisis shows the Philippine government’s
disregard for the wellbeing of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and its
inability to protect them.  Angelo de la Cruz, 46, drove trucks in and out
of Iraq for a Saudi Arabian firm to support his wife and 8 children, the
youngest of whom is 4 and the oldest 23.  He was forced to renew his
contract to raise money for one of his children’s eye surgery.  With
unemployment and underemployment at more than 30%, with 80% of Filipino
families living under the poverty line, and with the daily minimum wage
being half of the daily cost of living, OFWs like de la Cruz are forced to
leave their homeland for survival.  And OFWs like de la Cruz receive
absolutely no protection from the Philippine government.  They are
continuously subjected to all sorts of abuses and maltreatments;  they face
horrors such as being punished for crimes without due process.  Take the
case of Flor Contemplacion who in 1995 was hanged in Singapore for the
alleged double murder of her charge and a co-worker despite evidence
pointing to her innocence;  and of 16 year old Sarah Balabagan who received
100 lashes and 1 year imprisonment for killing her rapist/employer in an
obvious act of self defense.
 
Imagine what this absence of protection means for the over 1 million OFWs in
the Middle East, more than 50% of whom are women.  Imagine what this means
for the 4,100 OFWs, 80% of whom work for a Halliburton subsidiary, in Iraq
deployed there as part of GMA’s  negotiations with the US to have the
Philippines provide logistical, civilian support for the US troops and help
in the so-called reconstruction of Iraq.  They serve food, clean toilets and
perform other basic day-to-day tasks, forming the backbone of the support
staff for the “coalition of the willing.”  For the past three months, three
OFWs have been killed in Iraq.  There are reports circulating on the
internet that Filipinos are third on the al-Qaeda hit list, next to
Americans and British, because of their government’s support for the war on
Iraq.  OFWs in the Middle East, reports say, have been victims of hate
attacks.
 
Meanwhile, the policy of exporting labor remains the Philippine nation’s
primary method of acquiring foreign revenue and keeping the economy barely
afloat.  Almost 10 million OFWs around the world send over US$7.6 billion to
the Philippines in remittances--an amount used to pay the interest on around
US$56.7 billion foreign debt to the International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank.
 
To save the life of Angelo de la Cruz and the lives of the millions of OFWs,
especially those in Iraq and the Middle East, GMA must do much more than ban
the further deployment of Filipino workers to Iraq.  The Philippine
government must immediately pull out all Filipino troops;  it must give
unconditional assistance to OFWs in Iraq who require or seek repatriation; 
it must immediately sever Philippines’ involvement in the US unjust war on
and occupation of Iraq.  US Senate Intelligence Committee’s recent report of
flawed, overstated and misleading intelligence used to justify the war (with
committee member Jay Rockefeller saying, “Congress would not have authorized
the war if we knew what we know now”)  is yet another compelling reason for
GMA’s administration to immediately withdraw from the so-called “coalition
of the willing.”
 
Once again the Philippine government's true allegiance became apparent when
Philippine Presidential spokesperson Bunye said that pulling out the
Filipino troops will entail “grave repercussions on the Philippines’
international commitment.”  In its all-out effort to please the US
government in exchange for small favors and measely handouts, the Philippine
government has time and time again failed to consider its commitment to the
very people it’s been elected to serve.  If GMA and her administration are
so hell-bent in their commitment to support the US war on terror, the war on
and occupation of Iraq, a Presidential contingent to serve, cook, drive
trucks and clean toilets for the US troops might be in order.
 
If GMA and her administration are so hell-bent on listening to foreign
powers while turning a deaf ear to the Filipino people’s demands, a
Presidential overthrow might be in order.  # # #
 
 
GABRIELA Network USA
A Philippine-US Women's Solidarity Mass Organization, est. 1989
PO Box 403, Times Square Station, New York, New York  10036
Tel: 1212.592.3507;  Fax: 1651.321.1845
Email: secgen at gabnet.org;  Web: www.gabnet.org
 
 
As a Philippine-US women's solidarity mass organization, GABRIELA Network
provides the means by which Filipinas in the US can empower themselves,
functions as training ground for women's leadership, and articulates the
women's point of view. GABNet effects change through organizing, educating,
fundraising, networking, and advocacy.