SiGAw! | SISTERS OF GABRIELA, AWAKEN!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 8, 2013
Reference: Valerie Francisco, Chairperson, GABRIELA-USA, gabrielawomen@gmail.com

Immigrant Working Women Take to the Streets to Fight Against Imperialist Exploitation

On March 8th, International Working Women’s Day, GABRIELA USA will join with multi-ethnic women and from im/migrant and working class communities across the US to demand an end to the suffering and violence afflicting Filipina women and children amidst heightening contradictions of a global imperialist system.  From coast to coast, member organizations from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, New York and Washington D.C. will take their demands to the streets and call for living wage jobs, access to health care and education, protections from violence against migrant communities and as basic human rights.  

After two years under the Aquino administration, conditions for the Filipino people continue to worsen. Neoliberal policies of both the US-Obama administration and the Philippine-Aquino administration aggravates conditions for Filipino women. The Philippines has a staggering 10.5% unemployment rate (IBON Foundation, 2013), while women make up the largest portion of government-tallied unemployed citizens in the Philippines.  

Under Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan program, which seeks to suppress the people’s resistance to intensifying poverty, an increasing number of women and children are becoming victims of severe human rights violations.  In 2012 alone, there have been 7 reported cases of rape of women and children by military personnel, attempted murder, kidnapping, enforced disappearances, political killings and other violations of the rights against women and children.  

Barug Katawhan leader and typhoon Pablo survivor, Cristina Morales Jose was gunned down by an unidentified motorcycle riding assassin in Baganga, Davao Oriental on March 4 around 6pm, just 4 days into Women’s History month.  Cristina Morales Jose earlier exposed the food blockade and militarization of relief operations conducted by 67th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, under the U.S.-backed Aquino administration. They were found hoarding supplies for typhoon survivors. If it were not for the large-scale logging and mining being done by multi-national corporations in the first place, Typhoon Pablo victims would not have experienced the level of devastation it reached. This neglect by the government before and after the typhoon is deplorable. GABRIELA USA is appalled at the continued attacks by the Aquino regime continuing in the legacy of his predecessors, who have done nothing but capitulate to US imperialist interests and multinational corporations at the expense of the rights and livelihood of the Filipino people.

Worsening poverty has forced the migration of Filipinas to work overseas and often find themselves working jobs where they are vulnerable to violence and exploitation. In the US, government policies and free trade laws, like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the soon-to-be Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), fail to protect Filipino overseas workers. Many Filipina migrant workers in the US, such as domestic helpers, caregivers and airport workers, are subjugated to low-wage contract work often without health benefits, worker protections, living wages or become victim to illegal labor practices and human trafficking.

Like Filipinos, Latinos also experience similar patterns of forced migration. Just last February 14, the day that women and communities joined the One Billion Rising campaign to end violence against women by dancing in the streets, a 66-year-old mother and Latina ally of Mujeres Unidas y Activas (MUA) in San Francisco was detained for speaking out against deportations at a Senate hearing on immigration reform where no Latino immigrant was given a chance to speak.

“This situation is a reminder that the struggles and root causes perpetuated by U.S. imperialist policies has forced migrants out of their own countries and have contributed greatly to the U.S. economy, yet are still treated as though they are criminal and less than human.  We must put an end to this kind of economic violence afflicting our immigrant communities,” states Valerie Francisco, GABRIELA-USA Chairperson.  Furthermore, despite the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) which gives protections to survivors of domestic violence, it is still short of providing protections for immigrant and undocumented women.

As low-income and migrant women are facing a backlash of budget cuts geared towards health care and services to victims of domestic violence, it is clear now more than ever that both the U.S. and Philippine governments are failing to protect the safety and well-being of Filipinas and their families. GABRIELA-USA calls on Filipinas and allies everywhere to join the struggle to stop the economic violence of Filipina women and children perpetuated by U.S. imperialism.  We must continue to fight for more living-wage jobs and quality healthcare for families in the Philippines and abroad. We must address cuts to education, healthcare, and social services that support our families through these worsening economic times. We must be steadfast in demanding justice for all victims of state-sponsored violence and resist U.S. military intervention and Aquino’s puppetry.

Stop the imperialist exploitation and oppression of women and children!
No to U.S. Military occupation over our land and our bodies!

In celebration of International Working Women’s Day, please join GABRIELA-USA at any of the following actions:

Los Angeles:
Bangon, Sulong Kababaihan!
Songs, Poems, and Dances of Courage, Inspiration and Hope
Wednesday, March 6 (event already concluded - thank you for your support!)
@ Echo Park United Methodist Church

We invite you to also support the National Domestic Workers Alliance, IDEPSCA (Instituto de Educacion Popular del Sur de California) and UCLA Labor Center as they celebrate working women!


Sat, March 9, 2013
10am - 2pm
UCLA Labor Center
675 S. Park View St
Los Angeles, CA 90057

Celebrate women leaders who make history, still standing to fight for their rights & those of their families. We will celebrate w/ workshops, food and music!

Event will be in Spanish. Please RSVP w/ Guadalupe Garcia 213-252-2952 x.12 lupitagarcia@idepsca.org or Natalia Garcia 213-480-4155 x.208 ng121585@ucla.edu & request translation if needed.

San Francisco:
Women Speak Out for Justice Mobilization
Friday, March 8 at 5 p.m.
SF Federal Building on Mission St. and 7th St.

Celebrating Women’s Resistance and Strength Cultural Solidarity Night
Friday, March 8 at 7 p.m.
Bayanihan Community Center
1010 Mission St. at 6th St.

Seattle:
API Chaya Annual Candlelight Vigil
Thursday, March 7 at 4-6 p.m.
King County Courthouse
516 3rd Ave.

Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA) 17th Annual International Women’s Day Celebration
Friday, March 8 at 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.
ReWA Main Office
4008 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S.

Women Who Rock Conference and Film Festival
Saturday, March 9 at 12 p.m. - midnight
Washington Hall
153 14th Ave.

New York:
Speak Out & Vigil on the theme “Every issue is a woman’s issue” at the Triangle Shirtwaist Memorial, where in 1911 women workers died in a factory fire.
Saturday, March 9 at 11:30 a.m. in Manhattan
23-29 Washington Place

1 p.m. March & Rally — our contingent will join a rally called by Women Organized to Resist and Defend (WORD) in Washington Square Park

Washington DC:
March 9, Saturday 12-2pm
Washington DC International Women’s Day Rally &  Speak-Out
Tivoli Square at 14th St NW between Park and Monroe
Sponsored by Women Organized to Resist and Defend (WORD)

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Reference: Valerie Francisco, Chairperson, GABRIELA-USA
Email: chair@gabusa.org

GABRIELA-USA Commemorates November 25th, the International Day of the Elimination of Violence Against Women

GABRIELA-USA, an alliance of organizations representing Filipino women across the U.S. commemorate November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (IDEVAW) by denouncing the attacks on Gaza by Israel that continues to kill women and children, and opposing the ongoing human rights violations and killings of our women in the Philippines. 

GABRIELA-USA stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people to demand Israel to stop this ongoing massacre on the people of Gaza and to end the U.S.-backed occupations of both Gaza and the West Bank. For absolute peace, the U.S. must not interfere and keep out of the affairs of the Palestinian people and the Israeli state must give up its murderous Zionist path and respect the human rights and sovereignty of the Palestinian people. 

During this time of a global economic crisis caused by U.S. imperialism, multi-national corporations are vultures competing for and hoarding natural resources throughout the globe, imposing their power through militarization. Air strikes and massacres happening thousands of miles apart between Gaza and Mindanao yet have something in common: U.S. military power and funding for the corrupt puppet regime of the Philippines and the U.S.’s closest ally in the middle east and #1 recipient of U.S. military aid, Israel; in turn, victimizing people all over the world in order to protect the interests of the global 1%. 

GABRIELA-USA continues to support ManiLakbayan, a caravan and march that aims to raise the national consciousness around the deteriorating human rights situation in relation to large-scale mining, thus far raising over $1,100 in the last 2 weeks to help community delegates from Mindanao to launch this campaign in Manila. The October 18 massacre in the Philippines of two-months pregnant Juvy Capion and her young sons, Jorge and Janjan, aged 13 and 8 reflects the reality of daily violence faced by the B’laan tribe and other indigenous peoples throughout the Philippines for actively opposing large scale mining by foreign multinational corporations encroaching on ancestral lands. GABRIELA-USA condemns the killings of indigenous leaders and anti-mining activists in Mindanao, and we are continuing to reach out to our communities in the U.S. to support efforts in raising awareness of the recent events in Mindanao. GABRIELA-USA acknowledges that the system massacring women and children in Gaza is the same brutal system victimizing Filipina women globally. 

“As Filipino women we hold people like President Benigno Aquino III and President Barrack Obama accountable for the culture and system of violence they perpetrate on women around the world. Hunger and poverty, joblessness and exploitation, evictions, forced migration, lack of housing and healthcare are all part of imperialist plunder and war on women and children” said Valerie Francisco, Chairperson for GABRIELA-USA, “We must rise up and fight for our basic human rights and demand to end violence against women.”

As these current atrocities continue to happen to our women, we are launching a petition letter to demand action from the Philippine government to stop these heinous acts of violence and stop the use of rape as a tool of war against the people. We call upon women across the globe to help us in our fight to end violence against women.

GABRIELA-USA supports people’s right to fight for their own self-determination against aggressive exploitation and oppression. From the U.S. to Palestine to the Philippines, on this day, we honor and support the fighting spirit of women throughout the world against violence towards women and children.

Women’s activists have marked November 25 as a day to fight violence against women since 1981. On December 17, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated November 25th as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women by Resolution 54/134. The date came from the brutal assassination in 1960 of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. 

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National Day of Action Against the Cybercrime Law & Political Killings in the Philippines
Wednesday, November 7, 2012 | 5:30PM
Philippine Consulate | 3600 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Sponsored by: Anakbayan-USA, Gabriela-USA, Bayan USA, ILPS, NAFCON, Filipino Migrant Center

Special thanks to our sisters of Kappa Psi Epsilon Delta Chapter at UCLA for inviting us to present a domestic violence training for their members and supporters, along with inviting Melissa Roxas, torture and abduction survivor, to speak at their PInay Symposium event held at UCLA! After learning about domestic violence and the recent human rights violations in the Philippines, we made a mini-clothesline project in commemoration of National Women’s Day of Protest (October 28) where 29 years ago 10,000 women took to the streets in the Philippines in protest of the fascist Marcos dictatorship (see below for GAB USA’s statement).  We applaud their efforts in pushing students to learn about local and international human rights issues.

October 28, 2012

Reference: Valerie Francisco, Chairperson, gabrielawomen@gmail.com (mailto:gabrielawomen@gmail.com)

Advancing the Philippine Women’s Struggle on Philippine Women’s Day of Protest

Twenty-nine years ago, Filipina women took their struggle to the streets of Manila during the heightened political repression of the Marcos era.  It was October 28, and the women marked it as the National Women’s Day of Protest to assert their collective power.  Together with the masses of people, they eventually helped overthrow the dictatorial leadership of Ferdinand Marcos.  Today, GABRIELA continues to commemorate October 28, and organizes women and communities to fight the unjust system of the Philippines, presently under President Benigno Aquino.

Under neo-liberal economic policies implemented by the Philippine government, the crisis in the Philippines continues to plunge the Filipino people into further economic hardship.  President Aquino is currently attempting to sign the Philippines onto the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPAA), which would exponentially increase the subservience of the Philippines to the United States.  Becoming a signatory would enable foreign businesses to gain 100% ownership of land and public utilities.  With the deregulation and liberalization proposed by the TPPA, women and the rest of the Filipino people will have no relief from skyrocketing prices of basic commodities and utilities, burdening them to find a means of survival for themselves and their families.

In addition to economic hardship, Filipinos face mass dislocation, directly resulting from the plundering of the country’s natural resources by foreign corporations caused by unequal foreign policies and trade agreements with the U.S.  The increased presence of foreign mining corporations in Mindanao has caused irreversible pollution and destruction to ancestral lands.  The indigenous people, whose lives depend on this land, meet daily threats, overt violence, and repression by the Philippine military, who show total disregard for human life in order to protect business interests.  On October 18, members of the Capion family of the B’laan tribe were massacred, including Juvy, who was two months pregnant, her two sons Jorge (13 years old), and Jan-Jan (7 years old), all at the hands of the AFP.   Juvy’s daughter, Becky (5 years old), suffered gunshot wounds, while Juvy’s husband, Daguil, managed to escape the massacre, but both still face grave danger.

Juvy and Daguil, were members of Kalgad, a local indigenous organization that has taken a strong anti-mining stance, particularly against the large-scale mining of Xstrata’s Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) that had targeted the rich gold and copper deposits in South Cotabato, Mindanao.  Daguil had been targeted by the military for leading the B’laan tribe against the entry of Xstrata-SMI’s Tampakan mining project.

GABRIELA-USA condemns the Tampakan massacre.  “We are outraged by the human rights violations that have been escalating in the Philippines due to the Philippine government’s irresponsible prioritization of the interests of foreign corporations over the livelihood of its own people, “ stated Raquel Redondiez, spokesperson of GABRIELA-USA.  “Furthermore, the US government’s military pivot to Asia and the deployment of more US troops to the Philippines serves to train the Armed Forces of the Philippines, resulting in the harassment, abductions, and killings of those defending human rights and national sovereignty.  We demand that not one cent of our tax-payer dollars go to fund these death squads and that US troops leave the Philippines now!”

GABRIELA continues to advance the struggle of women in the overall movement for national liberation and genuine democracy in the Philippines.  As an overseas chapter of this movement, member organizations of GABRIELA USA continue the fighting legacy by opposing exploitative economic policies and human rights violations, and will be holding activities and events in solidarity with worldwide activities to commemorate the Philippine Women’s Day of Protest.

Filipina Women Outraged by US Servicemen Gang Rape in Okinawa

It’s an all too familiar tale of yet another woman falling victim to US militarization.  On October 16, 2012 in Okinawa, Able Seaman Christopher Daniel Browning (23) and Third Petty Officer Skyler Andrew Dozierwalker (23), from Fort Worth Naval Air base in Texas, have been accused of attacking a woman on her way home and raped her outside between 3:35am and 4:20am after a night of drinking.  Dozierwalker admits to the crime but Browning has denied it stating, “the reason of arrest is not difference from fact”.  The victim suffered injuries to her neck during the assault.  

The US military base on the island of Okinawa houses half of the 47,000 US troops in Japan, where there is mounting anger at the growing military presence especially since this isn’t the first rape to occur by US servicemen in the area.  In 1995, a 12 year old girl was also gang raped, which sparked mass protests resulting in a bilateral agreement to reduce the huge U.S. military presence there.  The US government sees the island as a vital strategic base to contain China and North Korea.

As closed door “secret” negotiations on the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) dubbed “NAFTA on steroids” continue to ensure America’s footing in the Asia Pacific region, US military presence in the region continues to grow, including the Philippines.  Increased militarization means an increase in human rights violations and violence against women.  

GABRIELA USA is outraged by the tragedy and demands that an immediate investigation of the gang rape be conducted and the two accused US Servicemen be brought to trial. We have seen all too often the US military get away with these crimes under various bilateral agreements, like the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the US and the Philippine governments. The VFA hampers the Philippine government from punishing US servicemen for crimes they’ve committed in the country, leaving these heinous cases at the hands of the US military. 

We are reminded of the Nicole rape case in Subic Bay Naval Base on the evening of Nov. 1, 2005, where the two US servicemen in question were accused and for the first time in Philippine history, found guilty by Philippine judicial system, only to have the decision overturned by the US government just one year later due to a loophole found in the Visiting Forces Agreement.  

It is clear that the US government has no regard for the crimes committed against humanity, and will go to any length to maintain its military and political stronghold in the world, and protect the interests of the ruling elite. GABRIELA USA stands with the people of Okinawa to remove all US bases on the island and around the world, and to seek justice for gang rape of the young woman.

JUNK THE VISTING FORCES AGREEMENT!

US MILITARY BASES OUT!

NO TO US MILITARIZATION!

NO TO THE TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

Reference: Valerie Francisco, Chairperson, gabrielawomen@gmail.com

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Press Statement


July 23, 2012

Reference: Valerie Francisco, Chairperson, GABRIELA-USA gabrielawomen@gmail.com

Noynoy’s SONA: Full of Lies Filipino-American Women Charge Aquino For His Crimes & Deception


As Philippine President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino delivers the State of the Nation Address (SONA) today, Filipinos worldwide who have remained vigilant about his administration’s increasing deception in the last two years will hold protest actions to reveal the farce of change, hope, and progress he continues to tout. Filipino-American women in the U.S. in particular will participate in protest activities to combat Aquino’s lies, shed light on the real conditions Filipino women experience, and demand accountability from his administration.

Although Aquino continually uses the language of change, hope, and progress, there have been no concrete results to any of his promises. Instead, Filipino women experience the emptiness of his words through worsening lack of employment, opposition to an increased minimum wage for workers, and the highest rate of poverty in history. Short-term welfare solutions such as the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), funded by loans administered by imperialist institutions like the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), do not address the root causes of such problems. The growth in the economy that Aquino promises does not translate for Filipino women who comprise the majority of OFWs who are forced to leave the Philippines in droves every day to find work abroad. In addition, the Aquino administration has increased privatization of social services, the further corporatization of education by implementing changes for K-12, and supports government-funded demolitions and foreign mining that impede on people’s basic rights to land and life.

As daughters of immigrants and as immigrants ourselves, Filipino-American women know intimately the reasons people are forced to leave their homelands. As citizens of the U.S., we also understand that cuts on social services affect women in a number of ways, which have recently manifested by threats to limit reproductive rights and to limit access to higher education. In addition, our tax dollars—which should be used for education and health —is instead being used to increase U.S. military aid in the Philippines. The U.S. has nearly tripled its military funding to the Philippines due to recent tensions with China.

As these tensions take the main stage in the theatre of imperialism, the plight of Filipino women in the U.S. continue unnoticed, similar to the experiences of our sisters in the Philippines. In April of this year, a Filipino woman named Johanna S. Yalong was found dead with her dog in Vallejo, California due to homelessness and poverty.

As the U.S. chapter of GABRIELA-Philippines, Filipino women and their allies continue to hold Aquino and his regime accountable for all their false promises. Aquino is a puppet to U.S. imperialism and a burden to the people. The women of GABRIELA demand an end to his implementation of anti-people and anti-women policies, as well as Obama’s continued support via U.S. military aid, which is directly linked to the increased number political killings in the Philippines under Aquino’s presidency.  

The women of GABRIELA charge the U.S.-Aquino regime for its crimes and deceit against the people. Filipino women will not be deceived by his lies and tactics. A list of protest actions across the US in support of the people’s protest against Aquino’s State of the Nation Address are listed below. For more information contact gabrielawomen@gmail.com.

Charge the Aquino Regime for its crimes and deceit against the people! 
Advance the strong force of women for livelihood and rights!



SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA:
Monday, July 23rd @ 3:00PM
Delegation Visit of Church Workers and Medical Mission Participants to Philippine Consulate @ 3PM and
Vigil for Victims of Human Rights in the Philippines @ 4:30PM
Philippine Consulate
3600 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010

SAN FRANCISCO:
Monday July 23rd 5:30pm
People’s State of the Nation Address
Action at Union Square & March to Philippine Consulate 
Gather @5:30pm
Guerilla Theatre & Program @ 6pm
Bring your Signs & Chanting voices!



NEW YORK CITY:
Monday July 23rd @ 5:30pm
People’s State of the Nation Address for the Philippines
at the Philippine Consulate
556 5th Avenue New York, NY 10036
(bet. 45th St. & 46th St., take the B/D/F/M to 42nd St.- Bryant Park)



SEATTLE:
Monday, July 23rd @ 6:30pm
Community Forum on the Real State of the Nation
Filipino Community Center
5740 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Seattle, WA 98118

Sunday, July 29th
Community Action at Pista sa Nayon
Seward Park Amphitheater
Seattle, WA 98118

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