SiGAw is an organization serving Filipinas in the Los Angeles community. We strive to build a strong Filipina women’s mass movement, recognizing that the problems of the Filipina diaspora are linked to the root problems of the Philippines. SiGAw addresses the rights and welfare of women through education, organizing, campaigns, and cultural work. SiGAw is a member organization of GABRIELA-USA and BAYAN-USA.
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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