FIGHT THE SECOND JAPANESE INVASION OF THE PHILIPPINES

Joint Statement AJLPP and the Kilusang Dekada 70 (KD79)

October 18, 2008

OPPOSE JAPAN-RP TREATY (JPEPA), FIGHT THE SECOND JAPANESE INVASION OF THE PHILIPPINES!

Los Angeles-- The Filipino Community and all concerned Filipino Americans in the United States vehemently condemn the Senate's railroading of the ratification of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) on Wednesday night. October 8th..

Pro-Japan collaborators also known as the modern MAKAPILIS, the sixteen senators led by JPEPA's sponsors Senators Miriam Santiago and Mar Roxas (whose grandfather was a Japanese and an American puppet) have compromised the country's national patrimony and sovereignty by approving a patently one-sided, anti-Filipino economic treaty.

This is a reminiscence of how the Philippine Senate in 1972 passed the RP-Japan Treaty of Amity that opened the Philippines to the exploitation and oppression of the Japanese Imperialists.

We were not totally surprised that the JPEPA has been approved while the rest of the country is not watching. This treaty has been negotiated by Malacanang and signed by Ms Gloria Arroyo in virtual secrecy. The brazen lapdog, undemocratic and non-transparent manner with which the deal has been conceived has resulted in a seriously flawed agreement that threatens to further destroy the jobs and livelihood of Filipino workers, farmers and fisher folks. This treaty will destroy local industries and stunt long-term economic development.

The so-called Senate hearings on the JPEPA have already exposed these defects of the agreement, as well as the questionable gains of the treaty such as the supposed increased access of Filipino nurses and health workers to Japan. The Senate hearings have also exposed the JPEPA as unconstitutional as it violates the provisions of the 1987 Constitution on foreign ownership and investment among others. Yet despite these obvious defects of the JPEPA, 16 senators still gave in to the strong dictates of Malacanang, the Japanese government, and Japanese businesses,

Hail the True Patriots, Condemn the Filipino traitors

The AJLPP and the Kilusang Dekada 70 (KD70) commends the four pro-Filipino senators heroically stood for the national and people's interests. We laud patriotic Senators Jamby Madrigal, Chiz Escudero, Nene Pimentel and Noynoy Aquino for rejecting an agreement that will only result in further underdevelopment and increased poverty and marginalization in the country.

When the time came to test their mettle as political leaders, aspiring presidential timbers Senators Roxas, Manny Villar, Loren Legarda and Ping Lacson were definitely found lacking in nationalist credentials and were sell-outs and traitors.

The day the JPEPA treaty passed is a dark day for the country's sovereignty and patrimony. It is the 2nd Japanese invasion of the Philippines. But the AJLPP vows to continue our struggle against the JPEPA.

The AJLPP support all the mass protests against JPEPA in the Philippines to the legal cases in the Supreme Court - to stop its implementation.

Fresh in our memory our heroic struggle against Japan. We will never forget we lost one million people during World War II.

While we still struggle for Filipino World War II equity and rights in the United States, we say-

FIGHT JAPANESE RESURGENT MILITARISM AND IMPERIALISM!

AJLPP and the KD70

October 17, 2008