Philippines – Duterte 2 Years on: Destructive, Divisive, and Despotic (tags)
When Rodrigo Duterte won the presidency in 2016, some even among the left toyed early on with the idea that a “maverick” president could just be what the country needed to stir things up, and jolt us from almost 30 years of elite-dominated rule.
Philippines: Marcos burial forms part of pattern towards authoritarianism (tags)
Akbayan joins the rest of the country in denouncing the unilateral, treacherous burial of the dictator Marcos as a hero.
Duterte's Strike Against the US Empire (tags)
Commentary on western news media's demonizing of President Duterte and the rub-out of history of US imperialism.
Philippines: The Punisher's dirty war on drugs (tags)
He’s been called a demagogue with a foul mouth backed up by bare-knuckle populism. But Philippines president, Rodrigo Duterte, aka “the Punisher”, has also embarked on a brutal drug war that is drawing international condemnation. Foreign Editor David Pratt reports.
REMEMBERING CARLOS BULOSAN (tags)
A re-assessment of Carlos Bulosan's life and works in the context of his birth anniversary this November and Filipino-American Month.
RE-VISITING CARLOS BULOSAN (tags)
Reviewing Carlos Bulosan's life and work in commemoration of his birth anniversary November 1911.
Philippines: One Year after Typhoon Haiyan (tags)
Statement of Akbayan Chairperson Risa Hontiveros
Filipinos in LA join global protest vs China (tags)
LOS ANGELES – On July 24, Filipinos in Los Angeles trooped to the Chinese Consulate offices in Shatto Place in Koreatown to protest the China’s aggression in the heated West Philippine Sea/South China Sea territorial dispute.
REMEMBER THE “GREAT CALAMITY” IN ARMENIA , 1915 (tags)
Los Angeles--Today, the Echo Park Community Coalition (EPCC) stands with Armenians across LA and the United States to commemorate the 97th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. We must speak out and acknowledge the 1.5 million who lost their lives in the genocide in 1915. It is very revolting that until today the Turkish authorities and their allies in the United States refused to recognize and still denies the genocide also known as the “Great Calamity” which became the model of a later Holocaust by Nazi Germany in World War II.
Akbayan Youth Supports Occupy Wall Street Movement (tags)
Akbayan Youth applauds and supports Americans who have decided to occupy various centers of corporate greed in America, most notably Wall Street in New York. They represent the voices of poor and middle class Americans – 99% of American society – who demand that corporations shoulder the burden of salvaging the economy. We view the spontaneous and peaceful actions in New York, Boston, Washington D.C. and other major cities as an inspirations for our own struggles in the Philippines.
Filipinos should not depend on the US for its own defense of the Kalayaan Island Group- AJ (tags)
If there is the best way to illustrate the lop-sided Philippines-United Stares relations is about, it can be shown when latest US missile destroyers will join ageing Philippine warships for naval exercises this week in a timely show of unity as tensions with China escalate over a maritime dispute. While US has modern missile ships it has given WWII vintage ships like all the war materials hands me down to its puppet state. And the bad thing is that the Philippines has to buy it not at a bargain price but a cut throat cost. For 11 days of the RP-US exercises start on Tuesday off the southwest Philippine island of Palawan in the Sulu Sea, close to the disputed waters of the West Philippine Sea where Manila has complained of increasing Chinese provocation. Officially the training is an annual event not linked to the territorial row, but it nevertheless offers the Philippines comfort shortly after appealing to its long-time ally and former colonial power for help in containing China.
‘Tama Na! Sobra Na!’ as a cry for peace (tags)
CALIFORNIA, United States—Twenty five years ago, Corazon Aquino rallied Filipinos against a despised dictatorship with the slogan, “Tama na! Sobra na! Palitan na!”—“We’ve had enough! Things have gone too far! It’s time for a change!”
PHILIPPINES: Unions urge Noynoy to prioritize ‘full employment,’ (tags)
Unions urge Noynoy to prioritize ‘full employment,’ not to renege on his ‘people’s mandate’
Commemorate the 112th Independence Day, Continue on the People's Struggle for Systemic Ch (tags)
-As we commemorate the 112th anniversary of the proclamation of the Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898 , we will witness a new era. That is the assumption to power of a new president coming from an old political dynasty and the exit of a despised leader who still cast a giant shadow on the new dispensation. We celebrate this short lived independence with bittersweet pride and with the unwavering aspirations of the Filipino people for real change and genuine independence. The Phillippines was the first bourgeois republic in Asia and the first Asian country to free itself from the stranglehold of colonialism.We were also the first colony of US Imperialism in this part of the world.
Commemorate the 112th Independence Day, Continue on the People's Struggle for Systemic Cha (tags)
Commemorate the 112th Independence Day, Continue on the People's Struggle for Systemic Change
AF3IRM Calls for Justice for Killed/Wounded Freedom Flotilla Activists, People of Gaza (tags)
AF3IRM, formerly known as GABNet, condemns the Israeli military attack on the Freedom Flotilla on May 30, 2010.
POOR TURN OUT IN OAV VOTES BLAMED TO DFA (tags)
PESANTE NEWS learned that the last elections showed the extent where the Filipinos have gone through-out the world. From Italy City to Tonga, and from Tanzania to Cook island, it seems there is no part of the world that the Filipino voter has not set foot on. The report of the joint congressional committee's canvassing of overseas absentee votes has underscored the extent of the Filipino diaspora, with certificates of canvass coming from cosmopolitan cities and little known territories all over the globe. The Philippine Congress used to manual elections, counted first the votes from these far-off lands were the first ones canvassed to determine the winning President and Vice President in the Philippines' first automated general elections.Most of the overseas Filipinos voted manually, either by mail or by filling out ballots at designated areas. They had one month to cast their votes.
Philippines: Marcos Jr suffers selective amnesia - Akbayan Party (tags)
Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr must be suffering from selective amnesia. In a recent TV show, he staunchly defended his father against charges of gross human rights violations given the fact that his father was never indicted for human rights.
GMA FULLY CONSOLIDATES HER POWER WITH THE RECENT SC DECISION by Alliance-Philippines (tags)
“ A high court for an oppressive neo-colonial and semi-feudal system, breeds oppressive laws" The Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) shares the bitter disappointment of Filipinos and the Filipino-American community outside of the Philippines on the recent decision of the Philippine Supreme Court allowing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to appoint the next Chief Justice. For the Alliance, the high court decision signaled that the US-Arroyo regime final consolidation of power is complete. GMA in her nine years at the helm has consolidated her hold on the AFP and the PNP with the ascension of the PMA Class 1978 in power; the Congress packed by her psychopaths, and now the judiciary filled with her appointees.
WHOSE COUNTRY IS IT ANYWAY? (tags)
After 11 years of peace negotiations between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the two sides were close to a deal known as the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain. This was essentially an agreement that would have granted points of autonomy to the Moro people in Mindanao and the Southern Philippines. Just before the signing, the government stopped the negotiations on Sept. 3 and plunged into attack mode. They launched joint police-military offensives against the MILF and civilians. Since then, more than 500,000 people, mostly women and children, have been forced to abandon homes and thrown into refugee camps. Now, one-third of the Philippines is on the verge of erupting into open warfare. I'm not talking about your garden variety guerilla skirmishes here and there. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front and their allies have proven capable of launching conventional maneuvers into the theater in the past. Add to that milieu the very vibrant Communist led New People's Army Southern Command and of course the reactionary group Abu Sayyaf - then you have a situation that could explode into a conflict that could rival the Balkans in the 90's.
PHILIPPINES; A CAPITALIST CALAMITY (tags)
Filipinos now see more clearly the calamitous state of the system.In the morning of Sept. 26, tropical storm Ondoy (international codename: Ketsana) pounded Metro Manila and the surrounding regions, dumping a month’s worth of rain in just six hours and causing the most massive flooding seen in the last 40 years. A week later, super typhoon Pepeng (Parma) hit Northern Luzon, inundating farmland and causing mudslides in the mountainous mining region of Benguet, including Baguio City, a U.S.-designed community.
SENATOR PIMENTEL CALLS ON OFW’S TO VOTE ON 2010 ELECTIONS; ALLAYS FEARS OF CHACHA ON SONA (tags)
Senate Minority leader and oppositionSenator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. calls on all overseas Filipinos to vote on the May 2010 Presidential elections in the Philippines. Calling the OFW votes as “the decisive factor and the cleansing votes” he appealed to Filipino American voters in the Filipino American Community of Los Angeles (FACLA) Hall at the regular Media Breakfast Club of LA Wednesday meeting, yesterday, July 22. " There are around 14 million Filipinos abroad. If only 6 million of them votes. that can be decisive in any elections. In the United States there are around 2.9 million of you here. Your votes are not tainted, you cannot be bought. Therefore your vites are important." Pimentel told the crowd.
PGMA CONSOLIDATES US FORCES, MEET AND GREET FIL-AM COMMUNITY (tags)
"Ati cupong singsing, metunyan timpukan" With the Kapampangan music sung by the choir, amidst heavy security and with a intimate mostly Kapampangan crowd, Philippine President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo met and greets the Filipino American community in Los Angeles in a breakfast meeting at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel last Saturday, June 20. The President paid tribute to the Filipino American overseas workers PGMA also mentioned the fact that “ more than two-thirds (2/3) of all overseas remittances to the Philippines comes from the more than3 million Filipinos in the United States.” She also acknowledges that these remittances keeps the Philippine economy floating.
PGMA CONSOLIDATES US FORCES, MEET AND GREET FIL-AM COMMUNITY (tags)
With the Kapampangan music sung by the choir, amidst heavy security and with a intimate mostly Kapampangan crowd, Philippine President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo met and greets the Filipino American community in Los Angeles in a breakfast meeting at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel last June 21. The President paid tribute to the Filipino American overseas workers PGMA also mentioned the fact that “ more than two-thirds (2/3) of all overseas remittances to the Philippines comes from the more than3 million Filipinos in the United States.” She also acknowledges that these remittances keeps the Philippine economy floating.
Digos Massacre Remembered (tags)
25 June 2009 It is quite common these days to read from the newspapers violence being perpetrated by the communist New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) that most Filipinos no longer care as long they are not the poor victims. People have become so passive that when rebels committed atrocities to civilians, none would make a fuss about it or chastise the perpetrators -- except for the families of the victims and the authorities. None would take the initiative to launch a crusade to seek justice. This is also what happened 20 years ago today.
SAVE THE DATES; KALAYAAN (FREEDOM) PHILIPPINE SERIES: JUNE 11-13,, 2009 (tags)
One hundred eleven years ago, the Filipino revolutionaries won and declared their independence from colonial Spain on June 12, 1898. Two months after on August 13, 1898, the United States occupied Manila and seven months later on Feb 4, 1899 declared war on the Philippines and crushed the young republic. 111 years later the Filipinos are still in struggle for true independence and sovereignty. With the VFA imposed,active US intervention and a culture of impunity of human rights violations forced on the Filipinos-- the Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) and its allies commemorate Philippine Independence with fierce struggle in the United States with the following activities:
FILIPINOS DEMANDS LEGALIZATION AND IMMIGRANT RIGHTS (tags)
Last Friday, May 1, International Workers’ Day, women workers, youth and allies of the Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (Alliance Philippines) joined the groundswell of immigrants and workers demanding for Obama to deliver on his promise of immigration reform in nationally-coordinated marches. The Alliance Philippines called for full legalization, amnesty, a stop to racist enforcement measures like deportations, detentions and border militarization, full protections for all workers, and an end to US imperialism, the root cause of the Filipino people’s forced migration. “We are here to echo the voices of the 14 million undocumented who are struggling and working hard despite the economic crisis,” said Mona Lunot, nanny, housekeeper and Chairperson of DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association, in her speech at the concluding rally in New York City. DAMAYAN is a member organization of Alliance Philippines. “Undocumented workers are called ‘aliens.’ But we are the workers who take care of Americans’ homes and children, cook their food, build their houses, and plant the food they eat.
BAYAN-USA Holds 3rd Congress in Los Angeles Amidst VFA Protests (tags)
Information about BAYAN-USA congress scheduled for March 27-29, 2009. Progressive members of the Filipino community representing labor, youth, church groups, academia, and cultural workers will gather in Los Angeles.
LUMP SUM IS NOT RECOGNITION. MUCH LESS EQUITY (tags)
This letter is in response to the column by Mr. Rodel Rodis that appeared in Philippines Today, Filam Star and Philippine News, and another by Senator Leland Yee in Manila Mail in the March 4-10 newspaper issue. Both writers much like leaders of the mendicant Philippine government herald the passage of the lump sum as a victory for the veterans in that their war service is now recognized, and that they finally got the benefits they deserve and fought for, for the last 63 years. Just what kind of recognition and victory did the veterans get? The word “recognition” in the text of the Section 1002 of the stimulus bill signed into law by President Barack Obama pertains exclusively for the purpose of issuing the lump sum. As soon as lump sum is issued, the recognition shall immediately disappear. Notice how the text was very clear in saying that the lump sum was a “compensation for human suffering.”— not a recognition of wartime heroism and valor. If the intention of this provision is to tax-exempt, then just say the lump sum is non-taxable, but without a condescending term as “human suffering.”
LUMP SUM IS NOT EQUITY! (tags)
The approved lump sum included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009-- $15,000 for the US citizens and $9,000 for non-US citizens may provide temporary monetary relief for many. However, this is not a cause for celebration let alone thanksgiving. This is yet another piecemeal legislation that fails to address the grave injustices committed against the Filipinos when on February 18, 1946, the US Congress enacted the Rescission Act that deemed the US military services of the Filipinos inactive, thereby, denying them of their rights and privileges as American veterans. Of the at least 60 nationalities that served the US during World War 2, the Filipinos were singled out to receive unequal treatment as their American counterparts who fought side by side with them during the war.
NO TO LUMP SUM WITHOUT FULL RECOGNITION,JUSTICE AND EQUITY, NOW! (tags)
The Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) expresses grave concern on the fate of the Stimulus Bill on which the Filipino veterans benefits bill is now hangs by a thread. While the US Senate passed the Stimulus bill, it will still go on a bicameral conference to settle its differences and the veterans befits bill is in danger of being dropped again. Senator Inouye inserted the benefits bill and promised to resign as Senate Appropriations chair if the Filipino veterans bill does not pass. On February 18, 2009 is the 63rd anniversary of the Rescission Act that took away the rights of the Filipinos to get equal benefits. The Congress did this to the Filipinos out of around 60 nationalities who served the US Armed Forces.
NO TO LUMP SUM WITHOUT RECOGNITION (tags)
Los Angeles – The Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) expresses grave concern on the fate of the Stimulus Bill on which the Filipino veterans benefits bill is now hangs by a thread. This February 18, 2009 is the 63rd anniversary of the Rescission Act that took away the rights of the Filipinos to get equal benefits. The Congress did this to the Filipinos out of around 60 nationalities who served the US Armed Forces. If this is not outright racism, what is this?
Federal prosecutors are investigating a Kuwaiti company with heavy ties to Halliburton International, probing allegations that foreign employees were brought to work on the massive Bagdhad US Embassy project against their will and prevented from leaving war ravaged Iraq. The United States Department of Justice launched the investigation of First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting Co. (FKTC) when former employees, mostly third world nationals charged that workers at the company were misled by recruiters. They were hired for civilian jobs in Kuwait and Dubai, only to wind up in Iraq instead. A group of Filipino workers attempted a mutiny when they learned of the company's real intention but was subdued by machine gun toting security personnels. According to the allegations, FKTC even confiscated the workers' passports to avert the possibility of escape from Iraq.
OUR HOPES AND DREAMS; FIGHT RACISM AND STRUGGLE AGAINST RACIAL DISCRIMINATION! (tags)
On January 20,2009 a new President- An African American named Barack Obama will be inaugurated in Washington DC. To many, the dream that racism is no more is reality and the dreams of equality for all will be achieved. But not for the Filipino American community who still feel the fangs of racism at the hands the US Congress. On September 22, the US Congress House of Representatives passed the SB 1315 or the American Veterans Benefits Enhancement Bill, But they removed the whole section that pertains to Filipino World War II veterans. They excluded again the Filipinos, in a blatant act of racism in the law.
On the 2nd GMFD Conferene in Manila (tags)
On behalf of the of the Alliance-Philippines (AJLPP) we express our militantly solidarity for the all the mass actions and protests against the Manila ‘s Second Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD). The AJLPP strongly condemns the pro-imperialist and anti-migrant GMFD framework and agenda of the conference in Manila. The agenda of the conference lay bare the exploitative foundation and consequences of so-called neoliberal globalization on the lives of migrants, refugees and their families.
FILIPINO VETERANS SICK AND TIRED OF EMPTY PROMISES (tags)
he praises heaped upon the Filipinos who fought against the Japanese invasion during World War II did not impress a group of veterans who attended the commemoration of the Leyte Landing held on Monday.
Racism- Alive, Brave and Strong (tags)
As a Filipino-American, one lesson I learned in America, Americans are very frank but indirect. Very blunt but courteous. That is the face of racism in the United States today. The Democratic Party choose Barack Obama as their candidate but before that, a lot of Clinton supporters were sacked for uttering racist remarks. They want to prove that racism is a thing of the past in America. But they are mistaken.
BAILOUT THE FILIPINO VETERANS NOT THE CAPITALIST (tags)
Today, we protest the racist attacks against the Filipino World War II Veterans. Again, the fast disappearing Filipino World War II veterans and the seniors were the first victims of the Bush $700 capitalist bailout. We gather today at the foot of the monument to the Spanish-American War of 1898. At proof that the United States occupied the Philippines and colonized the Philippines. And that on 1941, when the Second World War broke out, we have to fight a war that is not of our own making. Filipinos were ordered and conscripted into the United States army and were ordered to fight for the war. But the United States refuse to honor the wartime services of the Filipinos saying the fought for their own country. What a shame!
NO TO RACISM AND BIGOTRY (tags)
Yesterday, we came to San Francisco Office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi to protest and express our support to SB 1315 and opposition to HR 6897 of Congressman Bob Filner. HR 6897. As we protest, we heard that SB 1315 passed but take out all provisions pertaining to our veterans. This says the Congress does not recognize their war time services and do not give the same benefits as our American counterparts have. It is an insult to Filipino American community and the historical contributions of the Filipino people who lost one million lives in the war.
Gabriela in Japan to probe alleged rape of Filipina (tags)
Gabriela party-list Representative Liza Maza flew to Japan Wednesday to pursue a “quest for justice” for a Filipina migrant worker allegedly raped by a US soldier in southern Okinawa. Maza, who leads a mission team from the women party-list group, left at 7 a.m. with the mother of the 22-year-old Filipina, identified only as Hazel. “We are sending the team off with a message to Hazel that Filipinos are behind her in her fight for justice,” Gabriela spokesperson Joms Salvador said shortly after the plane carrying the team left. “We want Hazel to know that Filipinos will not tolerate the abuse of Filipinas by US soldiers notwithstanding the Philippine government's seeming connivance with the US military to write off this travesty,” she said.
AJLPP Supports 5 Days UC State Wide Workers Strike (tags)
The Alliance- Philippines (AJLPP) expresses militant solidarity support to the five days strike declared by University of California (UC) workers,( many of them Filipinos) who went on a five day strike starting July 14 all over California. More than 9,000 University of California workers went on a five-day strike at UCʼs ten campuses and five medical centers. The strike will begin on July 14th and conclude on July 18th. During the strike, hundreds of medical workers mostly Filipinos manned the picket lines and refused to work.
On the Recent 10-Day Visit of Phil. Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the US (tags)
The 10-day visit of U.S.-backed Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) and ten of her Cabinet members to three states in the U.S. is nothing more than a spectacle starring a puppet president and her masters in the White House, the Capitol, and in the offices of Wall Street. The Filipino people have nothing to gain from this
Filipinos and allies in New York City to "DETAIN AND DEPORT GLORIA!" (tags)
Progressive Filipinos and allies in New York City will "detain and deport Phil. Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA)" in front of the Philippine Consulate TOMORROW, JUNE 26. The cultural street action, along with speeches and statements from various Filipino and allied organizations will illustrate the criminalization of Filipino im/migrants and serves as an act of protest to GMA's 10-day visit to the U.S. She will be in New York City on June 26-28 to meet with US politicians to ensure continued U.S. military support, and to court investors in a bid to further sell off the natural resources of the Philippines. So the existing colonial puppet-master relationship continues.
On the 110th Independence Day of the Philippines, June 12, 2008 (tags)
As Filipinos and Filipino Americans, the Alliance Philippines (AJLPP) with pride and passion, we commemorate the 110th anniversary of the proclamation of Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898 and the victory of the Philippine revolution of 1896 against 333 years of Spanish colonialism and oppression. On this momentous occasion let us pay tribute to all our heroes who fought for our freedom. On this auspicious day, we remember that the Philippine flag was first displayed, the national hymn was played and the independence from Spain was proclaimed in the balcony of the home of general Emilio Aguinaldo in Kawit, Cavite. At that time almost all of Luzon was liberated and under the control, of the revolutionary forces except for Manila and some Spanish outpost in the Visayas and in Mindanao was still holding out. The formation of the first bourgeois democratic republic in Asia on January 23, 1899 followed. But just to be destroyed by a new colonial power- the Imperialist United States of America. By waging an imperialist war of aggression against the young republic and its people from 1899 to 1913 in a “war of pacification” against the Filipinos, the United States occupied the Philippines for 48 years. The Filipinos lost almost 2 million people during the Filipino=-American War.
71% see themselves as poor or very poor, says Pulse Asia poll (tags)
Around two of every three Filipinos believe that the national economy is worse than it was three years ago, the latest Pulse Asia survey showed. The survey results were released Monday. The Pulse Asia survey also showed that around three of every four Filipinos consider themselves as very poor or poor.
Remember ther Recission Act, Fight Racism and Racial Discrimination! (tags)
On February 18th, we commemorate the 62nd year of the infamous Rescission Act. On February 18, 1946, the 79th US Congress removed the benefits and all entitlements for 250,000 Filipino World War II veterans by stating “their military service were not deemed active”. By a stroke of a pen,the US government removed the recognition of the wartime services and the sacrifices of the Filipino nation during World War II. For 62 years, Filipino veterans suffered discrimination and racism. Of all 66 nationalities that served the American flag, only the Filipinos were excluded from their benefits and recognition. To add insult to injury, the promise that they will given citizenship was granted later in 1990, when the immigration reform bill was passed.
Local Filipinos protest Philippine Labor Secretary visit and B.C. government’s recruitment (tags)
Around 20 local progressive Filipinos and their supporters rallied last night outside an exclusive dinner for Philippine Secretary of Labour and Employment, Arturo Brion hosted by the Philippines-Canada Trade Council. Brion was in Vancouver to sign a new agreement with the B.C. government which seeks to attract 30,000 workers per year with specific skills from outside B.C.
This review highlights the global positioning of discourses/writing on the Filipino diaspora, given the neocolonial and subjugated situation of Filipino migrants, exiles, refugees, etc. in the planet. Unless this subordination to U.S. imperial hegemony is acknowledged and the revolutionary resistance to it recognized, any reflection on the condition of the Filipino/the Philippines is only a Hollywood fantasy, if not a bad case of incurable self-delusion.
Top 10 stories for Filipino Americans in 2007 (tags)
Filipino Americans can look back on 2007 with both elation and embarrassment.FilAms figured prominently in mainstream media news, headlining topics such as the 9/11 health crisis, boxing, TV entertainment as well as espionage in high places.
On The PGMA Visit To Spain (tags)
“Mas vale la cola de un leon en la cabeza de una rata” The Philippine Peasant Network (Pesante –USA) vehemently condemn the patronage displayed by King Juan Carlos I of Spain as a head of state to President Gloria Macapagal –Arroyo of the Philippines on her state visit to the former colonizer country. Pesante also revolt at the ostentatious and arrogant display of Gloria’s illusion to be royalty, act like a queen and perpetuate herself in power, it is utterly disgusting and despicable and must be condemned.
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: ANTI IMMIGRANT LOBBY (tags)
The Anti Immigrant lobby in the U.S. Senate will focus on border first and border enforcement when the pro-immigrant lobby revived the immigration debates in the U.S. Senate this September. Several Republican led by Senator Graham, irked by the advocacy of Senator Alan Specter, John MacCain and six other senators who planned to take up the debates to pave the way for a comprehensive immigration law to be passed next year.
Philippines: On Mrs. Arroyo’s 7th State of the Nation Address (tags)
"Gloria's economy is not working." This is what the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) said of Mrs. Arroyo's flamboyant and rosy economic claims; two days shy from the Executive's 7th State of the Nation Address (SONA) this 23rd of July.
Confronting U.S. Empire: Reviewing Filipino American Insurgent Intellectual Production (tags)
This new intervention by internationally renowned Filipino scholar E. SAN JUAN, Jr. signals a renewed self-reflection by the Filipino American community and the entire diaspora of nearly 10 million Overseas Contract Workers.
FILIPINOS IN THE UNITED STATES: WHITHER? WHENCE? (tags)
The publication of four essays by Filipino activist-scholar E. SAN JUAN, Jr. on the situation of Filipinos in "the belly of the beast" marks a historic stage in the criticial self-examination of this community at a time when the USA Patriot Act and Bush's "war of terror" have stigmatized this group as somehow connected with the Abu Sayyaf terrorism in the Philippines. It is time for Filipinos in the U.S. to stand up and fight continuing racial stigmatization and inferiorization of the Filipino national identity. Makibaka, huwag matakot!
REPORT ON THE CLASS STRUGGLE IN THE PHILIPPINES (tags)
Interview of Filipino Activist Intellectual E. SAN JUAN, Jr.
Review of E. SAN JUAN's ON THE PRESENCE OF FILIPINOS IN THE UNITED STATES (tags)
Filipinos in the U.S. today comprise the largest community of Asians in the U.S. But knowledge about Filipinos is scarce; instead, trivialities, cliches, and stereotypes are disseminated by Filipino historical associations. This review calls attention to one serious effort to approach Filipinos from a historical-materialist point of view.
Fil-Ams in US call for immigration reforms (tags)
Filipino-American community leaders are at the forefront of a campaign by Asian advocacy groups to press for humane immigration reform in the United States in the face of proposals from the Bush administration that seek to limit visas for parents, children and siblings of US citizens. No two issues inflame the passions of Filipino-Americans more than family-based immigration preferences and full equity for Filipino World War 2 veterans so it came as no surprise when key leaders like Alma Kern and Gloria Caoile began to mobilize community opposition to any move that could jeopardize those twin goals.
ALLIANCE PHILIPPINES (AJLPP-USA) STATEMENT (tags)
The Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) joins hundreds of thousands of protesters in hundreds of cities and towns across the United States and all over the world to mark the fourth anniversary of the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq and the 40th year of the protest march at the Pentagon during the Vietnam War in 1967. Four years after George W. Bush hastily declared the war to be “over,” more than 3,200 U.S. soldiers, 650,000 Iraqis have died and hundreds of thousands including more than 30,000 American veterans maimed in an ongoing brutal war and occupation which was premised on lies. Onboard that aircraft carrier Lincoln,Bush said that he would make the Philippines the “model of democracy” for Iraq. But to Filipinos, it meant the death of 840 social activist, 200 misssing and the jailing of 200 patriots including two congressmen: Satur Ocampo and labor leader Crispin Beltran who were stripped of their parliamentary immunity.
APPROACHING THE FILIPINO EXODUS & DIASPORA (tags)
Two new books by noted Filipino author E. SAN JUAN, Jr. explore the predicament of millions of Filipinos leaving the Philippines and working or settling in other countries around the world--an unprecedented 9-10 milllion of 85 million Filipinos are scattered around the planet. Their huge remittance props up a sharply divided class society where a tiny oligarchy (supported by Washington/Pentagon) exploits and oppresses the majority. Over 830 victims of extrajudicial killings occured from 2001 up to the present under Arroyo's corrupt, illegitimate regime. Why is this happening?
AJLPP-USA Condemns Philippine Government’s Anti-Terrorist Bill. (tags)
The Alliance for A just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines (AJLPP) –USA and its allied organizations in the United States vehemently condemn in the strongest term the passage of the Anti-Terrorism Bill (ATB) in the Philippine Senate yesterday. AJLPP National Coordinator Mario Santos said: The Senate and Arroyo’s action proved that the Philippine government’s brazen puppetry ( kakapalan ng mukha)and lackyism (pagpapakatuta) knows no bounds. It does not only order the killing of Filipinos but also allows the legalization of fascist laws and violation of its constitution.
Rights group condemns Arroyo regime for butchery of Filipinos and their freedom (tags)
"We condemn the Arroyo regime for its butchery of hundreds of Filipinos and our nation's freedom by presiding over gross human rights violations and insisting on a self-serving charter change similar to that of the Marcos dictatorship," said the Philippine human rights group KARAPATAN whose members and allied organizations joined the anti-Cha Cha rally today at the House of Representatives in Batasan.
FILIPINO WORKERS IN THE U.S. FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHTS (tags)
Thousands of FIlipino workers in the hospitals, hotels and ships all over the United States went on strike to fight for their rights. Thousands of them in the different unions are poised to fight for their rights until next year
Filipinas in Lebanon treated like ’modern-day slaves’ (tags)
FINDINGS OF INTERNATIONAL MISSION TO LEBANON: Filipina overseas workers in Lebanon are being treated like “modern-day slaves,” this was the main finding of Filipinos who had just arrived from Lebanon as part of an international civil society and parliamentary delegation.
The Filipino American Community Problems on the Pilipino Language (tags)
August is usually the National Language Week ( Linggo ng Wika) in the Philippines. Pesante-USA presented this paper this week for Filipinos in the Philippines and America to ponder. Its an irony while the Philippine government ( US-Arroyo regime) is reverting to the colonial mendicancy of propagating English to compete in the international market for labor exports, Filipinos abroad and Filipino Americans in the U.S are advancing the propagation of Pilipino in the United States. This is an important development we should monitor and work on. The more than 3 million Filipinos in the United States might be away from their homeland but their patriotism is afire and will never forget their roots.
Get Filipino OFW’s Out of Lebanon, (tags)
Up to now, less than 2,000 out of the 30,000 have returned to the Philippines. The President’s promise to “evacuate all Filipinos out of Lebanon” is just another empty promise that she is fond of making to endear herself to the country but to no avail. What we see now is the slow pace of evacuation being done by the government. There is no serious plan on the part of the Manila government to get the majority of Filipino OFW’s out of harm’s way.
Are the Filipinos Really United? (tags)
This year, the 4th year commemoration of the Historic Filipinotown district on August 5, 2006 will take the form of the traditional Pilipino “Pistahan “(Community Feast ) in a common Filipino town. Different community as well as private entities have lined-up different program of activities. They will be the sites of the different events that will last the whole day.
In the light of the profound economic and political crisis in the Philippines today, what could be the significance of celebrating the one-hundred year anniversary of the coming of Filipino contract labor to Hawaii? Are Filipinos the new compradors for the militarist U.S. Empire? Or are they harbingers of a new generation of combatants from the oppressed communities? At the turn of the century, the revolutionary organizer Rosa Luxemburg elegized the dismal plight of the subjugated natives. Today, US Special Forces are back to reconquer the neocolony, with the natives no longer smiling, now up in arms, united with people of color in Venezuela, Palestine, Hawaii, Nepal, Mexico, and other battlefronts of our beleaguered planet. Whither the Filipino diaspora?
When People Become Commodities (tags)
By Jonathan Rowe
Filipinos—Forgotten Heroes of the UFW (tags)
Filipino labor leaders played pivotal roles in organizing labor unions and fighting for farm workers’ rights
Filipinos All Over the United States Joined the May 1 Great American Boycott and Immigrant (tags)
From Los Angeles and Seattle in the West to Chicago in the Midwest to Houston in the South and Miami, Florida in the Southeast up to New York, Manhattan in the Northeast, hundreds of Filipinos joined their fellow immigrants in the millions to demand full immigrant rights and amnesty. Thousands of them joined the boycott or just watched and wildly cheered from the sidelines flying the American flags as the Filipino contingents marched by.
Hundreds of Filipino Americans Join the Two Los Angeles Marches (tags)
Hundreds of Filipinos flying the Philippine flag marched in downtown Los Angeles in the morning and again, in the late afternoon from MacArthur Park to Miracle Mile, Wilshire, west Los Angeles in rallies that drew hundreds of thousands of people up to an estimated number of more than a million people. The Filipino contingent stopped at the Philippine consulate at Wilshire-Kingsley Street for more than three minutes and held a short program. They shouted: OUST GMA, Resign GMA, NO TO CHA-CHA! and STOP THE FASCIST KILLINGS! FREE THE BATASAN 6! They were cheered by the thousands of marchers and the Filipinos who were lining up in front of the St. Basil’s Catholic Church and at the consulate grounds.
A CALL TO ALL FILIPINOS AND IMMIGRANTS OF ALL NATIONALITIES TO UNITE TO DEFEND IMMIGRANT R (tags)
The Coalition to Defend Immigrant Rights (CDIR), a multi-ethnic alliance of immigrant rights advocates in Los Angeles, calls on the Filipino American community to march shoulder to shoulder with their Latino brothers and sisters and come out in force on May 1, 2006. Rallyists will assemble at Broadway and Olympic St at 12:00 PM and march to the City Hall and at 7th and Wilshire St. (MacArthur Park) to La Brea in Los Angeles.
STOP ANTI-IMMIGRANT RAIDS AND ARRESTS, (tags)
The Coalition in Defense of Immigrant Rights (CDIR) vehemently condemns the latest series of raids of the Bush administration authorities against undocumented immigrants all over the nation most particularly in the East Coast that arrested more than 1,800 immigrants. Particularly, the CDIR is concerned with the raids conducted against the Filipinos during unholy hours in Chicago, Illinois and the nearby areas of that state. In those areas of the Midwest, many of the undocumented Filipinos work as caregivers or some other health care occupation.
OUT AND SHOUT INTO THE STREETS! (tags)
We Fil-American students call on our fellow justice-loving students to raise their anti-imperialist voices on April 15 and May 1 to fight for full immigrant rights and forge an anti-imperialist solidarity with the working people and migrant peoples of the U.S..
Thaksin of Thailand is Out, The Taksil in Malacañang is Next – Pesante (tags)
The Philippine Peasant Support Network (Pesante)-USA is happy to express our greetings of solidarity for the people of Thailand especially to the Thai-Americans who lived in ThaiTown in Los Angeles for their victory in forcing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra out of office. The people of Thailand did not let up their protest and boycotted the elections that Thaksin maneuvered to save his political career.
WALKOUT - A Critical Review (tags)
Some people have recently called the HBO film, Walkout, as “providing much inspiration to the student walkouts” across America in recent days. Although the film is a historical feature that tells the story of the Chicano people’s struggle against racism and discrimination and is undoubtedly a breakthrough against white supremacy, it is also a telling lesson in the chauvinism of some Chicano activists towards Filipinos in America. This is a case of a majority minority that unconsciously or consciously discriminates against another albeit smaller national minority in advocating for its own self-determination in the United States.
FILIPINOS IN THE U.S.A. AND AROUND THE WORLD: WHENCE AND WHITHER? (tags)
About ten million Filipinos are now scattered in the U.S. and around the world, chiefly as exploited migrant labor. Meanwhile, 85 million Filipinos--with the exception of a tiny privileged minority--are sufffering and resisting the current repressive regime in a rapidly deteriorating neocolonized social order. The Philippines has one of the most durable and vibrant revolutionary traditions in the whole world--the first Asian people to revolt against Western colonialism. 4.1 million Filipinos died opposing U.S. domination in the Filipino-American War at the turn of the last century. Today Filipinos are engaged in a popular democratic revolutionary process against U.S. imperialism and its local agents. Can overseas Filipinos contribute to the radical transformation of a world afflicted by the atrocities and terrors of global capitalism?
CRISIS AND DISINTEGRATION OF THE ARROYO FASCIST REGIME IN THE PHIIPPINES (tags)
A critical analysis of the inherent contradictions in the current regime in the Philippines would reveal the logic of irreversible fascist decay. While objective conditions have polarized and sharpened the divisions within the ruling bloc, the subjective forces of national democracy and anti-imperialism have not fully organized and united to deliver the decisive blow. Meanwhile, the U.S. and its agents are working behind the scenes to pick a successor to Arroyo and re-consolidate its neocolonial stranglehold. But will millions of concerned Filipinos allow the U.S. and its "guns, goons and gold" to determine again our collective fate and national destiny? Filipinos in the Philippines and around the world will have to decide as the Arroyo cabal, convulved with death-pangs, lashes out at everyone within reach.
To bury the truth, GMA killed Philippine democracy (tags)
25 February 2006 AKBAYAN Party today denounced anew GMA's declaration of a State of National Emergency, saying that the draconian measures that the government imposed yesterday completely exposed the despotic inclinations of the ruling regime. "Yesterday's events were the last of the jigsaw pieces that revealed in full GMA's intention to rule the country through a dictatorship. What she has done is an insult not only to the millions of Filipinos who risked their lives to peacefully dismantle the Marcos dictatorship, but also to a world that was moved and inspired by the strength of our love for democracy and freedom. The dark days of Martial Law have been resurrected and they will haunt us as long as President GMA is in power and as long as systemic changes and democratic reforms are not in place," AKBAYAN Rep. Mayong Aguja said. "Just so she could evade the truth behind the 'Hello Garci' controversy, the President is willing to destroy the already shaky democratic structures of the country."
The anniversary of the death of the Philippines' national hero Jose Rizal this Dec. 30 affords us the occasion to reassess his work, particularly in the context of ongoing fierce class war in the Philippines between the oppressed, impoverished majority and the few privileged landlords and politicians bought by global capital. This is taking place at a time when the Philippines is being re-colonized by the U.S. as the world's imperialist hegemon. Would Rizal want the country partitioned to greedy transnational corporations and their national elites in the current terrorist war against peoples of color in particular? These reflections hope to provoke a re-thinking of what it means to be a Filipino with the Philippines in permanent crisis, using Rizal as a point of departure, especially in the light of its citizens becoming an embattled diaspora--more than ten million OFWs as exploited domestics and contract workers around the planet, while the country's rich natural resources, cultures and traditions are wasted by foreign profiteers of globalizing capital supported by local comprador parasites currently headed by the corrupt Arroyo regime. "O where is the hope of the motherland...."?
Self-educated at the Los Angeles Public Library in the Thirties, Carlos Bulosan, the militant Filipino writer and labor activist, died on September 11, 1956. His death anniversary last month provided the occasion for the Filipino community to celebrate his contribution to the revolutionary struggle of peoples everywhere for justice, dignity, and self-determination. Bulosan was part of the community of progressive Los Angeles-based intellectuals (Carey McWilliams, Sanora Babb, Louis Adamic, Ring Lardner Jr. and others) victimized by McCarthyism and fascist reaction. His example of resistance continues to inspire people of color everywhere.
Remember the US-Philippine War (tags)
Filipino Youth & Students for Philippine Self-Determination recognizes the 105th Anniversary of the Philippine-U.S. War
Los Angeles City Council Recognizes "Historic" Filipinotown in LA (tags)
There is now an official Filipinotown. The article gives some insight into how these ethnic districts are created, and why they are important.