SIKLAB - Ontario

September 21 mobilization Pictures

2006-09-22T07:46:00.000-07:00

On September 21 1972 in the Philippines, former dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law. For 14 years, the Filipino people suffered unprecedented human rights violations and terror.

Now 34 years later, the Filipino people once again facing another iron-fisted president. Since 2001, there has been 750 extra-judicial killings, 184 forced disappearances, and more arbitrary arrests under Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's administration

The Filipino community in Toronto answers the global call to mobilize to commemorate the fallen martyrs. A vigil and cultural presentation was held in front of Our Lady of Lourdes church at the heart of Filipino neighborhood. The vigil was orgainized by Philippine Network for Justice and Peace, SIKLAB-Ontario (Filipino Migrant Workers Organization), UKPC (Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance and the Philippine Women Center of Ontario

Click this link to see the pictures

Filipinos in Toronto Call to Stop the Killings

2006-07-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

FILIPINO CANADIANS CALL FOR A STOP TO EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS,
SUPPORT CALL TO END ARROYO RULE

TORONTO – Some 20 migrant workers, youth, women and other Filipino Canadians held a picket-rally in front of the Philippine consulate Monday July 24. This was part of the internationally-coordinated action in solidarity with the tens of thousands of people, led by national democratic organizations, who took to the streets in the

Philippines

during Philippine president Macapagal-Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address calling for her ouster. Arroyo has not only admitted to participating in electoral fraud, her regime is marked by anti-people, anti-national, and outright fascist policies and measures.

Chanting “Stop the killings! Justice to the victims!” and “Cha-cha, gera, diktador, Gloria!” the protesters carried pictures of the political activists, human rights defenders and progressive local politicians (Fr. William Tadena, young Cris Hugo, Eden Marcellana, Ricardo Ramos of Hacienda Luisita, Vice Mayor Juvy Magsino among others), murdered by Arroyo’s fascist goons. Gathered in front of the Philippine Consulate were members of the Philippine Women Centre, SIKLAB (Filipino migrant workers organization), the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC-Toronto), Philippine Network for Justice and Peace (PNJP), and the Community Alliance for Social Justice (CASJ).

Charter change or cha-cha, and all out-war against the forces of change were the main agenda of Arroyo’s SONA. Cha-cha has the twin objective of opening up the Philippine economy to foreign interests i.e., selling out the country’s natural wealth and resources to Canadian, Australian and USUS troops and weapons on the one hand; and prolonging the Arroyo’s rule on the other. mining corporations; and paving the way for entry of more

At the same time, Diwa Marcelino of the PNJP said, “This regime wages all-out war against those who oppose imperialist globalization and plunder, against those who defend human rights and uphold civil liberties. This regime is totally against all genuine social change against the forces for national industrialization, for genuine land reform, a truly democratic people’s government, an independent and sovereign foreign policy, and a just and lasting peace

For Filipino youth, the bloody record of her administration speaks for itself. According to a UKPC spokesperson, “We only have to look at the latest abduction of University of the Philippines-Diliman students Karen Empeneo and Sheryln Cadapan on June 26 in Bulacan, Central Luzon by 6 suspected elements of the military; the violent dispersal of a recent protest action last July 7 calling for the release of the abducted UP students, where some 40 youth and students were hurt and 8 seriously injured; and the murder of Cris Hugo, 20-year-old student leader in Bicol on March 19, 2006. His only crime: fighting for truth, freedom and democracy.”

In an earlier statement, the UKPC said, “Instead of putting genuine effort and the public’s tax money in improving the situation in the Philippines the Arroyo government is taking money away from much need public services like education and putting it into the military. This misuse of public funds is seen in the recent release of P1 billion from the national budget to military spending. Abducting students is what the Filipino people’s tax money is being used for.”

Justice to the Victims of State Terrorism

“If Filipino-Canadians continue to cry for justice in the case of young Jeffrey Reodica who was shot in the back and killed by Toronto Police, all the more we should raise our voices in protest against the brutal slaying of 704 journalists, lawyers, church people, political and community leaders, activists and many more killed by assassins of the new dictator in Malacanang,” declared CASJ chairperson Edwin Mercurio.

“The victims are all Filipinos and they are human beings too, despite the assertions of President Arroyo’s decorated “butcher” General Jovito Palparan that “they don’t deserve to live” because they are suspected of CPP-NPA ties.”.

Meanwhile, the United Church of Canada (UCC) issued a call for an immediate United Nations investigation into the summary executions in the Philippines. Outraged by the assassination of five members and staff of its Philippine partners in a six-week period, the UCC called on the Canadian government and the United Nations “to take strong steps to end the violence.” UCC’s partners in the Philippines come from the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), the Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA) and the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR).

Canada's Role

The UCC statement issued on the day of Arroyo’s SONA points out that “Despite the killings, the Canadian government maintains that the Philippines leads in democracy and human rights relative to other countries in the region.” Officials at the Canadian embassy in Manila say Canada is addressing the problem through programs such as “human rights education for police and military officers, and through bilateral discussions on human rights cases with the Philippine government.” Canada is ostensibly taking a "behind closed doors" approach in order “not to jeopardize its long-term human rights work.”

However the UCC on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Louise Arbour, and the Chair of the UN Human Rights Council, Luis Alonso de Alba, to mandate the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions to conduct an investigation into the killings in the Philippines.

It urges the Canadian government, through Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon. Peter MacKay
to request the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Council for an investigation into the political killings in the Philippines;to call on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to

conduct prompt, thorough, impartial, and effective investigations into the killings and prosecute and punish the perpetrators, and

grant immediate entry to the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions and other Special Rapporteurs who have requested to visit and investigate the human rights situation in the Philippines; andto ask the Canadian embassy in Manila to conduct a joint human rights fact-finding mission in the Philippines together with representatives from Canadian churches and NGOs.

See the pictures of the demonstration

Camping 2006

2006-07-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

Click here to see the pictures of the first camping of SIKLAB-Ontario

KMU chair visits Toronto

2006-06-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

On June 11 to 12, Elmer Labog, KMU (Kilusang Mayo Uno/May First Movement) national chairperson, was in Toronto to meet with Filipino migrant workers, Canadian trade unionists and other friends and supporters. Starting in Winnipeg, Toronto is the second leg of his Canada-wide tour. In a community forum that was held on Sunday the 11^th, he talked about the current state of affairs in the

Philippines

. The audience heard first hand about “undeclared martial law”, including the blatant use of death squads against the striking workers. “People are being killed on a daily basis”, “Just after I left the Philippines the other day two more activist were shot to death”, Elmer said. He continues on how the killings were intensified in the last 5 months.

According to KARAPATAN, the Philippine-based Alliance for the Advancement of Human Rights, there have been 607 victims of extrajudicial killings from January 2001 to May 30, 2006. From January to May of this year alone, 75 have already been killed. “It is now beyond question that there is indeed a trend in the killing of activists in the Philippines,” KARAPATAN Secretary-General Marie Hilao-Enriquez points out. “Of the 607 victims of extra-judicial killings, 257 have been identified as activist leaders, members and supporters of cause-oriented groups.”

Extra-judicial killings are politically-motivated killings perpetrated by state agents without the sanction of any law or court. These include summary executions, assassinations, deaths due to strafing or indiscriminate firing and massacre. The victims are civilians, unarmed, who had either pursued or supported political causes. Many are ordinary people - workers, farmers, lawyers, teachers, students, pastors, priests and even human rights advocates. The U.S. Sate Department report for the Philippines says journalists were also targets for murder. In the year 2005, 10 journalists were killed, 8 of them in work-related slayings. There have been approximately 38 killings of journalists since 1999.

Another panellist that spoke that evening, Illiam Burbano, from the Columbian Action Solidarity Alliance (CASA) talked about the political killings and human rights violations in Columbia. With startling similarity, he showed how the Columbian trade union leaders were summarily executed just like the union leaders and activists in the Philippines.

The event was well attended. The hall of the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) Local 40 was packed. Petitions for the campaign to release progressive parliamentarian Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran also circulated the room. Former KMU chair Beltran remains under military custody following his arrest last February in conjunction with the Macapagal-Arroyo government’s Presidential Proclamation 1017 declaring a state of national emergency.

The next day, June 12, Elmer Labog visited the Ontario Federation of Labour office in North York. He had a meeting with prominent union leaders during lunch and discussed how they can forge international solidarity among them. “With the WTO pushing its way through liberalization of trade, privatization of public services and de-regulation unions need to build a strong global resistance” Said Labog. He stressed the need to build strong and militant international solidarity among trade unions.

Elmer Labog’s next stops will be in Ottawa and then Montreal. He will be attending the “Towards a Just and Lasting Peace” conference in Vancouver to cap off his Canada-wide tour.

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Click this link to see photos

Stop the Deportation!

2006-05-27T21:13:00.000-07:00

STOP THE DEPORTATION
OF FILIPINO LIVE-IN
CAREGIVERS! JUSTICE
FOR MIGRANT AND
UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS!

SIKLAB-Canada stands in solidarity and
calls for justice for all migrant and
undocumented workers! Canada through
its Immigration Ministry has used U.S.-style
enforcement tactics, such as using children
as bait, arresting children in schools, and
targeting community members in public places like on the street, in malls, and at
subway stops. Community groups and organizations are standing up to fight against
these attacks, to fight for access without fear to public services and benefits, and to fight
for a national regularization program for the over 500,000 non-status immigrants living
and working in this country.

We draw inspiration from the millions of undocumented, migrant and immigrant workers
and supporters who rallied in the US last May 1 to protest anti-immigration legislation.
More vigilance is necessary as yesterday, the US Senate passed the Comprehensive
Immigration Reform Act that toughens illegal immigration and border enforcement and
creates a guest-worker program that supplies low-skilled foreign labour.

In Canada, there are currently almost half a million Filipinos, making them the fourth
largest visible minority group. As migrant and immigrant workers in Canada we have
been facing increasing exploitation and attacks under Canada’s neo-liberal agenda.
The exploitation of overseas Filipino workers has only worsened as imperialist
globalization spurs on the international buying and selling of cheaper and cheaper
Third World labour.

Filipinos in Canada are part of the over 8 million Filipinos living and working outside the
Philippines. With 10% of its people staying or working abroad, the Philippines has been
described as one of the largest migrant nations in the world whose overseas workers
annually remit around 13 billion US dollars to the Philippines – thus propping up
an ailing economy. The anti-people economic policies of the present puppet
Philippine government under President Macapagal Arroyo has led to increasing
Filipino people’s resistance against US imperialism and its puppet regime. Arroyo in
response pushes the Labour Export Policy (LEP) as an attempt to quell growing social
unrest and the national liberation movement.

As a Canadian policy that seeks to fill a labour need with migrant labour, Citizenship
and Immigration Canada (CIC) and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
(HRSDC) jointly administer the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).  The LCP is an expression
of the systematic commodification and exploitation of Filipino migrant labour by the
Canadian state.

Canada’s plunder and exploitation of migrant workers only serves the interests of those
who stand to benefit from privatization, the clawing back of social services, and the driving
down of workers’ wages and rights. Instead of implementing a national childcare program that
would benefit working class mothers and families, the Canadian government uses Filipino
live-in caregivers as cheap labour for upper-class families. Instead of providing accessible and
free public health care for all, the Canadian government uses Filipino nurses forced into
domestic work to perform private nursing duties for upper-class elderly and affluent people
who can pay for private care.

Filipino live-in caregivers are subject to arbitrary and unjust deportation for failure to complete
the requirements of the LCP.  In the majority of cases, the deportations are due to women’s
inability to complete the required 24 months of live-in work within three years of entering
Canada.  The deportation of Filipino live-in caregivers should be viewed as a violation of their
human rights as migrant workers.

Canada still refuses to sign the UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights
of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

Despite this sorry record of violating the human rights of Filipino live-in caregivers and despite
statements that Canada wishes to regularize undocumented immigrants, Canada continues to
expand its temporary foreign workers program or movement. The expansion of Canada’s
recruitment and exploitation of temporary migrant labour should also be seen in the context
of bilateral and multilateral agreements under the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) General
Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), Mode 4 (which seeks to enhance the temporary
movement of workers around the world) and in the context of Canada’s need to compete for
and maintain sources of cheap, docile labour.

Without recognizing their contributions to the Canadian economy, migrant and undocumented
workers are subject to racial discrimination and kept at bottom and low wage jobs, criminalized
and even deported. We are often blamed for the socio-economic crisis that the monopoly
capitalism inflicts on the Canadian people.

Therefore, as overseas Filipino migrant and immigrant workers in Canada, we must stand in
solidarity with other migrant, immigrant, and undocumented workers, as well as Canadian
workers and all oppressed people in a common struggle. We urge all progressive trade unions,
organizations and individuals to stand in solidarity with the issues and struggles of migrant,
immigrant and undocumented workers.

Scrap the racist and anti-woman Live-in Caregiver Program! 
Stop the unjust deportation of Filipino live-in caregivers!
Justice for all migrant and undocumented workers!
Heighten our unity in struggling against imperialist globalization!
Long live international solidarity!

 Statement issued by:

SIKLAB-Canada (Advance and Uphold the Rights and Welfare of Overseas Filipino Workers):
From Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Pilipinong Migrante sa Canada (PMSC)-Ottawa

CLICK HERE FOR THE PICTURES

US Troops Out NOW!

2006-03-19T11:09:00.000-08:00

US Troops, Out of Iraq, the Philippines and Everywhere!

SIKLAB, The Philippine Women’s Centre of Ontario and Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada-Toronto Chapter along with the Philippine Network for Justice and Peace, friends and thousands of peace activists have marched through the streets of Toronto and around the world demanding an end to war and occupation in Iraq. They comitted not to stop organizing to resist the Bush administration’s agenda of imperialist war and plunder.

As the US outright invasion of the Philippines happened a century ago, their continuous control remains. The Bush administration has provided direct military and political support to Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's puppet regime.

On February 24 of this year, president Arroyo issued Proclamation 1017, which imposed a defacto martial law under the guise of a "State of Emergency" in which progressive Filipino organizations and individuals have been targeted and subject to unconstitutional arrest, detainment, and even assassination. The latest killings involving a BAYAN and Hacienda Luisita Union leader just days ago. Though the declaration has since then been lifted, Congressman Crispan Beltran, the first victim of this martial law is still in custody of the Philippine National Police and progressive Congressional representatives still face political persecution

We will unwaveringly continue to defend Filipino progressives, in the Philippines and abroad. We will continue to demand the ouster of fake Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and demand the US troops out of the Philippines,Iraq and everywhere.

click here to view photos

Protest at the consulate

2006-03-02T17:37:00.000-08:00

Filipinos and supporters protest in front of the Philippine consulate against Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's proclamation of "State of Emergency" and the arrest of Congressman Crispin Beltran and Congressman Joel Virador

Click here to view pictures

URGENT APPEAL FOR SUPPORT FOR THE VICTIMS OF LANDSLIDE DISASTER

2006-02-20T08:41:00.000-08:00

AN URGENT APPEAL FOR SUPPORT FOR THE VICTIMS OF LANDSLIDE DISASTER IN SOUTHERN LEYTE, PHILIPPINES

20 February 2006

We, the undersigned progressive Filipino organizations in Greater Toronto Area, express our deepest sorrow at the death of many people who were buried under a sea of mud before noon last Friday in the village of Guinsaugon, St. Bernard town, Southern Leyte province.

The deadly combination of mud, boulders and logs that cascaded very swiftly down the mountain wiped off the entire farming village of Guinsaugon, covering an area of nine square kilometers (3.5 square miles) and one of the 30 villages of St. Bernard. Once a vibrant rustic place, the village is now virtually erased from the map of the province, which is located at the eastern part of the Philippines.

We strongly believe that environmental destruction caused by massive commercial logging operations that date back to the 1970s heavily contributed to this latest devastating landslide. Deforestation, the conversion of forest land to agricultural, logging and mining use, systematically creates an unstable ground vulnerable to soil erosion, inundation, landslides and mudslides. With this as the backdrop and the fact that Southern Leyte is geographically located at the edge of the very unstable undersea Philippine Trench, the landslide in Guinsaugon is really a tragedy waiting to happen.

As of Sunday afternoon (local time), the gloomy number of deaths has reached 62, but over a thousand people are still trapped and feared dead under the rubble in an estimated 30-meter deep mud. Among these are over 200 elementary schoolchildren and their 40 teachers.

The team of various rescuers is still hoping to find survivors, but the rescue operations have been slowed-down due to bad weather conditions. Also, thousands of residents of nearby villages have been evacuated in the fear of another landslide due to continuous pouring of heavy rains for the past two weeks.

Survivors and people who are heavily affected by this catastrophe have been in a state of shock. They have lost their loved ones including their farms, all personal belongings and economic possessions. Nothing is left to them. The people in the area urgently need food, medicine, clothing and temporary shelter.

Thus, we appeal to all kindhearted individuals, especially our compatriots, to support us in this humanitarian endeavor. Donations in kind or in cash are welcome. The group is setting up a trust fund in the Vancouver area to accept donations to be coursed to the disaster area. Donations of $25 or more can also be made to SAPED-PCDI* c/o 451 Powell Street, Vancouver, BC, V6A 1G7 and a tax receipt will be issued. For further information and to donate, please contact Yolyn Valenzuela (SIKLAB-Ontario) or Joy Sioson (PWC) at 416-878-8772.

SIKLAB-Ontario
Philippine Women Center
UKPC (Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance)

---------------------

*SAPED-PCDI, Shuswap Association for the Promotion of Eco-Development – Philippine Canada Development Initiative is a charitable society in Canada and the Philippines. It was established by Filipinos who have migrated and settled in Canada

Supporting Filipino Hotel Workers Struggles

2006-02-04T19:46:00.000-08:00

On February 3, SIKLAB-Ontario had a community forum in support of the Filipino hotel workers of Toronto. The hotel workers are seeking support from the community in their struggle to have a better wages and working conditions. Speakers were 3 hotel workers that gave their testimonies, Fr. Ariel of the Anglican church and Yolyn Valenzuela and Jonathan Canchela of SIKLAB-Ontario provided analysis of Filipino migration. The event was attended by more than 60 Filipinos, solidarity friends and SIKLAB-Ontario members. The event was co-sponsored by UNITE-HERE, the union representing the hotel workers.

Click this link to see some pictures.

February Events

2006-01-23T08:38:00.000-08:00

Here are some important events in February

February 3, Friday at 6PM - SIKLAB and UNITE-HERE is co-sponsoring a forum on "Raising the standard of living of Filipino hotel workers in Toronto". SIKLAB will be discussing the issues of rights and welfare of Filipino migrant workers here in Toronto. How most Filipino workers are segregated to low-paying service sector and source of cheap labour. There will also be testimonials from Filipino hotel workers. It will be held at the Wellesley Community Center Conference B - 495 Sherbourne St (corner of Sherborne and Wellesley). For more info, call: Yolyn at 416-878-8772 or Marco at 416-897-5908

February 5, Sunday at 1PM - SIKLAB is having one of its "know your Rights" workshops. It will focus on the Labour Standards Act. The workshop will be at the Philippine Women's Center, 1093 Davenport Rd. For more info call: 416-878-8772

February 15, Wednesday at 7PM - SIKLAB and the Philippine Women Center will speak at the Filipino Awareness Week at the University of Toronto. The event is hosted by Filipino Students Association of Toronto (FSAT). For address and how to get there contact: Jona Unas, FSAT External Co-ordinator at 416-550-5662 or fsat.external@gmail.com

February 18, Saturday at 1PM - SIKLAB is hosting another one of its "know your Rights" workshop. This workshop will focus on the Immigration Law. It will be facilitated by progressive lawyers Mac Scott and/or Mike Leotold. It will be at the Philippine Women Center, 1093 Davenport Rd. For more info call: 416-878-8772

February 19, Sunday at 1PM - The Philippine Network for Justice and Peace (PNJP) will be screening "The people's Verdict".A documentation of the gravest human rights abuses in 5 Philippine provinces. This documentation was done by 85 civil libertarians and peace activists from 16 countries last year under the banner of the International Solidarity Mission. The screening will be at the Philippine Womens Center, 1095 Davenport Rd. (between Ossington and Christie) for more info, email: justpeacenet@yahoo.ca

Pictures from January 13 picket rally

2006-01-14T10:38:00.000-08:00

Pictures from the picket-rally against the deportation of Filipino live-in caregivers in front of Immigration Minister Joe Volpe's campaign office (click here) You can see more pictures at Alex Felipe's website

Siklab Xmas Party Pictures

2005-12-23T19:23:00.000-08:00

Siklab-Ontario had their Christmas Party on December 17. Click here to see the pictures
For more pictures go to Alex Felipe's site

SIKLAB Christmas Party

2005-12-06T07:32:00.000-08:00

Everyone is invited to the SIKLAB Christmas Party

It will be at the Tahanan Coop Housing, 6A Greenlaw Ave. (Common Room)
on Saturday, December 17 at 5:00PM. It will be potluck.
If you want to participate in the exchange gifts, you can bring a gift worth $15.00 or more

for mor info call: 416-878-8772

PNJP - Human Rights Event

2005-12-06T07:28:00.000-08:00

The Philippine Network for Justice and Peace and OPIRG present

STOP THE KILLINGS!
STOP POLITICAL REPRESSION!
JUSTICE TO THE VICTIMS!

The state of Human Rights in the Philippines under
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

Since Arroyo took over as President in January 200, a
total of more than 3,100 cases of human rights
violations involving military, police and civilian
armed groups have been recorded.

The political repression has taken an alarming level
since the national elections last May 2004 when Arroyo
ran and won amid charges of massive cheating

In the first five months of 2005, 37 leaders and
members of progressive party list groups, people's
organizations and human rights groups including
lawyers, journalists and church people have been
killed.

Delegates from the recent International Solidarity
Mission (ISM) that investigated into human rights
violations in the in the Philippines will be sharing
their experiences.

When: Friday, December 9, 2005 at 6:00PM
Where: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
(OISE) U of T 252 Bloor St. West  Rm.2211 (St. George Subway)

Philippine Women Center Events

2005-11-23T20:50:00.000-08:00

Sunday, November 27, 2005, 1:00PM
Live-In Care Giver Forum
at the Tahanan Coop Housing
6A Greenlaw Ave. (Common Room)

Monday, November 28, 2005, 6:30PM - 8:30PM
Film screeningof "Say I Do: Unveiling the stories of Mail-Order Brides" from the Philippines now living in Canada.
A discussion will follow.
This is co-sponsored by the University of Toronto Women Center
It will be held at the U of T Women Center - 563 Spadina Ave. Room 100

Thursday, December 1, 2005, 6:30PM - 8:30PM
Domestic Workers in Canada: Their Struggles and Resistance
A panel discussion focussion on Canada's racist and anti-woman Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) and its impact on Filipino and Carribean women domestic workers.
This is co-sponsored by the University of Toronto Women Center
It will be held at the U of T Women Center - 563 Spadina Ave. Room 100

For more information please call: Joy Sioson at 416-878-8772

November 22nd protest pictures

2005-11-22T14:00:00.000-08:00

Today, Tuesday November 22nd at 12:30 PM, progressive Filipino organizations and their supporters held a protest action in front of the US consulate in Toronto to condemn the gang-rape of a young Filipina by 6 US marines in the Philippines
Click here to see the pictures

Filipinos and Canadian supporters rally for justice for Filipina gang-raped by U.S. Marines

2005-11-13T20:24:00.000-08:00

A PROTEST ACTION TO CONDEMN THE GANG RAPE OF A YOUNG FILIPINA BY SIX U.S. MARINES IN THE PHILIPPINES IS SET FOR TUESDAY NOVEMBER 22, 12:30 PM ACROSS THE US CONSULATE IN TORONTO ON 360 UNIVERSITY AVENUE.

On November 9 last week, braving cold and wet Vancouver weather, over 25 concerned members of the Filipino community and their Canadian supporters rallied together in front of the U.S. Consulate office to denounce the brutal gang-rape and demand justice for the 22-year-old Filipino woman who suffered violent attacks by six U.S. Marines in Subic, Philippines on November 1, 2005. Filipinos in Quebec also held a similar rally at the U.S. consulate in Montreal on the same day.
“It is actually against the Philippine constitution for foreign troops to be in our country,” explained Monica Urrutia of the Philippine Women Centre of B.C. “But the fake President Arroyo has allowed the seemingly indefinite stay of the U.S. Marines who committed this terrible crime and persist in violating our women,” she continued.
Chanting “U.S. rapists, No. 1 terrorists,” rallyists condemned this latest act of violence against a woman by American forces as a form of state-directed terrorism. They highlighted how the continued presence of U.S. troops on Philippine soil is a long overdue violation of the Filipino people’s national sovereignty, which traces back to February 1899 when American invaders raped the capital city of Manila. Since then, the Philippines has been dominated by a reign of terror backed by U.S. economic and political interests which have imposed war and plunder on the country’s people and resources.
Speaker after speaker drew inspiration from the ceaseless struggle of the Filipino people against aggressive colonialism and imperialism, highlighting the people’s victory of closing down U.S. military bases in 1991. This victory however, was short-lived with then President Estrada’s introduction of the Philippine-U.S. Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) in 1998 that reopened the archipelago to U.S. armed forces. “The VFA opens up Philippine shores to military personnel who feel they have the power to do anything they want to do, including raping our women,” said Glecy Duran, chairperson of SIKLAB-BC, an organization of Filipino migrant workers.
Demonstrators mourned over a mock coffin splattered with red paint symbolizing the death of democracy in the Philippines, while a woman dressed in the Philippine flag being attacked by a U.S. soldier represented the rape and pillage of the country and its women.
“The U.S. is supplying military equipment and millions of dollars to its neo-colony so as to open a path for more foreign corporations, to grab land and exploit the people to the bone while beating down the people’s resistance,” Barbara Waldern, Chairperson of the B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines stated. She was echoed by Merryn Edwards of Grassroots Women who declared that “women’s liberation will never win as long as foreign occupation around the world continues.”
Aiyanas Ormond of the Bus Riders’ Union pointed to the important role of international solidarity: “What is a tragic attack and violation for one woman, and an affront to a nation, is also a part and parcel of the capitalist, patriarchal, and racist agenda of U.S. imperialism wherever it goes.” Ormond added that Canadian supporters “need to stand steadfast in solidarity and support for justice and liberation in the Philippines.”
Filipino organizers of the rally vowed that as part of the 10 million Filipinos displaced from their homeland, they will continue to carry a love for their country and stay true to their aspirations to attain a free and democratic Philippines.

THE TORONTO PROTEST ON NOVEMBER 22 COINCIDES WITH A CARAVAN AND A VIGIL BY PEOPLE'S ORGANIZATIONS FROM MANILA TO OLONGAPO CITY IN THE PHILIPPINES, THE EVE OF THE PRELIMINARY HEARING OF THE CASE.

Joy Sioson of the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario says, “We demand genuine justice for the young Filipino woman and her family for this horrendous crime. We unite with the call of progressive people’s organizations in the Philippines and around the world that absolutely no immunity under US jurisdiction be granted to these six criminals. They must surrender to Philippine jurisdiction, be tried and held accountable to the Filipino people and its legal system.

1st General Meeting

2005-11-13T10:10:00.000-08:00

After the successful conference, it is time for us to get together again and firm-up our plans and commitment in advancing the tasks of Siklab-Ontario. We will have our 1st general meeting on Sunday, November 20th at 10:30AM. The meeting will be held at the Philippine Women Center (PWC) 1093 Davenport Rd (near Ossington)

The proposed agenda is:
1. Approval of agenda
2. Brief assessments and observations of the last conference
3. Dicussions of draft plan
4. Approval of draft plan
5. Discussions of structures and committee systems
6. Tasking and election

It will be pot-luck. Anything will be appreciated but most importantly, your presence is most important.

For more info. contact: Yolyn at 416-878-8772 or Marco at 905-814-1453 or email at siklab_ontario@yahoo.ca

Siklab National Conference

2005-11-13T09:41:00.000-08:00

See the pictures of the recent national migrant workers conference held in Toronto, Ontario on October 22nd and 23rd entitled: Migranteng Pinoy: Mura na Pang-Export Pa! Our History, Situation and Resistance -- Click here to see pictures