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Cordillera
Day 2003
Lamag,
Quirino, Ilocos Sur
April
22-25, 2003
DECLARATION
OF UNITY
We,
peoples of the Cordillera, the Ilocos and other regions of the Philippines;
together
with our friends and comrades from nations overseas;
DECLARE
OUR UNITY AND COMMITMENT TO FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS.
We
believe in the dignity of man and in the right of every individual to justice,
peace
and
prosperity in our society. We assert our right to live in freedom and
democracy,
unshackled by exploitation and oppression. We demand that the
peoples’
right to equality and self determination be respected at all times.
We
are aware that under the US-Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime, our rights are
willfully
violated by the ruling elite in their pursuit of wealth and power.
-
Our
land, livelihood and resources are ravaged by mining giants like Lepanto
Consolidated Mining Company (LCMC), Philex mining and other mining TNCs all
over the country. We
call for a stop to Lepanto’s mining expansion project and to the continued
destruction of the Abra River. We oppose the National Minerals Policy being
peddled by the Chamber of Mines and the GMA government as a sell-out of our
patrimony to imperialist interests. We call for the scrapping of the
Philippine Mining Act of 1995.
-
We
are dislocated by dams and energy projects that submerge our lands, flood
our agricultural fields and silt our rivers.
The San Roque Dam, the Bakun AC Project, the Matuno Dam and other projects
only serve to enrich Independent Power Producers (IPP) that supply unwanted
and expensive electric energy to the country at the expense of the Filipino
consumers. We oppose the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) and call
for a stop to destructive energy projects that impoverished us even more.
-
We
are burdened by costly agro-chemical inputs and the flooding of the market
with cheap imported products, unfairly competing with local products and
threatening the food security and livelihood of the peasant masses.
Our traditional crops are rapidly being replaced by introduced
input-dependent cash crops which generate profits for agro-chemical TNCs.
We reject imperialist globalization and liberalization of trade
dictated by the World Trade Organization (WTO). We call for the WTO to keep
out of agriculture and for the government to give the necessary protection
and support to local peasants.
-
We
are victims of militarization and the anti-terrorists hysteria of the Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo government.
The increased presence of army, police, CAFGU, CPLA elements and civilian
intelligence networks in our communities make us vulnerable to harassment
and abuse as seen in the rising incidence of the human rights violations.
The people’s mass movement is a target of state repression in the guise of
anti-terrorism. We demand a pull-out of military troops from the Cordillera
and demand justice for long-standing violations of human rights. We oppose
the proposed anti-terrorism bill and other repressive policies.
-
We
are drawn into unjust wars not of our making: the war of aggression by the
US and the coalition forces in Iraq and the government’s all-out war in
Mindanao. We reject
GMA’s militarist and pro-US war stance. We oppose any form of US military
intervention in the country through such agreements as the Visiting forces
Agreement, Mutual Defense Treaty and the Mutual Logistics and Supplies
Agreement.
-
We
are the toiling masses, members of oppressed classes and sectors:
peasants, workers, semi-proletariat, government employees, teachers,
professionals, youth and students, women, overseas workers and indigenous
people. We call for the recognition of our democratic rights to land,
livelihood, resources, just wages and salaries, human working conditions,
basic social services and other economic and political rights.
-
We
are victims of a government that upholds the interests of the ruling classes
and serves its imperialist masters over the welfare of its own people. We
reject graft and corruption and puppetry by the government to the US and
other imperialist dictates. We reject the guns, goons and gold of patronage
politics and call for politics of change, genuine political representation
and people’s empowerment.
TOGETHER
WE WILL WORK FOR GENUINE, NATIONALIST, PRO-PEOPLE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN
THE WHOLE COUNTRY.
LET
US BUILD A PHILIPPINE SOCIETY WHERE NATIONAL FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY, EQUALITY,
SELF-DETERMINATION, JUSTICE, PEACE AND PROSPERITY REIGN!
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