Bulatlat - The Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine

This story was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 26, August 7-13, 2005

Protests to Haunt GMA in New York
U.S.-based Filipinos call on Washington to withdraw support

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s trip to New York to attend the World Summit of the United Nations, Sept. 15, will not give her a respite from mass actions calling for her resignation. US-based Filipinos, led by BAYAN USA, are gearing up for a major protest action when she arrives.

By Bulatlat

The northeast regional council of BAYAN USA (New Patriotic Alliance - USA) is gearing up for a major protest action in New York to coincide with the arrival of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who will be attending the World Summit of the United Nations in Manhattan, Sept. 15.

In a press statement over the weekend, Berna Ellorin of BAYAN USA stated, “Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a fake and illegitimate president who cheated her way into office. She has absolutely no moral or legal basis as president. Filipinos all over the world are calling for her removal from Malacanang. Her attendance to the 2005 World Summit as the so-called ‘Philippine Head of State’ is a ghastly misrepresentation of the Philippines.”

BAYAN USA and the local New York Coalition for Gloria’s Ouster have led protest actions in New York since scandals of massive electoral fraud and corruption involving the First Family erupted. Both groups are urging all justice-seeking and concerned Filipinos to join the protest actions to be held during Arroyo’s stay in New York.

“This ‘Pekeng Pangulo’ (fake president) must feel that even on the other side of the globe, Filipinos refuse to recognize her as our country’s representative. She must know that Filipinos in the U.S. want her out as badly as Filipinos in the Philippines,” Ellorin added.

Mussomeli

In a related development, BAYAN USA and the New York Committee on Human Rights in the Philippines (NYCHRP) criticized U.S. Charge d’ Affaires Joseph Mussomeli for “negating the sovereign will of the Filipino people in determining the direction of their own country’.

Mussomeli had been quoted as saying that the U.S. government opposes “any extra-constitutional or extraordinary means to try to resolve the problem” and that “twice is enough,” referring to the probability of another people power uprising following the two people’s uprisings in 1986 and 2001.

BAYAN USA and NYCHRP called for the withdrawal of all aid and support given by the U.S. government to the Arroyo administration.

Donna Mae Santos of NYCHRP said: “As Filipinos in the U.S., we want to see the U.S. government withdraw all forms of support to this illegitimate and brutal regime, including the over $80 million in U.S. military aid to fund Bush’s War on Terrorism in the Philippines. This enrages us as U.S. taxpayers. As of now, the notion of a ‘people power fatigue’ is false. We know from our families and loved ones back home that Gloria is responsible for the fiscal crisis, human rights violations, rampant corruption, among other things. Our people back home and fellow compatriots in the US are tired of suffering from this problematic president, not from taking to the streets and ousting dictators.”

Santos also decried that Mussomeli’s concerns centered on the decline in foreign investments in the Philippines while ignoring the abysmal state of human rights in the country.

“This is indicative of the US government’s agenda of maintaining a stronghold over its puppet in Malacanang to act in service of US economic and military interests in the Philippines,” Santos concluded. Bulatlat

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