Filipino-American women affiliated with the Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FiRE) vowed to greet President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with protests during her scheduled three-day visit to New York City from September 28 to 30.

BY AUBREY MAKILAN
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 33, September 23-29, 2007

Woman-to-woman.

Filipino-American women affiliated with the Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FiRE) vowed to greet President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with protests during her scheduled three-day visit to New York City from September 28 to 30.

Upon the invitation of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Macapagal-Arroyo will speak at a women’s forum at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan on September 28. In the afternoon of the same day, the President will attend a regional security meeting at the United Nations (UN), according to FiRE.

FiRE believes that Macapagal-Arroyo is not a good role model for women worldwide. FiRE, which works closely with Gabriela, a progressive federation of women’s organizations in the Philippines, described Macapagal-Arroyo as “the number 1 violator of human rights in the country.”

FiRE Chair Valerie Francisco said that despite having a woman head of state, the Philippine’s political and economic situation is far from being women-friendly. “By virtue of command responsibility, Macapagal-Arroyo leads a Philippine military that unabashedly sows terror through extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and crackdown on broad opposition forces.”

“The Philippines is still in a state of martial law, only undeclared,” Francisco said, noting that the Macapagal-Arroyo government has been the “target of worldwide public scrutiny and accusation that her administration was not seriously addressing the worst human rights crisis in Philippine history since the time of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.”

FiRE, a member-organization of the U.S. chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan-USA or New Patriotic Alliance), will be joined by supporters from the Filipino community and other groups in the U.S. The group will also hold an open house on September 28 at the Bluestockings Bookstore. (Bulatlat.com)

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