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
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.
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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