Bayan Muna congratulates Obama, hails Americans for overcoming bigotry

MANILA, Philippines - A Philippine partylist group on Wednesday congratulated Sen. Barack Obama on his election as 44th president of the United States of America. At the same time, the group - Bayan Muna- hailed the people of the United States for overcoming age-old bigotry and racial prejudices in electing their country's first African-American president. The statement was issued by Bayan Muna Reps. Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casiño. The two said Obama's victory signals a rejection of George W. Bush's "rabid pursuance of neoliberal economics, unilateralism in foreign policies and naked military aggression" that are a bane to the whole world. Such a victory opens up hope that somehow, US foreign policy might change for the better, the two said. "The challenge now is for President Obama to fulfill his promise of real change, in particular the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and other places where they have conducted unilateral military action, and the dismantling of notorious detention camps in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and more constructive policies with regards to Iran, Syria, North Korea and other states labeled by Bush as the "Axis of Evil," the group said. Bayan Muna also said that he should stop the US government's policy of labeling and persecuting national liberation groups as "terrorists." "We would be pleasantly surprised if Pres. Obama's mantra of change would entail a review of US policy on the Philippines, particularly the removal of US troops and facilities from Philippine soil, the abrogation of unequal and onerous economic and political agreements like the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951, as well as a fundamental revision of RP-US relations based on the principles of mutual benefit and respect," the two said in a statement.- GMANews.TV, AP