Fil-Am groups raise concerns on VFA

SAN FRANCISCO, California — US-based progressive groups Bayan-USA and Gabriela-USA expressed grave concerns with the current Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States and unsolved crimes in the Philippines. Close to 100 Filipino-Americans that are members of the two groups held a peaceful protest outside the Philippine Consulate Office in downtown San Francisco Thursday afternoon. Bayan-USA secretary-general Rhonda Ramiro and Gabriela-USA chairperson Raquel Redondiez led the rally. Ramiro and Redondiez drafted a letter addressed to the Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo registering the group’s concerns and the “call for immediate action over the recent abduction of a Filipina-American woman from Los Angeles named Melissa Roxas." League of Filipino Students – SFSU education development officer Carlo Montemayor, US Committee for the Protection of Workers Rights Robert McCauley, Babae- SF officer Marissa Mariano and National Alliance for Filipino Concerns officer Bernadette Moral also joined the protest and signed the letter yesterday at the Philippine Consulate Office. Redondiez said the groups also expressed their opposition to the Visiting Forces Agreement, which is on its 10th year in the Philippines. “We want to express our sentiments as Filipino-Americans that we want after 10 years for them [Philippine Government] to terminate the agreement," said Redondiez, adding that the agreement is an unequal agreement, saddled with legal problems with no benefit to the American or Filipino people. The Gabriela-USA leader cited a recent incident when a Filipino woman was allegedly raped by an American soldier that was convicted and later on was given reprieve. She said the VFA really favors US soldiers and that what had happened tells more about the social injustices in the Philippines. “We want to send a strong message to the Arroyo Administration that Filipinos in the US strongly oppose the VFA that even if we are here in the US as Filipinos we really feel that it is unequal, uneven, and that it really is an affront of our national dignity and sovereignty," said Redondiez. The letter further reads that human rights workers and defenders are among the hardest hit by political repression in the Philippines since 2001 that more than 1,000 civilians in the Philippines including lawyers, church workers, students, journalists, trade unionists, women and others—have been killed, another 1,010 have been tortured and over 200 have been involuntarily disappeared. “Unfortunately, your administration has not implemented the recommendations until now, and the human rights violations including abductions and extra-judicial have continued unabated," said the letter. The group now calls for an action by the Philippine Government to conduct an official investigation into the triple abduction of Roxas, Juanito Carabeo and John Edward Handoc, to prosecute their abductors and to terminate the Visiting Forces Abduction. Refusal of Entry The Philippine Consulate Office had refused the six leaders, undersigned in the letter during the rally in San Francisco. The group had arranged a meeting at 4pm to meet with the Deputy Consul General Wilfredo Santos only to learn that his office had cancelled the meeting. Redondiez told this reporter that before the meeting she had heard that Philippine Sen. Francis “Kiko" Pangelinan was in San Francisco together with wife, the famed actress Sharon Cuneta and their children. She said she extended an invitation to the senator since Pangelinan has been an advocate for the abolition of the Visiting Forces Agreement in the Philippines. The group was about to come up to the Deputy Consul General’s office when two of his staff members barred them from the building lobby. The staff told them the approved meeting was in the premise that the senator would be present. The group reasoned that the meeting was arranged without the senator however extended the invitation when they found out that he was in the city. She said, “The Consulate must have heard the senator was not coming so they cancelled it. Our point here is they’re here not to serve the senator but the local community and hear from the local community. Maybe they want to meet Sharon Cuneta." After an hour of exchanges, the group frustrated, relented on signing the letter at the lobby. The Philippine Consulate Office staff received the letter instead. The Philippine Consulate Office had called the San Francisco Police Department and an officer appeared later in the afternoon whom Redondiez and Ramiro explained about the incident. The group said it hoped that the senator could have joined them since he is the sponsor of the revolution for the abolition of the VFA. Redondiez said the senator begged off from the meeting to spend time more with his family. Redondiez said her earlier meeting with Sen. Pangelinan turned out very well with the agreement that both parties would perform its job on its pursuit to abolish the VFA. The senator had promised the group to inform them about the scheduled hearing about the VFA in the Philippine Senate. The groups also informed the Philippine Senator that they have met with US Congresswoman Barbara Lee, regarding the VFA in the Philippines. BAYAN-USA’s Ramiro expressed her disappointment with the Philippine Consulate Office in San Francisco. “It’s a politically motivated refusal to meet with us. When one of our members of delegation [Pangelinan] they decided not to meet with us? Our next step, we expect a response from them. We want to hear from them," she said, hoping that the Philippine Government would call the group and set up a meeting with the consul general. Ramiro held her megaphone and informed the rally delegation yesterday about the refusal of entry to the Philippine Consulate Office when they officially arranged the meeting. She said that that the group would continue to raise its concerns to the Philippine Government about equality and justice in their homeland. LFS officer Montemayor also expressed disillusionment with the Philippine Consulate Office in San Francisco. He said, “We just want to talk about why we are opposed to the VFA — talk about our colleagues killed and kidnapped in the Philippines." Montemayor is a recent graduate of San Francisco State University where there are 25 active members studying in the campus. - GMANews.TV