US-based Pinoys, 'Sentosa 27' nurses protest vs SONA
07/25/2007 | 06:33 AM
Voicing concern about state terror in the Philippines, Filipino militants based in the US joined protests against the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in New York Monday (Manila time).
Some 50 protesters from the US chapter of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan-USA) and National Alliance for Filipino Concerns marched to the Philippine Consulate at Fifth Avenue.
Members of the Sentosa 27, a group of Filipino nurses trafficked to the US through illegal recruitment by Long Island-based Sentosa Healthcare Agency, joined the rally.
Protesters presented two petitions to the Philippine Consulate representative, who opened the door to receive the “Justice for Sentosa 27" petition.
The petition carried nearly 2000 signatures in support of the trafficked nurses, and for a shutdown of the Sentosa Agency.
Another petition was presented to the Consulate, this time against the state of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines.
“The plight of overseas Filipino workers, such as the Sentosa 27, is a more reliable gauge of the State of the Nation, more so that any fabrication by the Arroyo government," stated Rico Foz of NAFCON.
Foz said the government’s neglect of overseas Filipino workers is also a human rights violation in itself.
“Arroyo seems to believe she can transform the Philippines into a first world country, but she is clearly not using her economics degree in this instance. She is using her lack of reason and logic, and puppetry to foreign multi-nationals, to come to this conclusion. As migrant Filipinos, we bear the economic brunt of keeping the Philippine economy afloat with our hard-earned remittances, especially from the US. There is no indication that this trend will ease up anytime soon," he added.
Representatives of the International Action Center, Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum, and the Free Hawaii Solidarity Committee delivered “solidarity" speeches during the protest.
Other organizations present include Philippine Forum, NY Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, Lakas Diwa Filipino Youth Alliance of New Jersey, Kabalikat Domestic Workers Support Network, and Movement for a Free Philippines.
“This administration has a primary interest in saving its public image with the international community. But after all the bad press it has gotten this year with its human rights record, we doubt that such a tarnished image is even salvageable," added Hanalei Ramos of the women’s group Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FIRE) New York.
Protesters also lambasted the recently enacted Human Security Act of 2007 as a means to open up the Philippines to the domestic policies of the US “war on terror."
Protesters concluded the action by “spearing" a large effigy of President Arroyo depicted as a blood-sucking Aswang, a mythical and demonic creature of Philippine folklore.
The New York action was part of a nationally coordinated day of protest action with other member organization of Bayan-USA in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. - GMAnews.TV
Some 50 protesters from the US chapter of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan-USA) and National Alliance for Filipino Concerns marched to the Philippine Consulate at Fifth Avenue.
Members of the Sentosa 27, a group of Filipino nurses trafficked to the US through illegal recruitment by Long Island-based Sentosa Healthcare Agency, joined the rally.
Protesters presented two petitions to the Philippine Consulate representative, who opened the door to receive the “Justice for Sentosa 27" petition.
The petition carried nearly 2000 signatures in support of the trafficked nurses, and for a shutdown of the Sentosa Agency.
Another petition was presented to the Consulate, this time against the state of extra-judicial killings in the Philippines.
“The plight of overseas Filipino workers, such as the Sentosa 27, is a more reliable gauge of the State of the Nation, more so that any fabrication by the Arroyo government," stated Rico Foz of NAFCON.
Foz said the government’s neglect of overseas Filipino workers is also a human rights violation in itself.
“Arroyo seems to believe she can transform the Philippines into a first world country, but she is clearly not using her economics degree in this instance. She is using her lack of reason and logic, and puppetry to foreign multi-nationals, to come to this conclusion. As migrant Filipinos, we bear the economic brunt of keeping the Philippine economy afloat with our hard-earned remittances, especially from the US. There is no indication that this trend will ease up anytime soon," he added.
Representatives of the International Action Center, Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum, and the Free Hawaii Solidarity Committee delivered “solidarity" speeches during the protest.
Other organizations present include Philippine Forum, NY Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, Lakas Diwa Filipino Youth Alliance of New Jersey, Kabalikat Domestic Workers Support Network, and Movement for a Free Philippines.
“This administration has a primary interest in saving its public image with the international community. But after all the bad press it has gotten this year with its human rights record, we doubt that such a tarnished image is even salvageable," added Hanalei Ramos of the women’s group Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FIRE) New York.
Protesters also lambasted the recently enacted Human Security Act of 2007 as a means to open up the Philippines to the domestic policies of the US “war on terror."
Protesters concluded the action by “spearing" a large effigy of President Arroyo depicted as a blood-sucking Aswang, a mythical and demonic creature of Philippine folklore.
The New York action was part of a nationally coordinated day of protest action with other member organization of Bayan-USA in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. - GMAnews.TV
