On this day, June 12th, 2005, we celebrate the centuries long struggle for true independence and sovereignty by the Katipunan who defeated Spanish colonialism in 1898. We uncover the hijacking of our people’s victory through the Treaty of Paris and the Spanish-American war which set the foundation for U.S. political and economic domination of our country which is still fully in place today.
We also recognize the Filipino people’s continued fight for national liberation against the early onslaught of U.S. colonization and continued U.S. occupation. Though Emilio Aquinaldo made the so-called Kawit “proclamation of independence” on June 12, 1898, this independence was to only come, “under the protection of the Mighty and Humane North American nation.” This “protection” was to ensure that the Philippines became the first colony of an emerging U.S. empire claiming more than a million Filipino lives in the brutal Philippine American War (1899-1912+). This served as the bloody stage for the Benevolent Assimilation of the Filipino people.
Today, a National Day of Mourning is called recognizing the horrid conditions of our homeland. More than a hundred years later, we clearly see the continuation of what it means to be under the protection of the “mighty and humane American nation” under the watch of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. GMA has ordered record human rights violations against the Filipino people under the banner of Bush’s War of Terrorism in Asia.
Without hesitation, she has exceeded the brutality of the Marcos dictatorship utilizing U.S. military presence, arms and training from U.S. Special Forces. Rather than demanding foreign aid to feed our people, GMA requests aid to develop a military arsenal that torments and kills our own people. According to a World Policy Institute report, “between 2001 and 2005, the Philippines received $145.8 million in Foreign Military Financing and another $11.5 million in military training, for a total of more than $157.3 million. Manila is slated to receive more U.S. taxpayer dollars totaling $20 million in military aid and training in 2006.”
The result has recorded more human rights violations and an unseen level of state terror which placed the Philippines as the #1 most dangerous country in the world for journalists. Also priests, lawyers and human rights advocates, women’s leaders, farmers, workers and students are under constant threat of assassination as seen almost every other day in our homeland.
Joining the 2005 International Solidarity Mission in the Philippines, BAYAN USA will generate international awareness and a national congressional strategy to uphold the call for U.S. troops out of the Philippines by. This August we will join delegations to investigate Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, Mindoro, Samar, Sulu and other areas terrorized by the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Many of these places are under the violent command of military leaders like recently promoted General Jovita Palparan who is responsible for the outright killings of many beloved community leaders.
Combined with tape recorded proof of election fraud, ordered by GMA and revealing investigations into her husband and son’s involvement in illegal gambling rackets, swelling populations of Filipinos have already lost any hint of integrity and credibility in the U.S. educated president.
Everyday struggling Filipinos are realizing that only by having a truly democratic government representative of the workers, peasants, working professionals and nationalist business people will the country be able to implement a genuine land reform and true national industrialization (today, the Philippines cannot even mass produce a simple hammer while we have all the raw materials!). Backward GMA policies and programs only aggravate and worsen widespread poverty and misery of the people.
As our centuries long fight for true independence continues, we link arms and raise fists to celebrate on June 12, 2005 because we recognize the role in our history of this continuing struggle for historical truth, real independence, national liberation and genuine democracy. We embrace the true spirit of Philippine independence which is stronger than ever as can be seen in mass mobilizations, this moment, in the Philippines condemning and demanding…
GMA Resign Now!
End U.S. military occupation! U.S. troops Out Now!
Justice for Human Rights victims and end to U.S. sponsored state terror!
Support the 2003 International Solidarity Mission in the Philippines
Renew Peace Talks between the GRP and NDFP!
Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines!
Long live international Solidarity with Iraq, Palestine and all our allies resisting U.S led terror and occupation!