Ipaglaban ang tunay na kalayaan! Kabuhayan Hindi Bala! Fight 250 Years of US Occupation and Domination

Today, on the 250th anniversary of the U.S. settler colonial project,

BAYAN USA opposes 250 years of US occupation and 80 years of back-stabbing, fake "friendship" between the United States and the Philippines.

We are in step with the Filipino people's mass movement that is rising up all over the world to fight for national sovereignty and genuine freedom in the Philippines.

July 3 also marks six years since the Anti-Terror Act was passed. We condemn the institutionalization of counterinsurgency and fascist policies, which persist under the Marcos regime in the form of continued funding for the National Taskforce to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and the National Action Plan for Unity, Peace and Development (NAP-UPD).

Bureaucrat capitalists like Marcos Jr. are backed by the United States to carry out these fascist counterinsurgency plans in their feeble attempts to crush the mass movement.

Whether it’s Vancouver, Los Angeles, or New York, U.S.-backed puppets like Marcos Jr. and his NTF-ELCAC minions will know no peace. Wherever they go, the mass movement will be there to confront them.

In the past week alone, over a thousand Filipinos gathered for the Kalayaan Summit, a historic political conference in Los Angeles to oppose the repression, exploitation, and oppression of the US-Marcos regime. This culminated in a confrontation of the Philippine Consulate General of Los Angeles (PCGLA), which refused to provide assistance to mothers in distress who were requesting help on various matters like legal and moral support for their incarcerated children, and release of Assistance to Nationals (ATN) funds for cases of stolen wages and domestic violence. Instead of being met by these so-called public servants, these mothers and community leaders were harassed with disrespectful and discriminatory questions on whether they pay taxes or if their detained children were out of legal status. PCGLA employees, such as Alternate ATN Officer Ramon Nerida, then called the police, slammed the door in their faces and hid behind their office door like cowards.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, the US-Marcos Jr. regime sent a delegation to the United Nations Counterterrorism Week (UNCTW) in New York at the same time as the Kalayaan Summit mobilization. Shamelessly, the NTF-ELCAC held a sham townhall in the Philippine Consulate General of New York (PCGNY) where they terror-tagged progressive organizations like BAYAN USA, Gabriela USA, Anakbayan USA and Migrante USA. They slandered the names of Lyle Prijoles and Kai Sorem, labeling them as "foreign terrorist fighters."

They failed to mention the fact that Lyle, Kai and the Negros 19 were brutally massacred by the Armed Forces of the Philippines who were equipped with US-funded weaponry and given the go-ahead to kill and congratulated by Marcos Jr. himself. The Philippine state labels people's organizations as "terrorists" when the real terrorist is staring at them in the mirror, drenched in the blood of our people's martyrs. The Philippine state claims that the revolutionary movement lies and manipulates young people into becoming activists when the government itself is the real liar, gaslighter, and hypocrite—pouring thousands of pesos worth of the Filipino people's money into wasteful diplomatic missions like the UNCTW while failing to assist their own constituents in their time of need.

The Philippine state clearly favors Trump and their American overlords over the Filipino masses they claim to serve and represent. As the Trump regime celebrates the peak of its pro-imperialist propaganda campaign, America@250, the Philippine government celebrates its own imperialist anniversary in the form of "80 years of Philippine-American friendship." This anniversary propagates the diplomatic alliance between the US and the Philippines. But in truth, this friendship is one of master and puppet, where regular Filipino people are sacrificed by their "leaders" to serve the interests of US imperialism.

Year after year, Marcos has done nothing but sell out the Filipino people and our territory. The deepening of U.S. military intervention in our archipelago is evident in the expansion of de-facto U.S. bases under EDCA and the explicit priority shift of Philippine National Security Policy towards external defense in the West Philippine Sea and Taiwan.

The GRP is not only offering the Philippines up as a launching pad for war, but is now offering the Philippine nation as a floating weapons factory for US imperialism through "development initiatives" like the Luzon Economic Corridor (LEC) and the proposed Economic Security Zone (ESZ) under Pax Silica.

These ESZs are notorious for union busting because they are exempt from PH labor and tax laws. They drive wages down even further, which ultimately results in more migrant workers being forced outside the country to make a living wage.

While Marcos carries on the legacy of his treacherous 'trapo' forefathers, the National Democratic movement of the Philippines carries on the legacy of our revolutionary Katipunero fore bearers. The Filipino masses have never let up the fight in the face of oppression and exploitation. We shall continue building the movement for genuine independence and national liberation until the whole rotten system falls and the Filipino people can finally know true peace based on justice.

Ibaglaban ang tunay na kalayaan! Kabuhayan hindi bala!

Reject Pax Silica! End all unequal military and economic agreements! US Out of the Philippines!

Abolish NTF-ELCAC! End NAP-UPD! Militar sa kanayunan, palayasin!

###