May 4th

The Secretary of the Department of Migrant Workers, Hans Leo Cacdac held multiple speaking engagements at the International Migration Review Forum (IMRF). BAYAN members sought to raise the demands that the workers had united on the day prior and call on Cacdac to face the people. A small team was united to find these opportunities to meet with Cacdac or other Philippine government representatives - however the events were not open to the general public. How can there be an international forum about migrant workers, without their concrete participation?

To challenge these limitations, we staged a program at a plaza in front of the UN then marched to the Philippine Consulate NY where we held a rally that led into an evening Tambay or "People's Watch" - as we waited to confront Cacdac. He did not show up in the end but the crowd heard from speakers condemning the killings of the Negros 19, the heightening militarization and violence in the Philippines, and against the continued criminal neglect of migrant workers abroad. It was clear at this point that the representatives of the Philippine state were not willing to fully acknowledge the realities that migrant workers face and how the deals that they make with foreign countries only harm migrants in the end.