FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 26, 2011
Contact: Freedom Siyam
free.bayan@gmail.com | 206.659.1130

Bayanihan Relief
Community Organizations Coming Together for Benefit Concert &

Vigil for Typhoon Victims in Southern Philippines
When: Thursday, December 29th
Where: Filipino Community Center
(5740 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Seattle 98118)
Time: 6pm-9pm
Refreshments will be provided

Local grassroots network Bayan-NW, the Filipino Community of Seattle, and Ihaw Ihaw Band are organizing a vigil & benefit concert to raise funds to help those hit hardest by Typhoon Washi. We extend this invitation to Filipinos & Filipino Americans as well as our greater Seattle community who wish to support and join us in this community effort to provide relief to our kababayans (fellow countrymen) in the Philippines.

***
On December 17, tropical storm Sendong (aka Typhoon Washi) struck the Philippines deeply impacting the Southern Islands of Mindanao. The cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan were amongst the worst hit by flash floods and landslides leaving 1,080 people confirmed dead. More fatalities are expected, and more than 100,000 survivors are left homeless.

 “It has been a difficult Christmas for the local Filipino community,” according to BAYAN-USA Regional Coordinator Rachel Cendana. “First, the brutal murder of our beloved Danny Vega. Now, Typhoon Sendong displacing so many of our overseas friends and loved ones.”  Despite the recent calamities, Cendana and other benefit organizers remain inspired. “The Seattle community always comes together to help one another in such adverse times.” People interested to find out more information, can email: bayanusa.pnw@gmail.com or contact the Filipino Community Center at (206) 722-9372.

All proceeds raised at the event will help the destroyed areas within the Cagayan de Oro region. Individuals can contribute tax deductible monetary donations at the event.
If you are not able to make the event and still want to contribute, you have options:

(1) You can make checks payable to the “Filipino Community of Seattle” with Pinay sa Seattle – Sendong and your email address if you would like updates on the status of the relief process. Checks can be mailed to:

Filipino Community of Seattle
5740 MLK Jr Way
Seattle, WA 98118

(2) Donate to the relief efforts ONLINE HERE.

(3)  You can also wire money directly to the “BALSA Mindanao” or Bulig Alang Sa Mindanao/Help Mindanao:  Panday Bulig, Inc., RCBC Velez Branch, Cagayan de Oro City. You will need to tell them the account number is 1095029776 and the swift code is RCBCPHMM. Please make these payments out to “BALSA Mindanao.”

Korea Committee for Solidarity with the World People, Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Dear Comrades,

On behalf of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), its International Coordinating Committee and its nearly 400 member-organizations throughout the world, I wish to convey through your Committee the most heartfelt condolences to the family of the beloved leader Comrade Kim Jong Il and to the Korean people, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea and the Workers’ Party of Korea over his passing away.

We share the grief of the Korean people and their desire to turn this into further strength.

Comrade Kim Jong Il leaves a legacy that is always inspiring to his people and to the people of the world. Emulating his great father Comrade Kim Il Sung, he has rendered great service to the Korean people and has won great achievements in leading and mobilizing them in the spirit of patriotism and self-reliance against imperialism, especially that of the U.S.

We salute Comrade Kim Jong Il for his accomplishments in asserting the national independence and socialist aspirations of the Korean people, in seeking the peaceful reunification of the north and south, in carrying out economic construction and overcoming natural calamities, in developing a strong defense against imperialist war provocations, economic sanctions and military encirclement, in demanding the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and in contributing to the cause of world peace and the solidarity of the people of the world.

Because of the ever shining legacy of Comrade Kim Jong Il, we are confident that the Korean people and DPRK under the new leadership of Comrade Kim Jong Un will continue to take the revolutionary path and serve as a bulwark against imperialism and all reaction, especially at this time that the world capitalist system is in severe crisis and U.S. imperialism is more aggressive and more overbearing than ever before in East Asia and elsewhere.

We of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle will always stand in solidarity with the Korean people and the DPRK along the anti-imperialist and democratic line. We are firmly and vigorously committed to the struggle for greater freedom, democracy, social justice, all-round development and world peace.

Prof. Jose Maria Sison, Chairperson

International League of Peoples’ Struggle

December 20, 2011

For Immediate Release

December 9, 2011

Media Contact:  Chel Cendana

BAYAN-USA Pacific Northwest Regional Council

bayanusa.pnw@gmail.com

Seattle, WA – The members of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of BAYAN-USA express our deepest condolences to the family of the late Danny Vega. On November 27, we lost a valuable member of our Filipino community to a senseless murder. “Our membership has been deeply impacted by this tragic event, and joins the community in its quest for justice for the death of a respected member,” states Chel Cendana, BAYAN-USA Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator. 

Seattle’s 98118 has been identified as the most diverse zip code in these United States with almost 60 dialects spoken and even more ethnicities. Here in the Southside, where Vega’s salon was located, we’ve been hit with displacement of working class people of color and immigrants through gentrification, the razing of public housing, and one of the highest concentrations of home foreclosures in Martin Luther King County.

On 15 November 2011 Vega, an openly gay salon owner, was violently beaten by who he could only describe as three African American men before he fell into a coma he would never wake up from. “Uncle Danny’s salon did not flourish, but did survive through economically depressing times, and it’s disheartening that suspects of this act of brutality are other folks of color, whose families also struggle in these economically trying times” Freedom Siyam said. “It’s about to get real cold out here,” referring to the difficulties in the socio-economic climate “and we need inter-ethnic solidarity and support for each other; we have more in common than we do in difference.”

BAYAN-USA Pacific Northwest regional organizations seek justice for the death of Danny Vega but are cautious about the implications this may have in policing a predominately non-white and immigrant community. We call for improved and strengthened community ties in the 98118 and will help lead community education around queer issues, shared migrant stories, and perhaps more importantly, call for community action against the economic depression hitting Seattle’s south side.

“We don’t know if this was a hate crime; we don’t know if Danny Vega was targeted for being openly gay. What we do know is that he was a beloved member of our community. And what we do know is that this was part of a string of other violent robberies that can only be linked to the economy. We know that Danny Vega’s life and trials as an immigrant probably looked more like the private lives of his assailants, than they think,” says Cendana. “We know that crimes increase when people become desperate, but the real crime is that people, especially the poor and people of color are being forced into desperation. In addition to community education around queer issues and our histories as immigrant workers to this country, we need to find some real economic solutions real quick or we will see more Danny Vegas.” ###

Alay ng Kultura | AnakBayan Seattle | Philippine U.S. Solidarity Organization | Pinay sa Seattle

BAYAN-USA Pacific Northwest: bayanusa.pnw@gmail.com

BAYAN-USA is an alliance of progressive Filipino groups in the U.S. representing organizations of students, scholars, women, workers, and youth. As the only international chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-Philippines), BAYAN-USA serves as an information bureau for the national democratic movement of the Philippines and as a campaign center for anti-imperialist Filipinos in the U.S.

For Immediate Release
May 19, 2011
Reference: Raquel Redondiez, Chairperson, GABRIELA-USA, chair@gabusa.org
 
On February 14, 2011, the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines released its resolution on the case of torture survivor Melissa Roxas, a Filipino-American activist who was abducted on May 19, 2009-exactly two years ago today, along with her two companions in La Paz, Tarlac by agents believed to be members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. In her affidavit, Roxas describes in detail the mental and physical torture that was inflicted on her while she was held incommunicado for six days. Despite overwhelming evidence pointing to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the CHR and its chairperson Etta Rosales finds that, “there is insufficient evidence to support this conclusion, and insufficient evidence to pinpoint individual members of the AFP as the possible or probable perpetrators.” To make matters worse, the CHR carelessly points the fingers to the New People’s Army as the perpetrators without any evidence.
 Though Melissa Roxas is the first Filipino-American who was subject to torture and abduction, there are over a thousand other activists who’ve fallen victim to extra judicial killings, and hundreds more who’ve been abducted and have yet to surface, like U.P. students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, both abducted in 2006 in the province of Bulacan. These violations occurred during former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration in which she implemented the counterinsurgency programs, Oplan Bantay Laya 1 & 2 (Operation Freedom Watch) to supposedly fight “terrorism” in the Philippines. However, Oplan Bantay Laya 1 & 2 only wrecked havoc in the lives of thousands of Filipinos who were killed, tortured, imprisoned, harassed, and villages ransacked by military forces, forcing families to leave their villages and seek refuge elsewhere. During Arroyo’s tyranny, the international community ranked the Philippines as the second most dangerous country for journalists after Iraq.  It is appalling that the U.S. government continues to support the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the current Aquino administration by providing millions in military aid and participating in joint military exercises or Balikatan Exercises (shoulder to shoulder). The Philippines has had a grave record of human rights violations under the Arroyo administration and continues to rise under Aquino’s Oplan Bayanihan. If the U.S. government truly prides itself for being an advocate and protector of democratic principles, it should immediately stop monetary and military aid to the Philippines. The promise of “change” by both the Obama and Aquino administrations remain a useless slogan as injustice prevails in the Philippines and the perpetrators who commit these violations continue to live with impunity while others live in fear.
 “The CHR resolution on Roxas’ case is a step backwards and sends a clear statement that survivors of human rights violations cannot trust the very institution whose supposed purpose is to protect the interest of the victims and survivors,” states Raquel Redondiez, Chairperson of GABRIELA USA. “Worst of all, this resolution attempts to protect the unpopular reign of former President Arroyo, whose administration was rocked with scandals, including thousands human rights violations. We challenge President Aquino to hold Arroyo accountable for her responsibility as commander in chief and her contribution to these violations. We want the U.S. government to stop all military aid to the Philippines and scrap the Visiting Forces Agreement.”
GABRIELA-USA celebrates the courage of our friend Melissa Roxas, other survivors of torture and abductions, and the families of the disappeared, who are determined not to be silenced and to continue to fight until justice is served. If you’d like to support Melissa Roxas’ continued struggle, please sign the open letter to demand justice by clicking here.  http://bit.ly/mQJgRb
JUSTICE FOR MELISSA ROXAS!JUSTICE FOR ALL VICTIMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS!STOP U.S. MILITARY AID TO THE PHILIPPINES!SCRAP THE VISITING FORCES AGREEMENT!

Reference: Raquel Redondiez, Chairperson, GABRIELA-USAEmail: chair@gabusa.org 

May 1, 2011 — On International Worker’s Day, member organizations of GABRIELA-USA: Babae-San Francisco, Samahan ng Kababaihan San Francisco (SAMAKA), Pinay sa Seattle, Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FiRE) in New York and Sisters of GABRIELA Awaken (SiGAw) in Los Angeles stand together with the international community to defend the rights of workers, especially the majority of whom fall victim to exploitative situations and are deprived of their basic rights. This May 1st, we are mobilizing and participating in local May Day marches hosted in our respective cities, to celebrate and stand in solidarity with workers worldwide. 

As the on-going economic crisis continues to devastate working families, especially immigrant communities and women, the fight to protect their rights is ever more crucial as scapegoating and deportations threaten our families and livelihood. As an example, domestic workers and caregivers have taken unprecedented steps to ensure equal protection and recognition for their work. In California, the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights is in progress of reaching the state senate for passage. This bill would grant fair wages and standards to protect them from exploitation, including their right to overtime pay and at least 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Last fall, this Bill of Rights was passed in New York and other states have yet to catch up in improving working conditions for domestic workers, many of whom are immigrant women. We must also continue the fight against wage theft in home care facilities and build on last year’s victory where Filipino caregivers in San Francisco, Victoria Aquino and Lourdes Torres won over $70,000 in unpaid wages and penalties after filing suit against their employer. 

As immigrant workers are continually scapegoated during the economic crisis, we must expose the root causes of forced migration.  Due to unequal U.S. foreign policies and trade agreements along with the cooperation of puppet governments, the working poor in 3rd world countries are forced to leave and seek work elsewhere.  As an example, the systematization of the Labor Export Program (LEP) in the Philippines currently forces nearly 4,000 Filipinos to leave their country everyday, 70% of whom are women.

However, even through a government-sponsored export program, protection of their rights as workers is not guaranteed. In fact, in July 2010, a group of workers from the Philippines arrived in the U.S., hoping to provide for their families back home. Treated as indentured servants, 11 of them escaped and sought out for help in Los Angeles. To this day, the Philippine government has given very limited support to this group of workers, now known as “Luha Ko”, pushing them to turn to local grassroots organizations in seeking justice.

GABRIELA-USA calls on all women and their families to continue the struggle against forced migration and for comprehensive immigration reform in the U.S.  We join the working men and women of the broad immigrant rights movement to demand from the Obama administration an end to the raids and deportation that are tearing our families apart! As vital contributors to the U.S. economy, immigrant workers, whether documented or undocumented, need protection, not criminalization! 

Justice and Protection for all Workers!Pass the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in California!Legalization for ALL immigrant workers! 

 
Sunday, May 1st Marches in local GABRIELA-USA regions:
FiRE – New YorkMARCH AND RALLY at UNION SQUARE! WEAR RED and meet at 12pm on the SE corner of Union Square (Across from ShoeMania).  Look for our GORGEOUS rainbow FiRE flag!

Pinay sa SeattleMeet at Hidmo parking lot (20th and Jackson) at 12 noon. We’ll be wearing tubaos. We’re joining the annual May 1st march led by El Comite, and we’ll be marching with  local Bayan forces and in solidarity with our API Unified contingent. 

Babae and SAMAKA of San FranciscoMeet at 24th Street and Mission at 12 noon. WEAR RED. Local Bayan and GABRIELA organizations are joining AROC (meeting near Bank of the West), and Progressive Workers Alliance (behind McDonalds). 

SiGAw in Los AngelesMeet at Broadway & Olympic at 10am. Marching in Downtown LA as a part of the Southern California Immigration Coalition.

April 25, 2011

CHR Resolution Protects Torturers, Torments Victims

“This is a cover-up,” stated BAYAN-USA Chair Bernadette Ellorin in response to the release of a Resolution by the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines (CHR) on the case of the abduction and torture of Filipino American Melissa Roxas on May 19, 2009. The result of an investigation begun on the 25th of May 2009, the CHR’s report cites copious evidence gathered through public inquiries, expert witnesses, inspections of the abduction site and military facilities where Roxas was possibly held, and sworn statements by Roxas herself, yet concludes that “In light of the lack of evidence against the persons who inflicted the physical and psychological maltreatment on the complainant, it is not possible for the Commission to reach any findings on torture” in Roxas’ case.
“With this single report, the CHR has virtually erased any progress made in its 1-1/2 year investigation into this case by the previous CHR chair. It appears that now the CHR is more concerned with covering up the crimes of the Philippine military than with uncovering the truth about human rights violations in the country,” said Ellorin.
The first American citizen to be abducted and tortured under the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Roxas is a well-known Filipino American human rights advocate and was BAYAN-USA’s first Regional Coordinator in Los Angeles, CA and a founding member of the Los Angeles-based cultural organization Habi Arts. In her sworn affidavit and testimony provided in several court appearances and CHR Public Inquiries in 2009, Roxas described in detail the ordeal she experienced at the hands of the Philippine military: being abducted by approximately 15 armed men, handcuffed and blindfolded for six days, held in a jail cell, subjected to torture via asphyxiation using a doubled-up plastic bag, repeated beatings to the face and body, and having her head banged repeatedly against the wall by her interrogators, who tried to force her to admit that she was a member of the New People’s Army and advised her abandon communism and to “return to the fold.” Roxas said that one interrogator stated those who tortured her were from the Special Operations Group (SOG), and she heard one of her interrogators addressed as “Sir.” She also heard gunfire from what she believed to be a firing range as well as the sounds of aircraft, pointing to the high probability that she was held in a military camp.
By its own admission, the CHR report states that Roxas provided exceptionally consistent and detailed descriptions of the torture she underwent, the place she was held, and the physical appearance of five people involved in her abduction and detention, indicating that Roxas’ testimony is extremely credible. However, the CHR report still concludes that it has “insufficient evidence to pinpoint individual members of the AFP as the possible or probably perpetrators.”
Moreover, the CHR report dares to shift the blame from the Philippine military to the New People’s Army (NPA). “The CHR has received information that indicate the possibility that members of the NPA committed the kidnapping, and other human rights violations on Roxas,” states the resolution on page 20. In response, Ellorin said, “By making such blanket accusations without providing a speck of evidence, the CHR under President Aquino is showing that it is no different from the Philippine Presidential Human Rights Commission (PHRC) under Arroyo, which tried to dismiss Melissa’s traumatic ordeal by saying that it was fabricated. Falling for information like this is laughable, especially considering that Melissa’s captors tried to force her to admit she was an NPA member. Even worse, the CHR resolution opportunistically supports the Aquino government’s counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan, which is attempting to demonize the NPA while duping the public into believing that the AFP is a peace-making force.”
International human rights advocates such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings have repeatedly criticized the Philippine government’s cover-up of state-sponsored torture. “This CHR resolution perpetuates the culture of impunity that reigns in the Philippines. There is still no justice for the innocent women and journalists slaughtered in the Maguindanao Massacre in 2009, not one perpetrator has been apprehended in the cases of thousands of cases of extra-judicial killings, nor the abduction and torture of people like Melissa Roxas and the Morong 43 health workers,” said Ellorin.
“The CHR resolution will just add fuel to the fire of the Justice for Melissa campaign,” continued Ellorin. “While the CHR under Aquino lacks the political will to uphold human rights, BAYAN-USA and Melissa’s supporters will persist in pursuing justice for Melissa through all vehicles available to us in the U.S.”
The timing of the release of the CHR Resolution comes as the U.S. Congress enters the final weeks of a contentious budget battle, expected by both Democrats and Republicans to result in hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to essential public services. BAYAN-USA calls on the U.S. Congress and Obama administration to stop pouring millions of American taxpayer dollars into the Philippine military, which tortures and kills innocent people under the tacit protection of the so-called Commission on Human Rights.
BAYAN-USA is an alliance of 14 progressive Filipino American organizations in the U.S. representing organizations of students, scholars, women, workers, and youth. As an international chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-Philippines), BAYAN-USA serves as an information bureau for the national democratic movement of the Philippines and as a campaign center for anti-imperialist Filipinos in the U.S.