NO MORE POLITICAL KILLINGS IN THE PHILIPPINES!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 24, 2007
Reference: Valerie Francisco, secretary general, Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment, fire.nyc@gmail.com

NO MORE POLITICAL KILLINGS IN THE PHILIPPINES!
Filipina Women Say Never Again to Martial Law!

It is universally accepted and recognized that violence against women is pervasive and must be stopped. The article 2 of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women identifies one specific area in which violence commonly takes place as the “physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the State, wherever it occurs.”

Many international bodies, state-sponsored violence against women has been and continues to be condemned, nowhere more than the Philippines under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime. The recent release of the Special Rapporteur Philip Alston human rights report cites the Philippine government in a “state of denial concerning the numerous extrajudicial executions in which its soldiers were implicated.”

Since 2001, 96 women were victims of political killings, 76 of them were victims of extrajudicial killings, 29 were victims of enforced disappearance and 22 are political prisoners.

On children and minors as victims of human rights violations, Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns said that from 2001 to August 2007, 59 children and 5 unborn babies have been killed, 11 are disappeared and 82 were victims of illegal arrest/detention.

Under the fully enacted, Human Security Act, the “state of denial” that is the Philippines, have covered all their bases by legally condoning state violence on women. The current state of neo-Martial Law in the Philippines is a blatant mimicry of the US PATRIOT Act which has, in turn, criminalized many progressive Filipino American women and women’s organizations.

In tandem, the partnership between the US and Philippine governments emerges as antagonistic, anti-people, anti-women and terrorist-baiting team. The extrajudicial killings in the Philippines are undoubtedly connected to millions of US dollars funneled to military training and exercises in the Philippines.

FiRE demands the immediate halt to the political killings and persecutrion perpetrated by the Philippine government! FiRE calls for the complete withdrawal of US military aid to Philippine death squads! FiRE condemns GMA for her heinous attacks on the Filipino people at home and in the US!

STOP THE KILLINGS IN THE PHILLIPINES!
NEVER AGAIN TO MARTIAL LAW!
WITHDRAW US MILITARY AID TO THE PHILIPPINES!
STOP KILLING FILIPINO WOMEN AND CHILDREN!

For more information about Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FiRE) is mass-based women’s organization in New York and a member of BAYAN-USA. Please visit, www.firenyc.org or contact us at fire.nyc@gmail.com.
BAYAN-USA is an alliance of progressive Filipino groups in the U.S. representing organizations of students, scholars, women, workers, and youth. Please visit, www.bayanusa.org or contact us at info@bayanusa.org. ###