Filipinos in the U.S. Call for GMA to Resign

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has lost all credibility to serve as President of the Philippines.

We, Filipinos in the United States, are greatly outraged by the bankruptcy of the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration. We demand her immediate resignation and support the mounting call for her ouster, if she refuses to step down.

FRAUD AND CORRUPTION
The people are once again confronted with the political deception and illegitimacy of her regime. Her integrity to lead the Philippines has continued to diminish with the recent jueteng (illegal lottery) and corruption scandals involving her immediate family. However, the compounding controversy of the taped conversations with Commissioner of Elections Virgilio Garcilliano directly linking President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to massive electoral fraud, call for her immediate resignation or ouster.

FAILURE TO PROTECT FILIPINO IMMIGRANTS IN THE U.S.
While the remittances of Filipinos in the U.S. (over 8 billion just last year) and other migrant Filipinos has kept the Philippine economy from completely crumbling, GMA has done nothing to protect immigrant Filipinos in the U.S. against the blatant racist attacks of the Bush administration. While GMA is the first to open up Philippine land and seas to Bushs war of terrorism, she has not lifted one finger to protest Bushs scapegoating and mass firing of Filipino airport screeners. Furthermore, she has failed to protect hundreds of Filipinos immigrants in the U.S. from deportation and inhumane treatment.

ECONOMIC CRISIS
Since her ascendance to the office in early 2001, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has driven the Philippines down a path of extreme debt, hunger, poverty, and state terror.

In 2004, the GMA administration declared the entire nation under a fiscal crisis. The current Philippine economic crisis, however, is a mere result of the Presidents unrelenting puppetry to the U.S. that continues to champion imperialist globalization policies. These include the deregulation and privatization of basic services such as oil, water and power, as well as the liberalization of important industries like mining. In line with her anti-people austerity measures, she imposed the Value Added Tax (VAT). Time and time again, she has refused to heed the call of the workers for a P125 across the board increase in wages, and of peasants and farm workers for genuine land reform.

As Filipinos in the U.S., we must support our families back home and demand a President that will advance their need for decent livelihood and social justice.

POLITICAL REPRESSION
Political repression and killings of activists and fascist measures against the people are a daily occurence under the GMA administration. At present, the U.S- backed Arroyo regime has surpassed the Marcos dictatorship in the number of human rights violations.

Since January 2005 alone, at least 39 leaders and members of Bayan Muna, BAYAN, Anakpawis, Kilusan Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and GABRIELA, as well as human rights lawyers, church people, peasants and innocent civilians have been killed by military and paramilitary forces. Hundreds more have been illegally detained, abducted, and/or tortured. The November 16th, 2004 massacre of at least 14 unarmed farm workers and hundreds more wounded in Hacienda Luisita has signified the newest wave of state-sponsored terror, with the biggest targets of human rights violations being human rights defenders themselves.

The GMA administrations silence and inaction on these atrocities indicates that she officially sanctions the repression. To further suppress the people, Arroyo, staying true to her U.S. imperialist master allows the continuous flow of U.S. troops in the country, mocking Philippine sovereignty. Taking the blueprint from the USA Patriot Act and Homeland Security Act, GMA is pushing the equally anti-people Anti-Terrorism Bill, which promises to further represses the peoples right to dissent.

The Filipino people have had enough! We, Filipinos in the United States, demand her immediate resignation and support the mounting call for her ouster, if she refuses to step down.