US Labor Alliance Condemns Killings and Disappearances in the Philippines

3/28/2008 12:07:00 AM

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance(APALA) Endorses GMA (Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo) Watch

After hearing the moving story of Edith Burgos, the mother of abducted land reform and farmers' advocate Jonas Burgos, the National Executive Board of the Asian-Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) unanimously voted to endorse GMA Watch, a US based Philippine human rights monitoring network. Mrs. Burgos spoke to APALA as part of a seven city US speaking tour organized by GMA Watch, which raised awareness about the 890 politically motivated extrajudicial killings and more than 300 disappearances which have been committed presumably by the Philippine military under the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

"We condemn the government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the abductions, disapearances and killings of activists, opposition journalists and union leaders and labor organizers in the Philippines. Americans should unite with the Filipino people in saying, 'stop human rights violations' and 'end corruption in the Philippines,'" said Daz Lamparas, Executive Board Member of APALA and member of the San Francisco Chapter.

Just days after APALA passed their resolution to endorse GMA Watch, Gerry Cristobal, a union leader in the Philippines, was killed. It was the third attempt on his life. In the same week the US State Department released their country report on the Philippines and expressed concern over the continued killings and other human rights violations in which Philippine security forces are implicated.

"This endorsement comes at an important time. Congress is starting the process of creating next year's funding bill. APALA's membership and reach represents thousands more that can demand that our tax dollars not go to shed innocent blood in the Philippines," said Katrina Abarcar, national coordinator of GMA Watch.

APALA has around 5000 members. In its resolution, APALA stated it would urge its chapters as well as the AFL-CIO and CTW (Change to Win), which together represent over 15 million workers, to pass similar resolutions to endorse and support GMA Watch. ###

Reference:

Katrina Abarcar, National Coordinator, GMA Watch, gmawatch@yahoo.com
Daz Lamparas, Executive Board Member, APALA, daz.lamparas@seiu1021.org

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1 Response to "US Labor Alliance Condemns Killings and Disappearances in the Philippines"

  1. Unknown says:
    3:45 PM

    American Labor Alliance is a National Labor Union that represents workers in terms of wages, hours, working conditions, and workplace safety. We provide grievance resolution services and a comprehensive suite of member benefits including workers compensation, healthcare, retirement savings plans, and funeral benefits.

    Labor Union

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    Democracy, according to the late Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, is "a question of human dignity, [a]nd human dignity is political freedom, the right to freely express opinion and the right to be allowed to criticise and form opinions."

    But exercising political freedom in the Philippines, which purports itself to be a democracy, can lead to death. Since Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the presidency of the country in 2001, more than 800 Filipinos murdered in politically-motivated, extra-judicial, targeted killings. Since the 4th quarter of July 2005, one person has been killed every two days. The victims of these brazen acts of violence were all unarmed citizens: lawyers, judges, journalists, medical practitioners, members of cause-oriented groups, priests, church-workers, human rights advocates, laborers and farmers.

    It is widely believed—and the United Nations support this belief—that state security forces are complicit in these crimes.