Rallies in Montreal, Vancouver protest Subic rape

Rallies in Montreal, Vancouver protest Subic rape

A Toroonto protest action is set for Tuesday, Nov. 22, 12 noon across the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, 360 University Ave.

On November 9 last week, braving cold and wet Vancouver weather, over 25 concerned members of the Filipino community and their Canadian supporters rallied together in front of the U.S. Consulate office to denounce the brutal gang-rape and demand justice for the 22-year-old Filipino woman who suffered violent attacks by six U.S. Marines in Subic, Philippines on Nov. 1, 2005. Filipinos in Quebec also held a similar rally at the U.S. Consulate in Montreal on the same day.

“It is actually against the Philippine constitution for foreign troops to be in our country,” explained Monica Urrutia of the Philippine Women Centre of B.C. “But the fake President Arroyo has allowed the seemingly indefinite stay of the U.S. Marines who committed this terrible crime and persist in violating our women,” she continued.

Chanting “U.S. rapists, No. 1 terrorists,” rallyists condemned this latest act of violence against a woman by American forces as a form of state-directed terrorism. They highlighted how the continued presence of U.S. troops on Philippine soil is a long overdue violation of the Filipino people’s national sovereignty, which traces back to February 1899 when American invaders raped the capital city of Manila. Since then, the Philippines has been dominated by a reign of terror backed by U.S. economic and political interests which have imposed war and plunder on the country’s people and resources.

Speaker after speaker drew inspiration from the ceaseless struggle of the Filipino people against aggressive colonialism and imperialism, highlighting the people’s victory of closing down U.S. military bases in 1991. This victory however, was short-lived with then President Estrada’s introduction of the Philippine-U.S. Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) in 1998 that reopened the archipelago to U.S. armed forces. “The VFA opens up Philippine shores to military personnel who feel they have the power to do anything they want to do, including raping our women,” said Glecy Duran, chairperson of SIKLAB-BC, an organization of Filipino migrant workers.

Demonstrators mourned over a mock coffin splattered with red paint symbolizing the death of democracy in the Philippines, while a woman dressed in the Philippine flag being attacked by a U.S. soldier represented the rape and pillage of the country and its women.

“The U.S. is supplying military equipment and millions of dollars to its neo-colony so as to open a path for more foreign corporations, to grab land and exploit the people to the bone while beating down the people’s resistance,” Barbara Waldern, Chairperson of the B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines stated. She was echoed by Merryn Edwards of Grassroots Women who declared that “women’s liberation will never win as long as foreign occupation around the world continues.”

Aiyanas Ormond of the Bus Riders’ Union pointed to the important role of international solidarity: “What is a tragic attack and violation for one woman, and an affront to a nation, is also a part and parcel of the capitalist, patriarchal, and racist agenda of U.S. imperialism wherever it goes.” Ormond added that Canadian supporters “need to stand steadfast in solidarity and support for justice and liberation in the Philippines.”

Filipino organizers of the rally vowed that as part of the 10 million Filipinos displaced from their homeland, they will continue to carry a love for their country and stay true to their aspirations to attain a free and democratic Philippines.

The Toronto protest on Nov. 22 coincides with a caravan and vigil by people’s organizations from Manila to Olongapo City in the Philippines, the eve of the prelimenary hearing of the case.

Joy Sioson of the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario says, “We demand genuine justice for the young Filipino woman and her family for this horrendous crime. We unite with the call of progressive people’s organizations in the Philippines and around the world that absolutely no immunity under US jurisdiction be granted to these six criminals. They must surrender to Philippine jurisdiction, be tried and held accountable to the Filipino people and its legal system.”

(PRESS RELEASE)