NYC Celebrates a People's Victory & Demand an End to Immoral, Unjust US Occupation
by DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association (NY, USA) Thursday, Jul. 22, 2004 at 3:32 PM
makibakagal@aol.com 212-564-6057 406 West 40th Street, 2nd Floor, New York City, NY 10018

After seventeen days of protest actions, peace vigils and prayers, the Filipino people are triumphant in demanding that the Philippines withdraw its 51-member military contingent in Iraq in order to save the life of overseas worker Angelo de la Cruz. This is a landmark victory to all the people who supported the campaign in the Philippines and abroad.

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Angelo de la Cruz' Release is a People's Victory
Protect Filipino Overseas Workers in Iraq! No More Blood for Oil!

July 21, 2004
STATEMENT

After seventeen days of protest actions, peace vigils and prayers, the Filipino people are triumphant in demanding that the Philippines withdraw its 51-member military contingent in Iraq in order to save the life of overseas worker Angelo de la Cruz. This is a landmark victory to all the people who supported the campaign in the Philippines and abroad.

Just three weeks into her doubt-ridden presidency, President Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) was unyielding to any proposal of pulling out the Filipino troops in Iraq. Her acts showed little concern for the lives of Angelo de la Cruz, the 4,100 overseas Filipino workers stationed in Iraq, and the tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis already killed or harmed by the GMA-supported US occupation of Iraq. While de la Cruz’ fate remained uncertain, GMA enforced a media blackout in the Philippines and for days, GMA and her advisors mulled over the administration’s predicament,—the exposure of their subservience to US dictates. What good is a president if she cannot ensure the safety of her own people?

Day after day, thousands of Filipinos took to the streets and resolutely demanded that GMA place the interests of the Filipino people first. After all, Angelo de la Cruz would not have had his life threatened if GMA had not supported the unjust and immoral US invasion of Iraq. De la Cruz would not have been forced to risk his life in war-torn Iraq in order to support his wife and eight children if the GMA administration had genuinely addressed the root causes of the Philippines’ economic and political crisis—the same crisis the drives at least 2,800 Filipinos to go abroad every day.

Pressured by the US government that strongly admonished GMA not to even consider wavering in support of the Iraq occupation, GMA attempted to silence Filipino demonstrators and authorized a violent attack on peaceful protestors. She utilized brutal and sheer force to disperse the Plaza Miranda rally of support for de la Cruz and demand to pull out the Filipino troops. Despite the attacks and repression, the Filipino people were persistent in their outcries for justice.

Why has Angelo de la Cruz’ case captured international interest? De la Cruz has become the symbol of the 8 million Filipinos who have been forced to migrate abroad in order to meet the survival needs of their families. He represents the toiling migrant workers who must risk their lives in a foreign country. He is one of the millions of Filipinos who send a total of $8 billion every year—remittances that equal to 50% of the Philippine annual budget.

GMA had very few choices. But whose life has GMA saved by pulling the Filipino troops out of Iraq? Faced by mounting protest by the Filipino people, GMA was saving her own skin from the ire of the people who could ultimately overthrow her rule like her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, ousted by “People Power 2” in 2001. In order to preserve her dwindling authority, GMA was forced to heed the call of the Filipino people and save Angelo de la Cruz.

Angelo de la Cruz will be coming home soon but the Filipino people’s struggle is far from over. There are about 4,100 overseas Filipino workers still in Iraq. They are serving food, cleaning toilets and providing other vital support for US troops in Iraq. There are also 1.4 million Filipinos throughout the Middle East. Their lives are all endangered because of GMA’s support of the US' occupation and war of conquest for oil. Overseas Filipino workers Rodrigo Reyes, Raymond Natividad and Raul Carlos Flores have already died in Iraq, victims of mortar attacks and car bombings wrought by the US' illegal invasion. In the interest of the Filipino people, GMA must withdraw her support of the US military occupation of Iraq.

The initial victory of the Angelo de la Cruz campaign shows that when the Filipino people—at home or around the world—are aroused, organized and mobilized we can advance our struggle for national independence and democracy. We must continue to be steadfast in our struggle for peace based on justice. The lives of our fellow compatriots rely on our strength, unity and action!

DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association
406 W. 40th Street, 2nd Fl., NYC, NY 10018
Telephone: 212-564-6057
Email: contact@damayanmigrants.org
Website: http://www.damayanmigrants.org

GABRIELA Network-NY/NJ
A Philippine-US women’s solidarity mass organization.
P.O. Box 403, Times Sq. Station, NY, NY 10036
Telephone: 212-592-3507
Email: nynj@gabnet.org
Website: http://www.gabnet.org

Network in Solidarity with the People of the Philippines
(NISPOP)-Ugnayan Filipino Youth Collective
Telephone: 212-561-1567
Email: nispop@nispop.org
Website: http://www.nispop.org

Below are pictures from the Wednesday, July 21st Peace Vigil in Woodside, Queens--the heart of the Filipino community in New York City. The pictures are of street threater perfomance by NISPOP-Ugnayan. The street theater actors include: Angelo de la Cruz (overeas worker held hostage in Iraq), wife and kids of Angelo (weeping for the safety and release her husband and their father), Philippine Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (puppet to the US government), President George W. Bush (warmongering puppet master who controls President Arroyo), the Filipino People (organized and united to free Angelo de la Cruz and the advancement of national independence/liberation). The street theater showed Angelo de la Cruz being pulled in between the US-backed GMA regime's self interests and the Filipino people, demanding justice and waging a struggle for lasting peace. The Peace Vigil included a spoken word piece by Marie Oban~a and solidarity speakers from the Korean community. There were also hand-painted banners that were signed by passerbys and will be delivered to Angelo de la Cruz.

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NYC Peace Vigil :: July 21
by DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association (NY, USA) Thursday, Jul. 22, 2004 at 3:32 PM
makibakagal@aol.com 212-564-6057 406 West 40th Street, 2nd Floor, New York City, NY 10018

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Street theater depicting Angelo de la Cruz as a victim of the US war in Iraq.

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NYC Peace Vigil :: July 21
by DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association (NY, USA) Thursday, Jul. 22, 2004 at 3:32 PM
makibakagal@aol.com 212-564-6057 406 West 40th Street, 2nd Floor, New York City, NY 10018

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The street theater showed Angelo de la Cruz being pulled in between the US-backed GMA regime's self interests and the Filipino people, demanding the pull out of Filipinos troops in Iraq in order to save de la Cruz.

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