---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Women's Group GABRIELA Network Says, "GOODBYE, GLORIA!"
From: "GABRIELA Network Campaigns Directors" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Fri, June 24, 2005 8:03 am
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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June 24, 2005
FOR REFERENCE: Dorotea Mendoza, Secretary General, GABRIELA Network (212)
592-3507, [EMAIL PROTECTED], www.gabnet.org
WOMENS GROUP GABRIELA NETWORK SAYS, GOODBYE, GLORIA!
A year from the day when Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) was declared as the
newly elected President of the Philippines and as she faces overwhelming
allegations of election fraud, the women of GABRIELA Network (GABNet) urge
President Arroyo to step down from office. There is indeed no other
option in light of increasing public disapproval of her government. If
she insists on staying in office, GMA will face an impending call for her
ouster.
The longer President Arroyo remains silent with regards to the
Gloriagate tapes, the greater the shadow of doubt grows around her,
says GABNet Chairperson Annalisa Enrile. GMA has refused to comment on
the alleged voice recordings of a conversation between herself and then
Commissioner-on-Elections, Virgilio Garcillano, implicating her
involvement in the padding of votes for her throughout various regions of
the country.
The Arroyo regime has long been plagued not only with allegations of fraud
but extreme graft and corruption. Not only is the president currently
under scrutiny, but so are her husband and son, both of whom are embroiled
in a jueteng (illegal gambling) scandal. The Philippine House of
Representatives is currently in the process of launching an inquiry into
vote-rigging. Beginning today, the Senate is set to resume inquiries
into allegations against GMAs brother-in-law and son accepting bribes
from jueteng operators. Due to these allegations, her son, a member of
Philippine Congress, has been forced to seek a leave of absence from his
duties.
GMA has yet to attain the office of Presidency through legitimate means.
First, she obtained the position through the ouster of former President
Joseph Estrada, and, second, she has maintained her position by cheating
her way into office. In the process, she has robbed the people of their
voice, says GABNet Campaigns Director Milady Quito.
As a result of this current scandal, it is the Filipino people who suffer
the most. GMAs insincerity towards the Filipino people and her lack of
capacity or interest to rule democratically have driven the Philippine
economy into crisis and led Filipinos into further despair. The price of
basic commodities such as food and utilities has continued to increase.
In addition, GMA has not delivered on her promise to raise the minimum
wage but rather has forced upon the people the value-added-tax (VAT).
These and other policies are detrimental to Filipino womens welfare.
Healthcare and social services for women and children are virtually
non-existent. Dire conditions continue to force women of the Philippines
to sell their bodies, leave their families for work abroad, accept any
kind of income opportunity, no matter how dangerous, in order to survive.
In a statement issued by Gabriela Womens Party, Representative Liza Maza
said, It is like waiting for hell to freeze over
A political climate
without turmoil or speculation will not come during [GMAs] reign. It
has been the practice of GMAs administration to use torture,
assassinations and suppression of free expression as means of repressing
the opposition. The number of human rights violations has increased
drastically this year (32 killings in just the first six months of 2005,
plus many more missing). Amnesty International and other human rights
organizations describe the Philippine situation as nearing martial-law
proportions. Many of the victims of human rights violations were/are
members of the media and progressive political parties in the Philippines.
The Arroyo regime is highly aware of the growing distrust of her
leadership that she is on the brink of declaring martial law. In
anticipation of the vast number of actions targeted at urging her to step
down, she has placed the entire Philippine National Police on full-alert
to thwart possible violence during protests.
These very actions confirm GMAs guilt. If these allegations of election
tampering are found to be true, not only will it prove that she never
received a clear and legal mandate to assume the office of the President,
but will also subject her to prosecution as a criminal.
It would be wise for Gloria to bid her goodbyes and remove herself from
the presidency. GABRIELA Network, a Philippine-US women's solidarity mass
organization established in 1989, believes that the Filipino people are
entitled to a leader who has achieved their position through legitimate
means and has the genuine interest and well-being of the people in mind.
###
==================================================
Milady S. Quito
National Campaigns Director
GABRIELA Network - US
A Philippine-US Women's Solidarity Organization
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
web: www.gabnet.org
www.purplerosecampaign.org
==================================================
*** GABRIELA Network is a Philippine-US women's solidarity organization
since 1989. GABNet provides the means by which Filipinas in the US can
empower themselves, functions as training ground for women's leadership,
and articulates the women's point of view. GABNet effects change through
organizing, educating, fundraising, networking, and advocacy.
GABRIELA stands for...
General
Assembly
Binding women for
Reform,
Integrity,
Equality,
Leadership and
Action
It also commemorates Gabriela Silang, known as one of the first and
fiercest women generals in the Philippines who led the longest series of
successful revolts against 18th Century Spanish colonizers.
GABNet-US is an all-volunteer organization of women with chapters in
Chicago, Irvine, Los Angeles, New Jersey/New York, San Francisco/Bay Area,
Seattle and Washington D.C. ***
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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