kapit bisig kabataan network

Filipinos in Los Angeles March to “Break Free from Fossil Fuels”

On May 14, 2016, Filipino Americans joined over 2,000 people in a “Break Free from Fossil Fuel” march in Downtown Los Angeles. The march was part of a global mass action by environmentalists around the world to protest the fossil fuel industry and pressure governments and societies around the world to transition to 100% renewable energy. The march began at Los Angeles City Hall with local leaders and musical performances, then continued to the front of Southern California Gas Company headquarters, one of the largest fossil fuel companies and polluters in California.  

Filipinos from the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON) Southern California and Kapit Bisig Kabataan Network (KBKN) joined the A3PCON Environmental Justice committee in a larger Asian Pacific islander contingent during the march. NAFCON members marched, waved Philippine flags, and carried signs highlighting the effects of climate change and environmental degradation in the Philippines. Dr. Absalon Galat, member of the Filipino American Health Workers Association (FAHWA), stated why he attended the rally, “As health workers we see the effects of climate change and fossil fuels every day. I am a doctor in the San Fernando valley where everyday, after the San Fernando gas leak at Porter Ranch, people are coming in all the time with nosebleeds, dizziness and runny nose. This is the effect I have seen here in the U.S.” Thousands of families in Porter Ranch, CA were poisoned and suffered medical ailments due to a large methane gas leak by the SoCal Gas company that lasted over 4 months. Filipino Americans and many communities are seeing the negative impacts of fossil fuel companies on health and welfare of families.  

Fossil fuels and climate change has led to an increasing amount of storms, typhoons, and severe weather all across the Asia Pacific region. Jewelle Dela Cruz, KBKN Southern California regional coordinator, also attended the march and said, “We are here to make sure that the voices of the communities of the most vulnerable and oppressed people are heard in this space, represented, and advocated for.” Dela Cruz commented on climate change in the Philippines, “As Filipinos, we have seen first-hand the effects of climate change, particularly the effects of large corporations that produce a lot of CO2. That affects third world countries like the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan was a result of not just natural disasters but man-made disasters through corporate interests and profits causing third world countries to suffer from changes in the climate.” Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines was one of the largest storms in recorded history that killed over 6,000 people, destroyed millions of dollars in agriculture and infrastructure, and displaced thousands of families.  

Many large governments, multinational corporations and military aid have also decimated indigenous communities and natural resources across the globe. In the resource-rich island of Mindanao, Philippines, the forests, mountains, and indigenous Lumad tribes are also threatened. Andrew Esposo, chairperson of Anakbayan Los Angeles and member of NAFCON, stated, “We are here marching to declare an end to U.S. military aid to the Philippines. Because the U.S. military aid that is sent in millions of dollars is aiding the Armed Forces of the Philippines to go to the indigenous lands in Mindanao, to destroy and take the land in order to secure it for multinational corporations like mining and logging companies.” Recently, dozens of Lumad indigenous leaders have been assaulted, harassed and killed by the private security forces of mining companies and Philippine military agents. The Philippine military has sided with many American and European mining and logging firms in violently displacing Lumad tribes for profit and corruption.

Filipino Americans are joining in coalition with the larger environmental justice movement for environmental change and human rights. Esposo highlighted why Filipino Americans should care--“We here as Filipino youth understand that our heritage and our history lies in the rights of the ancestral lands of the Lumads and our communities in the Philippines. As Filipino Americans we pay our taxes. It should go to social services, to youth and students for education, not wars, corporate profit, and human rights violations.” The National Alliance for Filipino Concerns will continue conducting mass actions and movement building to defend the environment while at the same time protecting human rights of indigenous people and other marginalized communities.  

Kapit Bisig Kabataan Network (KBKN)is a national Filipino American youth and student network that formed in response to Typhoon Haiyan. Originally a youth-led relief network that responds to natural disasters in the Philippines, Kapit Bisig has developed further into a network that addresses issues related to environmental justice and human rights through grassroots campaigns and projects.

The network currently stands as the largest Filipino youth and student led national network. It has 34 member organizations across major cities the United States located in the Pacific Northwest, Northern California, Southern California, Midwest, and East Coast. During the summers of 2014 and 2015, KBKN was able to send 50+ youth & students from across the nation to the heavily devastated regions in the Philippines to participate in grassroots relief, rebuilding, and rehabilitation efforts.

It was through our immersion with various communities such as the local fisherfolk, farmers, indigenous peoples, etc that we learned about the greater struggle for environmental justice and human rights in the Philippines. Although Typhoon Haiyan is considered to be a "natural" disaster, we cannot ignore the man-made contributions that perpetuated it's massive destruction against the people, the land, and life in the Philippines.

As KBKN, we are determined and dedicated to work side by side by the Filipino people to create a Philippines that is sustainable and can withstand future disasters brought on by climate change. It is through our international solidarity that we hope to build a brighter future for the Philippines.

The goals of the network are:

1) Educate, organize, and mobilize around issues of environmental justice by advocating for grassroots, long-term and sustainable solutions in the Philippines to address issues affecting frontline communities

2) Coordinate and sustain relief and rehabilitation efforts made by Filipino-American youth and student organizations in the U.S. and ensure that donations are coursed through grassroots efforts in the Philippines

Kapit Bisig Kabataan Network (KBKN) strongly condemns the shooting and brutal dispersal of farmers and Lumads blockading the Cotabato-Davao highway in Kidapawan City. KBKN joins the Filipino people in their demand for justice for the victims of the violent dispersal and the call for immediate relief from the Philippine government due to the intense drought in the area.

Approximately 5,000 farmers and lumads mobilized to demand government relief in the form of the immediate distribution of 15,000 sacks of rice to affected communities facing massive crop failures due to the drought caused by El Nino.

On April 1st, 2016 11:15 AM, the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines violently dispersed the protesters. According to reports, security personnel opened fire on the protestors barricading the highway. According to the Solidarity Action Group for Indigenous People and Peasants, three people have been confirmed dead, 116 injured, and many more unaccounted for.

This tragedy also highlights the reality and the devastating effects of climate change. Various international institutions and renowned scientists have already warned about the dangerous impact of climate change on food security and the agricultural sector as a whole, resulting in massive crop failures, especially to agricultural countries like the Philippines. The local Philippine Atmospheric and Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has already sounded the alarm of an impending El Niño cycle as early as 2014. 81 provinces, mostly from Mindanao have already been warned to prepare for possible droughts. As early as January of this year, North Cotabato was already put under a state of calamity.

The farmers and lumads of Mindanao experiencing massive crop failures due to a prolonged drought have been seeking assistance from the government for the past three months. Instead, the Philippine government has ignored their calls. Is this how the Philippine government treats people who are in need? Is this how the Philippine government repays those who labor to feed the country? Is this how the Philippine government is going to respond to the devastating effects of climate change?

We're 6 days away from the deadline for this year's KBKN Relief and Rebuild mission! As a countdown, we'll be releasing mission testimonials everyday until then! Today, we have UCLA Samahang Pilipino's Alana Sanchez-Prak!

8 more days to apply for the 2016 Mission trip!

For immediate release

February 24, 2016

Reference: Chrissi Fabro, National Coordinator, Kapit Bisig Kabataan Network, [email protected]

Kapit Bisig Kabataan Network condemns the most recent attack against the Lumads at the evacuation site at the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) Haran compound. We are appalled at the relentless cases of human rights violations directed against indigenous peoples, particularly against the Lumads.

According to reports from Karapatan, an alliance of individuals, groups and organizations working for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines, the evacuation camp and dormitory of the UCCP Haran were burned by unidentified men at 2:00 am. Two children were rushed to the hospital due to burn injuries. Five were reportedly injured, including four children.

This is not the first time the Lumads had their rights violated. Last summer, around 700 Lumads from Talaingod and Kapalong, Davao Del Norte and Bukidnon took refuge at the UCCP Haran after they were displaced by the military operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). After that, some 500 cops from the Philippine National Police (PNP) stormed the compound resulting in the injury of 20 Lumads. These are just examples of the many other cases of human rights violations against various lumad communities across Mindanao in the past year. The Lumads are harassed because they stand in the way of various multinational corporations who wants plunder the land and its rich natural resources. Their rights are violated because they stand in the way of environmental destruction of our beautiful motherland.

During the last leg of our 2nd relief and rebuild mission in August 2015, Kapit Bisig Kabataan Network’s mission participants had the opportunity to meet and stay with the Lumads in the UCCP Haran compound. Our participants heard, directly from the Lumads, the atrocities being committed in their communities by the militaries - from the occupation of schools for indigenous children to the harassment and forced evacuations.  We were inspired by the determination of the Lumads in fighting for justice in their communities and for an end to militarization.

We call on the authorities and other appropriate government agencies to immediately investigate, identify and prosecute the perpetrators. We call for an end to the culture of impunity. These harassments and human rights violations has to stop. We also call on the rest of the Filipino-American and international community to further raise our voices in defense of the Lumads. ###

For more information:

Fire razes Lumad evacuation camp, dorm in UCCP Haran - Kodao