For Immediate Release:
October 22,2016
Reference: Nicole Manzana, Chairperson, [email protected]
Anakbayan East Bay stands in solidarity with Sandugo and all anti-imperialist protesters calling for the the US to remove all military presence in the Philippines. We call for the end of Oplan Bayanihan, the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement, and the Visiting Forces Agreement. We demand that Col. Marcelino Pedrozo Jr. and all involved PNP be prosecuted for their crimes during the violent dispersal. We urge President Duterte to take a stand on the incident and move forward in pursuing an independent foreign policy.
Anakbayan East Bay strongly condemns the violent dispersal of protestors at the US embassy on October 19, 2016. About 1,000 activists from Kilusan ng Moro at Mamamayang Katutubo para sa Sariling Pagpapasya (Sandugo), a newly formed alliance of Moro and indigenous peoples, and BAYAN Philippines protested at the US embassy gates to oppose US military intervention and support Duterte's calls for independent foreign policy. Sandugo called for an end to US-backed militarization of their communities, which has resulted in landgrabbing, human rights violations, extrajudicial killings, and displacement and has infringed on the rights of Moro and indigenous peoples to self-determination. Militarization protects the interests of the US financial elite and the puppets of US imperialism in the Philippines.
Protesters were already being hosed as they were marching down the streets to the embassy gates. They peacefully conducted most of their program. During the final speech, Col. Marcelino Pedrozo Jr. ordered the violent dispersal of the protestors. The police began striking protesters and media personnel with batons. The Philippines National Police (PNP) shot tear gas and began hosing protesters. A cop van rammed violently into the crowd, driving back and forth over people several times. As protesters ran down the street to disperse, cops followed to capture and arrest them. Police slammed protestors and their jeepneys with batons as they were dispersing. 29 were arrested and over 50 injured. 11 of the injured protestors were hospitalized. Among those arrested include minors and health workers tending to the injured protesters. The group marched to Manila Police District to demand the release of those arrested. The 29 were released the same afternoon.
The Philippine army and police protect the oppressive and exploitative interests of the US to extract the natural wealth and resources from the Philippines, especially from the ancestral land of indigenous peoples. Philippine state forces receive funding, training and equipment directly from the US, and models its counterinsurgency programs--which create paramilitaries and murder indigenous leaders--after US counterinsurgency programs. Dismissed as part of a tribal war, these foreign-backed, government-initiated calamities operate under the guise of counterinsurgency.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, Urban Shield militarizes local law enforcement by increasing the use of militarized weaponry and tactics. Supposedly designed as an emergency preparedness activity, Urban Shield is an international expo that heightens state repression that has resulted in police killings, SWAT raids, and surveillance technologies. This is only one example of US sponsored international militarization and repression. BART police officers even participate in annual joint trainings in the Philippines with the PNP. From the streets of Oakland, CA to remote tribal villages in the Philippine countryside, the US asserts its military presence to strengthen its imperialist control over the Philippines and its own people.
