As the government holds it 116th annual Philippine Independence Day celebration today, global alliance of overseas Filipinos Migrante International bewailed the country’s continued “bogus independence”.
For Migrante International, under the BS Aquino administraton, “Amboy Noynoy’s” remorseless subservience to US-imposed policies and dictates has stripped “Philippine Independence” of its real patriotic meaning.
“Amboy Noynoy’s recent signing into the EDCA (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement) and his underhanded tactics to implement charter change (cha-cha) are paving the way for US re-occupation and re-colonization of the Philippines. History is testament of how US military occupation and domination of foreign control over our industries and lands have undermined and plundered national patrimony and sovereignty. On Philippine Independence Day, Filipinos around the world condemn the BS Aquino government for its outright and shameless puppetry to the US neoliberal agenda, at the expense of the Filipino people,” said Garry Martinez, Migrante International chairperson.
“The EDCA will make us vulnerable to attacks from enemies of the US, and Amboy Noynoy, the ever-reliable puppet, is allowing it. We should be able to assert our national sovereignty from territorial threats on our own terms, instead of allowing ourselves to become the battleground of US proxy wars. The Aquino government’s railroading of cha-cha, on the other hand, will allow 100% foreign ownership and control of land, businesses, industries and resources and will make Filipinos squatters in our own homeland,” he said.
Martinez said that cha-cha will also pave the way for the signing of the US-PH Transpacific Partnership in trade which will further aggravate forced migraion and the labor export policy.
He said that under the Aquino administration, the number of OFWs leaving the country increased from 2,500 daily in 2010 to 4,884 in 2013. “This is the result of massive unemployment, low wages, landlessness and privatization of social services under the BS Aquino regime,” he said.
“The government’s recourse is to further seek job markets abroad and intensify its labor export policy at the expense of the rights and welfare of Filipino workers. The labor export policy is nothing but a big business venture from which both the US and PH governments profit, with OFWs as milking cows,” Martinez said.
Migrante International called on all freedom-loving and patriotic Filipinos around the world to join protests against increased US intervention and aggression in the Philippines and in the Asia Pacific.
Pork barrel and corruption bleeding Filipinos dry
The migrant leader said that aside from perfectly playing his role as puppet and “Amboy”, BS Aquino is also primarily accountable for bleeding Filipinos dry in exchange for profit for foreign corporations and his KKK (kamag-anak, kaklase, kabarilan).
Martinez slammed BS Aquino for the continuing and worsening system of corruption and patronage politics under his administration.
“The pork barrel scam has evolved into a more complex web of lies, deceit and exploitation of the Filipino people, with no less than BS Aquino and his allies at its helm. Mag-iisang taon na mula nang pumutok ang pork barrel scam pero hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa rin naa-abolish ang pork barrel,” he said.
“We still have the pork in the 2014 budget,only this time it is concentrated within and controlled by the Executive branch. After the disclosure of the Napolist, it has become more clear to us why Pres. Aquino has been loathe to abolish the pork barrel all along. Mismong ang mga pinakamalalapit niyang alyado sa gobyerno ang tunay na utak ng pork barrel scam, and his government is now employing everything to do a cover-up,” Martinez said.
He slammed the Aquino government’s“selective prosecution” of political foes, while protecting the likes of Sec.Abad and Sec. Alcala, whose names appeared in the Napolist. “Lahat ng sangkot ay dapat managot. Hindi dahil KKK ay ligtas na sa imbestigasyon at prosekusyon. Abad and Alcala and all other administration officials involved should resign, iyan ang tunay na tuwid na daan.”
Martinez said that OFWs are also calling for an independent body to conduct an urgent investigation of those involved inthe pork barrel scam. “To ensure that there will be no cover-up, an independent investigating body should not be dominated by government appointees, especially since big administration allies like Abad and Alcala have also been included in the list. OFWs and their families all over the world will oppose all attempts of a whitewash.” ###
