[Urgent Action Alert 11.14.05] Emergency National Indignation Rally

PROTEST THE TRANSFER OF 6 MARINES ACCUSED OF RAPING A 22 YEAR OLD FILIPINA OUT OF THE PHILIPPINES
WOMEN'S GROUP GABRIELA NETWORK CONDEMNS CUSTODY TRANSFER OF MARINE RAPE SUSPECTS; DEMANDS GOVT. TO BACK OFF PHILIPPINE AFFAIRS, FULL WITHDRAWAL OF U.S. MILITARY FROM THE PHILIPPINES!!!
WHEN: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14 4:30 PM– 6:00 PM

WHERE: PHILIPPINE CONSULATE:447 SUTTER (AT POWELL), San Francisco
Directions from BART: Exit Powell St. Station, walking distance up Powell, make right on Sutter
Simultaneous actions in Chicago, Irvine, Los Angeles, New York/New Jersey, Portland, Pullman/Washington State Univ., San Diego, San Francisco/Bay Area, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

On November 2nd, six US Marines were accused of raping a 22 year old Filipina. Although the VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement) mandates that they not be tried under Philippine law, women's groups and others were demanding that they remain in the Philippines. On November 12th they were transferred to Okinawa. This transfer is a glaring example of the more than century-long inequitable, colonial relationship between the US and the Philippines. It is a glaring example of the constant violence and violation of a nation's sovereignty perpetrated by the US military and US intervention in the Philippines.

As US and Philippine government officials continuously invoke the provisions under the US-Philippine Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) to justify this custody transfer and the interference of the US on the issue of jurisdiction, they themselves are proving VFA's inadequacies, one-sidedness, outright violation of the Philippine constitution, and the subjugation of countries like the Philippines through US military, political and economic might.

Human rights violations continue unabated: Bayan Muna Secretary-general Renato Reyes said Ben Bajado, chairman of Bayan-Eastern Samar and council member of the Bayan-Eastern Visayas, was shot dead at 5 p.m. Sunday in Maydolong, Eastern Samar province. Bajado's death brings to 122 the number of activists killed during the last ten months.