Filipino/American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity – 2005-12-08 08:46:03

Women Protest Against Rape in the Philippines by US Marines:
A Demonstration in Solidarity with Philippine Women’s Organizations

December 8, 2005 at 4:30 pm
Dewey Statue, Union Square in San Francisco, CA

On November 1, 2005, six US Marines brutally gang-raped a 22 year-old Filipina woman at the former Subic Naval Base in Olongapo, Philippines. The US Marines have been released from the Philippines and have not been brought to justice according to Philippine law.

The Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the Philippines and the US states that if any military personnel commits a crime, the Philippines will primarily handle the case and has the right to litigate.

Provisions under the VFA are seldom surrendered to Philippine authorities, making US soldiers virtually untouchable under US jurisdiction despite crimes they commit against Filipinos on Philippine soil.

On December 8, 2005, in solidarity with a march in the Philippines led by the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, members of Women for Genuine Security, Filipino/American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity (FACES), and Gabriela Network will lay down beside the Dewey Statue in San Francisco in support for the victim and the women of Philippine organizations who are pressuring Philippine authorities to prosecute these marines.

The site of the demonstration, the Dewey Statue, was chosen because it inaccurately commemorates Admiral Dewey’s success in “liberating” the Filipinos during the Spanish American War, which set the stage for US entry into the Philippines in the 1800s and the ongoing oppression and violation that the US military presence continues to perpetuate.

This incident was not the first. Violence against women, children, and youth by the US military has happened, without accountability, many times before in the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea.

The bay area women organizing this Thursday’s demonstration in Union Square hope to raise awareness about this violation of women’s human rights and demand the US military turn over these rapists to the Philippine Courts.

Stop the violence against women by the US military!

In honor of International Human Rights Day on December 10, all are welcome to join, support, or observe the demonstration this Thursday, December 8. Please contact Lea at leafrancisco@gmail.com for more information.

Filipino/American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity, 1808 Fifth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710. (510) 549-1808.
www.facessolidarity.org