The people of the United States are tired of the same old song and dance. We are losing our jobs. We are losing our homes. We are losing our access to affordable education. Millions of us are still without quality health care.  

People in the Philippines are unfortunately listening to the same song as us. It is not a simple coincidence that our American tax money is going away from the things that we need most here in the U.S. and going to fund a corrupt and murderous regime in the Philippines.  

Reagan supported Marcos as he killed thousands of innocent people and pocketed millions of Philippine government funds. George W. Bush supported Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as she began a brutal war against anyone who dared to criticize her corruption and election fraud.  

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, just like how she met with President Bush, will visit the United States to meet with President Obama next week along with a group of Philippine legislators. We need change. We need REAL change.  

President Obama has promised real change to the American people and we want him to stand by his words. Obama does not need to make the same mistakes of Reagan and Bush. We demand that Obama reject the Macapagal-Arroyo administration’s request for more military and economic aid and instead spend that money to bring education, health care, and jobs to the American people.  

On July 27th BAYAN-USA-NORCAL will converge in San Francisco for a spectacle of dancing and music in order to draw attention to President Macapagal-Arroyo’s waste of both Philippine and U.S. tax money. Our tax money should not be funding corruption, torture, and murder in the Philippines, the U.S. or anywhere else!  

Come join us as we dance the cha-cha for a cha-cha-change in U.S.-Philippine policy! Feel free to come dressed up as a politician or part of a military death squad! Wear your best Barong Tagalog, business suit, your red, white, and blue get-up, or military camouflage! Join us in the fun!  

NO U.S. Tax Dollars for torture or dictatorship!!!
No to GMA’s bogus Charter Change!!!
More money for education, jobs, and health care in the U.S.!!!  

BAYAN-USA-NORCAL 
http://bayanusanorcal.wordpress.com/

Thank you everyone for making the first SFCHRP Open House a success! We are moved and inspired by your commitment to ending the Human Right Violations happening in the Philippines and not let this atrocities continue in silence. We look forward to your participation in becoming a SFCHRP member or supporter and someone from the organization will be contacting you shortly. Please remember human rights violations happen across race and culture, and therefore SFCHRP is NOT just a Filipino member organization.  

Becoming a general member means coming to our once-a-month meetings and helping spread the word about SFCHRP in whatever way you can, as well as what the organization can offer to you if you are a member. However, if you would like to be more active in SFCHRP, you can be one of our core members and pick the committee you would like to participate in: Alliance Committee, Finance Committee, Organizational Development Committee, or Education Committee. Again, someone will follow up with you. Below are a list of upcoming actions and events SFCHRP will be participating in. We hope to see you there!  

EVENTS/ACTIONS/ACTIVITIES:  

What: Dance Against Cha-Cha and People's SoNa
When: Monday, July 27, 2009 at 4 PM
Where: TBD

Every year, on July 27th the Philippine President makes an annual report on the current social, economic, and political condition of the country at the State of the Nation Address (SoNa) event. As in past years, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is expected to use the SONA as a way to prop up the legitimacy of her regime by presenting a fabricated picture of the Philippines, with fake claims of grand accomplishments in addressing poverty, creating jobs, fighting terrorism and insurgency, contributing to regional economic growth, and upholding human rights. However, already standing neck deep in a track record of out-of-control rates of poverty, absence of social services, an ever-increasing list of human rights violations, and endless cases of corruption, Arroyo seeks to avoid prosecution and extend the reach of her power through Charter Change (Cha-Cha).  

Under Cha-Cha, Arroyo can impose Martial law and extend her stay in office indefinitely by changing the government to a parliamentary system, thus avoiding potential prosecution. Charter Change will constitutionally allow the US and other foreign military forces unrestricted stay and operations in the Philippines. Already playing a puppet to US militarism, Arroyo continues to bow down to foreign business interest as well. Charter Change places Philippine national sovereignty at further economic risk. Under Cha-cha existing economic provisions can be eliminated, enabling foreigners 100 percent ownership of lands and other property. Foreign exploitation and plundering of natural resources will increase, causing more displacements of people and landlessness in the countryside.  

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What: International Day of the Disappeared
When: Sunday, August 30, 2009 from 1:30 - 4:30 PM  
Where: Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Public Library (located at 100 Larkin Street)

Since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came into office in 2001, over 200 civilians has been abducted or have been subjected to enforced disappearances. There have been 1,013 cases of extra-judicial killings, 1,036 cases of torture, and more human rights violations overall than under any previous president, including Ferdinand Marcos. The systematic and widespread attack against any civilian population is defined as a “crime against humanity” by the Rome Statue of International Criminal Court and Article 6 of the UN Convention.  

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s continuing inaction despite condemnation from several international human rights groups raises doubts and concerns about her political will to stop the mounting extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the Philippines.  

On August 30, let us make the voices of the disappeared heard, seek justice for the martyrs, press the Philippine government to take the necessary actions to surface the missing, and stop the contributions of the U.S. goverment in this continuing atrocities through the use of American tax dollars and other forms of U.S. sponsored support to the Philippine military and government. We shall gather to remember and demand justice for all the victims. Let us unite in the struggle to end enforced disappearances and all forms of political persecution and repression.  

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For more information or to get involved, please contact sfchrp@yahoo.com.