24 May, NYC: US Out of the Philippines Now! Rally for Food, Land and Justice in Mindanao

Join BAYAN USA Northeast on the last day of Lakbay Lumad USA to commemorate the anniversary of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and to demand: U.S. OUT OF THE PHILIPPINES NOW! FIGHT FOR FOOD, LAND & JUSTICE IN MINDANAO! 

#LakbayLumadUSA, a delegation of indigenous Lumad leaders from Mindanao the southernmost island of the Philippines, has been traveling throughout the United States since April and is culminating its historical speaking tour in New York City. The delegates have been calling public attention to the violent repression against the Lumad committed by President Noynoy Aquino’s military, police and paramilitary forces; demanding accountability; and challenging the Mindanao-native and President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to end the impunity.

Now, in the same week as the 17th anniversary of the VFA signing, the Lumad delegates will be joining Filipinos and allies in the Northeast to protest the unrestricted U.S. military aid flowing to the Philippine military and the continued U.S. military and economic intervention in the Philippines. The controversial (VFA) has served as the basis for U.S. intervention in the Philippines and paved the way for the indefinite permanent presence of at least 660 U.S. Special Operations Forces in Mindanao, dozens of annual war games with thousands of foreign troops on Philippine soil and in Philippine waters, and unlimited docking and travel of U.S. warships in Philippine ports and through Philippine land and airspace.  This year, the United States increased its military aid to the Philippines from $50 million to $79 million. BAYAN USA Northeast condemns this foreign military financing as a tool of imperialism, which is wrongly justified as a way to “assist” the Philippines in the midst of rising tensions with China.

By funding the AFP, the U.S. is strengthening counterinsurgency initiatives of the government, namely Oplan Bayanihan, and the continued human rights violations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) against community leaders and activists, especially the Lumad. The Philippine military and paramilitary forces are occupying and destroying schools and communities of the Lumad who are defending their right to education and protecting their indigenous culture and livelihood from devastation by corporate mining and logging.

#StopLumadKillings #SaveOurSchools 
#JunkVFA #USOutofPH 
#FoodLandJustice #RiceNotBullets #BigasHindiBala