Stop the lies! End the Duterte regime’s attempts to malign people’s organizations overseas!

Anakbayan-USA and BAYAN USA are unimpressed by the latest attempt of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and Diehard Duterte Supporters (DDS) to discredit people’s organizations and dismiss the righteous outrage of Filipinos overseas. This past Monday on July 5th, a group of no more than ten Filipinos, calling themselves “FACT” (“Filipinos Against Crime and Terrorism”) held a rally in front of the Philippine Consulate General of New York, accusing grassroots organizations such as Anakbayan-USA and BAYAN USA of “undermining the Filipino government” and “supporting terrorism in the Philippines.” Such attacks are nothing new, and only confirm that the concerns we raised over the passing of the Anti-Terror Act last year were legitimate, as the Duterte regime’s fascist repression continues to spread overseas. 

We do not have to look far back in time to see that the #1 perpetrator of crimes and terrorist acts against the Filipino people is the Duterte regime itself: the rape and massacre of three Lumad-Manobo in Lianga, Surigao del Sur; the failure to defend the Filipino people’s sovereign claim to the West Philippine Sea; the sending of Philippine National Police personnel and the duplicitous Mindanao Indigenous People’s Council of Elders (MIPCEL) to the US. to surveil and terror-tag Filipinos abroad; and, perhaps worst of all, the criminally inadequate and hyper-militarized response of the regime to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

If “FACT” and other bogus organizations formed by the NTF-ELCAC and DDS are so concerned about the safety and security of our kababayan in the U.S. and the Philippines, they would amplify our kababayan’s demands for mass testing, vaccines, and immediate government aid for all Filipinos, including overseas Filipino workers. Instead, they perpetuate the silencing of these legitimate people’s demands.

Fighting against fascism is not terrorism. Demanding free mass testing is not terrorism. Organizing for a world where people are not forced to leave their families in search of livelihood abroad is not terrorism. The NTF-ELCAC-backed “FACT” making false accusations and putting Filipinos in the U.S. at risk under the Anti-Terror Law IS terrorism.

We urge all Filipinos and our allies to reject the lies being peddled by the Duterte regime’s agents, and mobilize to People’s State of the Nation Address actions across the country to speak our truth. Let us band together, show our unity through action, and end the Duterte regime once and for all. 

Ayuda, Hindi Terror Law! Government Aid, Not Terror Law!

No to Terror Tagging! Abolish the NTF-ELCAC!

Activism Is Not a Crime!

Oust Duterte! Duterte Wakasan Na!