March 2, 2006

Innabuyog strongly condemns the declaration of a state of emergency through Proclamation 1017 by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at a time that women and people of the country are commemorating People Power 1, an important event in the history of Filipino people ending the rule of a dictator. This repressive measure should be immediately lifted by GMA if indeed democracy thrives in this country.

This is a time to declare a “state of urgency” to evict an insecure GMA from Malacanang. Proclamation 1017 is an act of tyranny expected of a regime desperately holding on to power. Proclamation 1017 is a draconian reaction to the worsened state of hunger and poverty in the country and the deepening political crisis.
But tyranny will not stop the Filipino women and people for GMA’s ouster.

Women’s month commences with Representative Liza Maza, the sole women’s sectoral representative in the 19th Congress, restrained and kept in protective custody in the House of Representatives, with charges of rebellion over her head.

That this attack on the women’s sectoral representative, a long time woman leader and a known advocate of women’s rights comes on the eve of International Working Women’s Day is a direct affront to the women and the women’s movement not just in the Philippines but world wide.

Gabriela Women’s Partylist Representative Liza Maza along with colleagues from Bayan Muna and Anakpawis have been beleaguered with threats to their life and liberty with fabricated charges since Malacanang’s Proclamation 1017.

The PNP-CIDG’s attempt to illegally arrest Representative Maza along with Reps. Ocampo, Casino and Mariano and the illegal arrests of Reps. Beltran and Virador under the pretext of Proclamation 1017 exemplifies Mrs. Arroyo’s brand of dictatorship.

This direct attack takes the continuing harassment and killings on members of progressive people’s and partylist organizations on a higher level. This underscores the Arroyo regime’s outright disregard for the basic rights to due process, the blatant disrespect for integrity of institutions that supposedly embody democracy in our country. GMA has yet to answer numerous human rights violations that occurred during her administration.
We are outraged and view this as a threat to our hard won liberties. We call on women, civil libertarians and freedom-loving individuals to link arms and defend civil liberties and democratic rights.We demand that the fabricated charges lodged against Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Liza Maza and other progressive partylist representatives be junked and that they be accorded the respect and dignity due them as legitimately elected representatives of our people.

We call for the immediate scrapping of Proclamation 1017, clearly a tool of repression and a death sentence to whatever semblance of democracy we now have in our country.

As we are marching to commemorate March 8 as International Working Women’s Day, Innabuyog calls on freedom-loving women in the Cordillera to defend civil liberties and pursue in fighting for women’s rights.

Makibaka, huwag matakot!

Reference: Vernie Yocogan Diano, Innabuyog Secretary General