For Immediate Release
November 11, 2012
Contact: Valerie Francisco, Chairperson, gabrielawomen@gmail.com
GABRIELA-USA Mounts Support for ManiLakbayan
News has spread worldwide about the October 18 massacre in the Philippines of two-months pregnant Juvy Capion and her young sons, Jorge and Janjan, aged 13 and 8. The targeting of Juvy and her husband, Daguil Capion, reflects the reality of daily violence faced by the B’laan tribe and other indigenous peoples throughout the Philippines for actively opposing large scale mining by foreign multinational corporations encroaching on ancestral lands. GABRIELA-USA condemns the recent spate of killings of indigenous leaders and anti-mining activists in Mindanao, and we are actively reaching out to our communities in the US to support efforts in raising awareness of the recent events in Mindanao.
Juvy (bottom row 2nd from right) with children and family. Right picture: Juvy in casket
“Women and children are often the collateral damage of the trite war games of the Philippine government. And in the case of Juvy, she lost her life even as she was defending the future of her children,” stated Raquel Redondiez, Spokesperson for GABRIELA-USA. “Under President Aquino’s orders to militarize communities, the Investment Defense Forces facilitate the brutal displacement of local residents and crush their opposition of the plundering of land by foreign investors. We support the efforts of indigenous tribes, local residents, and grassroots organizations to protect the land and oppose these human rights violations.”
An independent fact-finding mission and witness accounts point to the 27th Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) as the perpetrators of the attack against the Capion family. Philippine President Benigno Aquino’s regime deploys Investment Defense Forces–a mix of soldiers and police—to areas throughout the county to “protect” investments, such as that by Sagittarius Mines Incorporated-Xstrata (SMI-Xstrata).
A network of advocates and defenders of the environment and patrimony in the Philippines will embark on a ManiLakbayan, a caravan and march that aims to raise the national consciousness around the deteriorating human rights situation in relation to large-scale mining. In support of the ManiLakbayan and the accompanying weeklong series of events for the environment and human rights, GABRIELA-USA has set a goal to raise at minimum of $2000 before December 10 and calls on all friends to support this cause through generous donations.
To donate online via paypal, visit http://tinyurl.com/manilakbayandonation. Checks can also be mailed to the locations below. Please write “ManiLakbayan GABRIELA” on the memo.
Northern & Southern California: make all checks payable to “GABRIELA USA”
Mail to Babae San Francisco at 4681 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94112
North West: make all checks payable to “Pinay sa Seattle”
Mail to Pinay sa Seattle at 5740 Martin Luther King Junior Way Seattle, WA 98118
North East: make all checks payable to “GABRIELA USA”
Mail to FIRE NYC at 699 Bergen Street, Apt 3 Brooklyn, NY 11238
For more information on fundraising and ManiLakbayan, please contact gabrielawomen@gmail.com.