OFWs to Greet Gloria in Hong Kong with Ouster Call
President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo is scheduled to visit Hong Kong on June 20 and Filipinos
in the islands are gearing up to greet her – with protests.
BY BULATLAT
OUT WITH HER: Hong Kong
OFWs stage rally
for GMA ouster at Philippine Consulate
PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIFIL-HK |
“If Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
thinks that by going abroad she will find respite from the political storm
brought about by her fraudulent presidency and corruption-ridden rule,
she’s badly mistaken.”
Thus said Dolores
Balladares, chairperson of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong
(UNIFIL-HK), one of the largest Filipino groups in Hong Kong.
“Mrs. Arroyo cannot
wriggle her way out of the controversies hounding her in the Philippines.
Filipinos abroad are also disgusted with her government and we shall be
part of the brewing movement that calls for her ouster,” said Balladares.
|
According to Balladares, Mrs. Arroyo’s coming trip to Hong Kong
shows how desperate she is to escape the heat of election fraud and
corruption cases that have besieged the Arroyo government in the past
weeks. At the same time, Balladares added, “she’s frantically putting up a
front to show the international community that she’s still in control
despite the precariousness of her situation.”
The group revealed that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) around the world
are preparing themselves to mount a massive campaign “that will complement
and strengthen the ouster call in the
Philippines.”
The UNIFIL also said
that different OFW groups, especially those allied with the Migrante
International, will also call on to the international community, including
international development aids and foreign governments, to withdraw
support to the Arroyo government.
“This is an illegitimate president. This is an illegitimate government.
They should stop extending assistance to a regime that Filipinos reject,”
Balladares stressed.
The UNIFIL chair also said that they are prepared to go to the extent of
encouraging OFWs to stop sending their remittances to government channels
“to dry up the fund that Mrs. Arroyo just uses to further plunder our
country.”
“Mrs. Arroyo may think that she’ll ride out the call for ouster in the
Philippines by going abroad. She really is in for a ride from OFWs – a
ride out of Malacañang,” Balladares concluded.
Similar calls by
various Filipino and international groups in other countries including
Canada, the United States and Europe are also mounting, Bulatlat
learned. Bulatlat
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