The U.S. is NOT a “friend“ to the Filipino people!
GABRIELA USA rejects the narrative of "Philippine-American Friendship Day" which is conveniently on the US holiday - July 4th. This day is also marked by the Trump administrations railroad decision to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill - which will impact many low income Filipino workers - majority of which are migrant women.
Ever since US colonization, the Philippine government has always remained subordinate to the US. Despite given nominal "independence" - the US continues to plunder the land, natural resources, and transform the country into a large military base all for the sake of posturing against China and protecting their own interests in the Asia Pacific region. Under the Marcos Jr. administration, there have been increased efforts to sell out Philippine soil - to accommodate US Military troops and weaponry by adding more EDCA sites, conducting never-ending military exercises like Balikatan and Kamandag, and even transforming Subic Bay into an ammunitions storage.
Additionally, because the bureaucrat capitalists only "develop" the country for US economic interests, this forces Filipino women abroad in order to provide for their families both here and in the Philippines. While working women slave away for meager wages in backbreaking work the ruling elite spend large amounts of funds towards, militarization abroad, towards attacks on migrant workers and towards growing their own wealth. These funds are fueled by the people's tax dollars - and yet policies, like the One Big, Beautiful Bill, will add a 5% tax on remittances that will only add to the burden of OFWs who already struggle to send enough money back home due to rising costs of living.
US presence on Philippine soil has always led to the proliferation of violence against women, both within the US and back home. This often looks like the displacement of women from their ancestral lands through military or police violence, using sexual violence to harass and intimidate women from organizing, engaging in prostitution and red light districts or indiscriminate bombing and attacks in the countryside. We have also witnessed the rising attacks and inhumane detention of Filipino migrants. Inside these detention centers, Filipino women have shared with us the overcrowding, lack of medical support, unlivable conditions (including flooding, overheating) and hiked up costs of commissary.
GABRIELA organizations have been on the ground, actively supporting migrant communities that face the economic burden and are affected by the political crisis and even freeing migrants from ICE detention! Many migrant mothers are concerned and worried for their families in the US and in the Philippines. Between experiencing wage theft, like the Amity caregivers, or being afraid to go to their jobs due to attacks on migrants - it has only been our organizations being alongside the masses, which is more than can be said for the standing Philippine government and its consulates.
We demand an end to the parasitic relationship that the US has on the Philippines! So long as the US continues to use the Philippines as a military base, a source for cheap labor, a site for plunder, and so long as Marcos and the bureaucrat capitalists sell out our people for their own gain, then our people have no choice but to rise up and fight for themselves! The Filipino people have everything to gain by fighting for our national liberation!