On Bonifacio Day, Migrante International salutes the toiling masses who are coming together in pursuit of immediate relief for the Filipino people who are now bearing the brunt of crises in our country. Amid widespread poverty and the repulsive crimes now being committed by high government officials, it is heroic to fight back against plunderers and the corrupt. We Filipino migrants are committed to march around the world in solidarity with the toiling masses, today’s generation of heroes.
In taking a look back at the history of the Filipino people, it is not difficult to realize that among the ranks of our heroes are our migrant forebears. Together with Andres Bonifacio in waging revolution against the Spanish colonial and feudal order were ilustrados, intellectuals who studied abroad to propagate principles of national liberation back home, and migrant workers like Candido Iban and Francisco del Castillo who financed and participated in our revolution.
Through decades of our country’s chronic economic crisis and the labor export program under Marcos Sr. and beyond, thousands of overseas Filipinos carried on our revolutionary legacy in trade unions, anti-dictatorship protests, and people’s organizations abroad. We have them to thank for inspiring our movement for the rights and welfare of migrants today and their significant contributions in the continuing struggle for national liberation and genuine democracy in the Philippines.
Today, we are witness and part of heroism built on the struggle for migrants’ rights and dignity, reflected by our campaign to save the life of Mary Jane Veloso. Heroic are the thousands of Filipinos who took to the streets at home and abroad, the tens of thousands who petitioned, everyone who spoke out against human trafficking and the death penalty for a crime that Mary Jane did not commit, all to stay the execution of a kababayan at the final hour of April 28, 2015.
Nine years after Mary Jane’s continued and heroic commitment to her innocence, her life is now to be saved for a second time by her forthcoming transfer to the Philippines. As we now call for Mary Jane Veloso’s safe return and full clemency, we migrants will never forget each and every contribution made to the global movement that saved Mary Jane’s life.
When Mary Jane Veloso became a migrant worker to support her poor family in 2010, the daily minimum wage in her home province of Nueva Ecija was Php 316, short of the income necessary to feed and school her two children. If Marcos Sr. were to heed our call to grant Mary Jane clemency, she would return to a Nueva Ecija that has not seen even a doubling of its minimum wage. The daily minimum wage in her province is now Php 480, under half of the Php 1,200 it takes for a Filipino family to survive today. We cannot continue to let wages back home remain stagnant and work opportunities scarce if we do not want our society to birth more victims of human trafficking and forced migration like Mary Jane.
As Filipinos reel through low wages, chronic unemployment, and rising prices of basic goods and utilities, the ruling Marcos and Duterte families are escalating their feud over power and public funds. Sara Duterte’s corruption of confidential funds and his father’s bloody war against the poor are being exposed in Congress. Marcos Jr. is happy to point out Duterte’s abuses if only to cover up his own anomalous and massive spending of confidential funds. Both factions bicker and threat each other as they turn their backs on the suffering of our people. This political crisis is not the solution to the worsening hardships that we face back home.
As we carry on the heroic struggles of the toiling Filipino masses today, we must fight back against the plunder and corruption of our homeland. The Dutertes must pay for their crimes against our people. Marcos Jr. must answer for his own abuses of public funds, together with his policies that mire Filipinos in unemployment, debt, and poverty. Let us be brave in fighting for justice for Mary Jane Veloso, along with all victims of human trafficking, unjust detention, and labor exploitation under the Labor Export Program of Marcos Jr. Let us continue to carry the calls for a Php 1,200 family living wage for Filipino workers, meaningful jobs at home, and genuine alternatives to end the roots of human trafficking and forced migration.
Through collective action in deep solidarity with all toiling masses, we Filipino migrants can realize our new heroism as the Bonifacios of today.
Full clemency for Mary Jane Veloso!
Php 1,200 family living wage, ipatupad!
Duterte, panagutin! Marcos, singilin!
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