Kabataan Partylist

Slams illegal arrest, detention of organizer in Ormoc

Kabataan party-list, the leading youth party-list participating in the elections, is set to hold an Espana-wide noise barrage later this afternoon for clean and honest elections.

The activity dubbed, “Kalampagin ang Espana: Tie A Blue Ribbon against electoral fraud and for youth representation in Congress” will commence at exactly 5:00 in the afternoon in various points along Espana in Manila.

Kabataan members and supporters from Welcome Rotonda, Blumentritt, Sampaloc, Lacson, UST, Miguelin, Riles, Algeciras and Trabajo Market will all converge along Espana with their noise-makers to register the youth party-list’s clamor for clean and honest elections.

“With barely a week before Election Day and killings and political repression still rampant, the youth and the people are given no reason to believe that massive electoral fraud and violence are at bay. We call on all concerned and democracy-loving citizens to join our crusade against electoral fraud and violence. Let us all fight for our stake for a promising future for the youth,” said Raymond Palatino, national president and nominee.

Palatino cited the most recent cases of political repression namely Makati Rep. Jejomar Binay’s ‘midnight suspension’ and the harassment against Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casino and his companions in a motorcade in Ormoc yesterday as omens of more rampant suppression of the political opposition ahead.

One of Casino’s companions, Rolando ‘Jun-Jun’ Cabato, 21 years old, and a Kabataan organizer in Ormoc, was illegally abducted by elements of the AFP’s 19th IB. He remains missing to date.

He also criticized the government’s lack of political will to put a stop to electoral-related violence which escalated these past weeks. More than 100 have already fallen victim to electoral-related violence.

“We cannot hope to have fraud-free and peaceful elections for as long as the military remains at the cudgels of supposed ‘peace and order’ operations for the elections. The government cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the fact that in some, in fact most, cases of repression and violence, the military is involved,” said Palatino.

Palatino announced that the youth party-list will commence with a ‘Three-Day Countdown’ for clean and honest elections from May 10-12. The countdown will kick-off with a massive ‘cyber-countdown’ of young Filipino bloggers who are also supporters of Kabataan.

On May 11, Kabataan party-list will stage a nationally-coordinated noise barrage. The countdown will end with a vigil in front of the Commission on Elections on May 12. ###.

Kabataan, Gabriela, and Suara Bangsamoro Tagged as Fil-Am favorites for 2007

News Release
May 6, 2007

References:
Gary Labao, Spokesperson, TEXT BACK USA, email: nychrp@yahoo.com;
Sarah Katrina Maramag, Media Officer, Kabataan Party List, kabataan.national@gmail.com

In the final week stretch before Filipinos line up to the ballot boxes, a growing number of Filipino-Americans are also stepping up their initiative promote better legislators in the Philippine Congress.

A nationwide text brigade initiative of the US Chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, or BAYAN USA, called TEXT BACK (TEXT Brigade Against Cheating and Killings) will target family, friends, and loved ones of the Filipino-American community in the Philippines to vote for sectoral party-lists Kabataan Party, Gabriela Women’s Party, and Suara Bangsamoro.

“A high constituency of our national Fil-Am alliance are youth, young women, and of course, as Filipinos, we understand the conditions of being an marginalized ethnic minority. We see genuine hope in the legislative agendas of Kabataan Party, Gabriela Women’s Party and Suara Bangsamoro to trail blaze a brighter future representing these voices amidst the cheating, violence, and the maneuvers of the trapos (traditional politicians),” states Gary Labao of the New York Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (NYCHRP) and a spokesperson for TEXT BACK USA.

Beginning Sunday, May 6th, 7:30pm PT/10:30pm ET in the United States, nationally-coordinated text messages will be sent from texters in New York, San Franciso, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Honolulu and other US cities to various Philippine cities including Manila, Baguio, Davao, and Cebu City.

Text messages will be sent in Tagalog, Visayan, Ilocano, and English. Messages will include catch-phrases such as: Kung Mahal Mo Ang Bayan, Pandaraya Labanan; Pol Killings Wakasan, Sa Trapo Wag Paloko, Progresibo Iboto (If you love your motherland, fight against cheating; End political killings; Don’t vote for traditional politicians, vote for progressives), and signed TEXTBACK USA.

Conversely, in the Philippines, representative from various partylists will be awaiting the text messages from their US-based supporters.

“It is estimated that one Filipino in the US supports 4-5 Filipinos in the Philippines. Fil-Ams are the largest overseas community outside of the Philippines, with almost 4 million Filipinos. With those calculations we anticipate TEXT BACK USA spreading like wildfire reaching thousands, maybe more, of our countrymen this final week before elections,” stated Sarah Katrina Maramag, Media Officer of Kabataan Party List in Manila and Vice-Chairperson of international Filipino youth organization Anakbayan.

Labao also stated that overseas Filipinos may not be lining up by the ballot boxes this election season, but their political power must be asserted, especially during this politically crucial time.

“We are particularly concerned that this election season the Arroyo regime and its supporters will exact heightened repressive measures– including violence, abductions, and killings– to secure its stronghold over the Philippine government versus the democratic will of the Filipino people,” Labao added.

Labao also reiterated the crucial contributions of overseas Filipinos.

“If not for the economic value of overseas remittances, particularly the billions from the US, the Philippine economy will sink. We should have a say in who is elected in the Philippine government,” Labao ended. ###

MEDIA ADVISORY

TEXT BACK USA = sure votes for youth representation in Congress!

Press conference, Kabataan Party-list National Headquarters, 10-C Speaker Perez St., Quezon City; Kabataan regional headquarters (to follow)

http://www.gmanews. tv/story/ 40709/Youth- groups-hit- detention- of-protester

Militant youth groups cried foul Wednesday over the alleged harassment in the arrest and detention of a student leader who attended Tuesday’s May Day rally.

Youth groups led by the League of Filipino Students (LFS) and Kabataan Partylist staged a protest action in front of the Manila Police District headquarters in Manila Wednesday.

Police arrested Ken Mark Ambay, 23, a member of the Kabataan party-list group, while he was walking behind his friends along Morayta Avenue after the Labor Day rally along C.M. Recto Avenue.

A plainclothesman later identified to be from the Manila Police District grabbed and arrested him.

“When I resisted, the policeman along with two others shoved me so I fell on my back. They stepped on my neck and waist as they tightly placed handcuffs on my wrists,” recounted Ambay.

Ambay’s companions, also members of Kabataan party list, said the policemen who grabbed Ambay pointed guns at them as they approached Ambay to help him.

When Ambay was brought to the Manila Police Station 4, he was charged with assaulting the policemen that arrested him, an act Ambay denied.

“I could never have assaulted any policeman during the rally because it was a very peaceful demonstration. If I have hurt the ones that arrested me, I’m sorry but it was only natural for a person to resist when he is being grabbed and arrested for no reason,” he said.

Vencer Crisostomo, national chairman of the LFS and spokesman of Kabataan, described Ambay’s arrest as “a display of police brutality and power tripping.”

“We joined the Labor Day rally to fight for our rights, not to become victims of the denial of these rights by the government through the Philippine National Police,” said Crisostomo.

The groups said they are planning to file complaints against the policemen who arrested Ambay, saying that they shall not tolerate such events to occur. - GMANews.TV

More cases of illegal detention against members of progressive partylists feared as elections comes near

The Kabataan Partylist today condemned the arbitrary arrest and illegal detention of one of its coordinators Ken Ambay following the Labor Day celebrations.

Ambay, 21, and a student of the University of the Philippines Manila, was with other UP Manila students in front of a fast food store near Morayta when two men in plain clothes apprehended him and had him handcuffed.

When Ambay’s companions tried to help him, the two men brought out their pistols and started aiming their gun at them.

“When we began to question why did they handcuff him and why were they taking him, they threatened to shoot anyone who would come near and help Ken,” Mariche Hermosa, also a UP Manila student and one of Ambay’s companions.

Ambay was initially brought to a police precint in the area and was immediately transferred to the Manila Police Headquarters in United Nations Avenue. The two arresting men were later on identified as Inspector Dexter Versola and PO1 Christopher Amistoso. The two claimed that Ambay was identified as one of the assailants who mugged a certain PO2 Raul Gumiran who was not with the officers during the arrest.

“This is a clear case of harassment against Kabataan Partylist.Their accusation against our coordinator Ken Ambay is baseless and fabricated, and is intended to harass members and coordinators. We are calling for the immediate release of Ken Ambay,” Kabataan Partylist President Raymond Palatino said.

Palatino also appealed to the Commission on Human Rights and the Commission on Elections to conduct their own investigation of the arbitrary arrest and detention of Ambay.

“We fear that this might lead to more cases of arbitrary arrest, detention and harassment against Kabataan and other progressive partylist groups who are known critics of this administration.”

Meanwhile, Palatino said Kabataan Partylist is planning to file counter charges against the arresting officers for violations of their own standard procedures and for physical assault and threat perpetrated against Ambay and his companions.

Troop deployment will aggravate, not curb, poll violence

Kabataan Party-list, the only youth party-list participating in the May polls, today stressed that more army checkpoints and troop deployments will not curb but aggravate poll-related violence.

The youth party-list delivered this statement following President Gloria Arroyo’s order for troops to ‘assist’ the Philippine National Police to stop poll violence.

“We are finding it very hard to grasp Pres. Arroyo’s logic. We think that DOJ Sec. Gonzales may be rubbing on her; it is twisted and downright insensitive. How can she say that the military’s more active role in the elections will curb violence when illegal troop deployment has been tainting the credibility of the election process at the onset?”, said Raymond Palatino, national president and nominee.

“This is what happens when we have an administration which unthingkingly applies militarist measures to every conceived national problem,” said Palatino.

Palatino added that it is the job of the Commission on Elections and the Philippine National Police to ensure that no blood be shed this election period.

“The implementation of the ‘gun-ban’, for instance, need not be used as justification by the administration to employ army intervention in the elections. It is a job for the Comelec and unarmed PNP to strictly implement. But these past few weeks, we have been hearing of gun-related poll violence in the news and what has the Comelec done? Nothing.,” said Palatino.

“We are also very uncomfortable with the knowledge that AFP-manned checkpoints will be put up in so-called election hot spots. We have not forgotten the AFP’s involvement in the Hello Garci scandal. The way we see it, AFP intervention will not only aggravate poll violence but will also provide a condition for massive electoral fraud,” Palatino said. ###

Gov’t job programs promote underemployment

Various youth and student groups led by Kabataan Partylist joined the Labor Day protest in Liwasang Bonifacio today to criticize the government’s failure to provide adequate jobs for new college graduates and solve the growing unemployment and underemployment problem in the country.

Kabataan Partylist President Raymond Palatino blamed the government’s economic policies and labor programs for the insufficiency of job opportunities in the country, saying that graduates nowadays are only left with three choices – either to go abroad, accept jobs which do not match their degrees or become idle.

“Every year, fresh college graduates are confronted with the same problem of job scarcity, but our government’s response has always been for the former to look for greener pastures abroad or accept its job offerings which largely fall short of any acceptable standard or measure for anyone who finished tertiary education.”

“The sad reality is, after paying large sum of money for college education, the few who manage to finish higher education are forced to any kind of job or work as caregiver or domestic helpers abroad just to earn money,” Palatino pointed out.

Palatino added that the government’s own job programs are contributing to the increasing jobs-graduates mismatch and underemployment in the country.

“The government wants to create an illusion that it is solving the unemployment problem, yet the nature of jobs that it is offering our graduates, which mostly are call center or tourism jobs, do not match their undergraduate degrees. Besides, these jobs are unsustainable for graduates who want to have a permanent career.”

He cited a study conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry which shows that Filipino call center workers stay an average of 2.5 years on the job, compared with about eight to nine months for Americans, which is also on a part-time basis. Filipino call center agents only receive a fifth of their American counterparts’ salaries.

“Even call centers confess that while there seems to be a large pool of English-speaking college graduates being churned out by Philippine schools, only a few qualify. Out of 100 applicants in a call center firm, for instance, only 5 to 10 are hired.”

“If the Arroyo government is really sincere in its promise of generating six to 10 million jobs by 2010, it should address the problem of unemployment and underemployment with concrete and long-term plans and not with knee-jerk solutions,” Palatino said. ###