A lightning protest met at a downtown public lecture at Simon Fraser University by Enrique Manalo, the Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs and the highest ranking state official to visit Vancouver in recent years.
About eight members of Filipino organizations from the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) BC and solidarity groups shouted slogans and displayed placards condemning the Philippines’ foreign policy and human rights record as Manalo spoke before lecture attendees.
They shouted “Indo-Pacific Strategy is not the solution!”, “Hold Duterte and Marcos accountable for crimes against the people!” and “Philippines not for sale!” Event organizers later escorted them out of the venue where they joined about 15 other protesters who were holding a rally decrying the worsening economic situation in the Philippines that is forcing about 6,000 Filipinos to leave the country every day to find jobs in other countries.
The Philippines is not for sale
The lecture was hosted by the Asia Pacific Foundation as part of their Indo-Pacific Leaders Speakers Series, with the title “The Indo-Pacific Region in the Eyes of the Philippines: Navigating Through Uncharted Waters.”
BAYAN BC, an alliance of Filipino organizations representing youth, women, students, and migrant workers, said the Philippines’ foreign and domestic policies open up the country to foreign investment, stunting the development of a national industry and Philippine-led agricultural production.
“The resulting import-dependent and export-oriented economy leads to wealth inequality and poverty, and contributes to the worsening of environmental disasters and human rights abuses,” according to BAYAN BC.
The current president, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, is the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whose rule was marked by widespread human rights abuses and massive corruption. A popular uprising ousted Marcos from power in 1986, after which he fled with his family to Hawaii. Protesters noted that Marcos Jr. has continued his father’s legacy of abuse and corruption, and criticized Manalo as a representative of this reactionary government.
We say no to Charter change
One Filipino youth participant said that he wants to “serve the Filipino people, not Manalo,” adding, “From my perspective, all he’s concerned about is selling out the Filipino people. Participating in this rally solidified my analysis of the situation.”
BAYAN BC further notes:
“Marcos’s Charter Change and his overall pro-foreign policy will only worsen the economic situation in the Philippines. Canada intends to take advantage of this through their Indo-Pacific Strategy, which highlights the Philippines as a source of migrant labour and a growing market for Canadian infrastructure projects. Canada also intends to provide further military aid to the Philippine military and police, which will only result in further surveillance, harassment, and extrajudicial killings in the country.”
Serve the people, not profit
BAYAN BC said Canada has historically profited from the Philippines’ anti-people government policies, especially the Philippine Mining Act (1995) which allows for 100% foreign control over mining projects in the country. Manalo and fellow speakers also proudly noted that Canadian insurance companies including Sunlife and Manulife have operated in the Philippines for decades (in some cases, before Philippine independence in 1945). The presence of these companies reflects the Philippine economy’s reliance on foreign investment at the expense of its own national industry.
Protesters also linked the Philippine foreign policy to the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ support for “war crimes committed by the US elsewhere in the world such as Palestine and, under previous regimes, in Vietnam and Afghanistan,” noting that the Philippines has been a strategic military location and reliable ally for US military interventions since 1898.
“BAYAN-BC and our allies call for the sovereign self-determination of the Filipino people, without the intervention of foreign imperialists,” according to the group.
No business as usual
Protesters inside the event accused Manalo of hypocrisy when his talk emphasised people-to-people relationships between Canada and the Philippines, “when the Philippine foreign policy is notably anti-people.” Non-Filipino allies said that they challenged the talk to “say no to business as usual” while expressing their solidarity for the Philippines.
Another youth said, “Imperialism is global, we’re in the belly of the beast. In this moment in time we have security to dissent, so we need to use that wiggle room to make disruptions with intention.”
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