APL-Women Celebrates Women's Day by Calling for the Ouster of 'Shameless Woman' in Malacañang

Women members of the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), together with Akbayan and other fraternal women's groups like Kanlungan and the Coalition Against Trafficking of Women (CATW), marched in the streets today to celebrate the International Women's Day in open defiance of a continuing crackdown on peaceful assemblies despite the "lifting" of the hateful Proclamation 1017.

"Women's Day has become a very dark day for us in the country because it is an unenlightened woman who is leading in oppressing the wide ranks of the poor and marginalized workers," said Tess Gurion, chair of APL-Women.

"GMA is the perfect example of how not to be a modern Filipina woman - Insecure, insensitive and arrogant, and worse she is not afraid to employ brute force to silence her opponents, violating human rights in the process. She is the embodiment of everything that is rotten in today's society, and we mark Women's Day with a call for the ouster of a woman who has usurped her position and continues to exercise powers that do not belong to her. It is ironic that GMA's continued stay in office will only spell doom for women everywhere, since as President she should be at the forefront of promoting and protecting women's rights. Instead, she is at the forefront of these violations in all fronts - economic, political, social," Gurion added.

Meanwhile, Fatima Cabanag, secretary general of the Kapisanan ng Maralitang Obrero (KAMAO-APL), said that "with the imposition of the E-VAT, women are finding it harder and harder to manage meager resources, and puts more and more of us in dire poverty."

She explained that "With the policy of sowing fear and threat of reimposing fascist dictatorship through the anti-terror bill, the calibrated preemptive response, and her Proclamation 1017, women are finding it harder to organize and assemble to exercise our rights to free speech. All of this against the backdrop of a shameless woman who refuses to explain herself over allegations of rigging an election and diverting public funds to keep herself in power."

"The message for this year's Women's Day is clear - women must assert our rights to live free from fear and want even if the stumbling block to achieving this goal is a woman herself," Cabanag added.

The APL said that similar actions were held by APL-Women in the cities of Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, and Bacolod, and vowed to continue the fight not only for women's interests but the interests all of marginalized sectors in society, and until GMA is finally ousted from office.