Chicago IL – 50 demonstrators rallied outside Chicago’s Philippine consulate for a People’s State of the Nation Address (PSONA), July 27. Filipino activists organized the PSONA to illuminate the real conditions faced by the Filipino masses a day before Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. delivered his SONA. Protesters demanded freedom for Filipino immigrants in the U.S. arrested by ICE, and an end to U.S. support for the Marcos regime.

“There was zero mention of Filipino migrant detention and deportation during Marcos and Trump’s meeting,” a said representative of the Malaya Movement. “From our local cases concerning Tita R and Tito E, to Max Londonio and Llewelyn Dixon across the country. All of their cases reflect a sad and contradictory reality for Filipinos who seek work abroad due to Marcos Sr.’s Labor Export Policy.”

Overseas Filipino workers make up the backbone of the Philippine economy and remittances from Filipino immigrants comprise 10% of the Philippines’ GDP. Across the U.S., they face intense forms of exploitation and now ramped-up ICE detentions and deportations.

“When we demand our democratic right to determine who polices our communities and how our communities are policed, we also demand the right to liberation for those under the boot of U.S. imperialism, from Palestine to the Philippines!” declared Alec Ozawa, a co-chair of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR).

“The Marcos regime’s collusion with U.S. imperialists to turn Subic Bay into a missile factory is a betrayal of the Filipino people,” said Hugo Gebner from the Anti War Committee Chicago. “This isn’t ‘self-reliant defense,’ it's a death trap designed to turn the Philippines into a staging ground for a U.S. war on China, while Filipino workers forge the very weapons that will slaughter Palestinians and others caught in Washington’s bloody proxy conflicts. Marcos isn’t defending the Philippines; he’s auctioning its sovereignty to line the pockets of U.S. arms dealers.”

Closing out the demonstration, a member of Malaya Chicago stated, “We demand the immediate release of Filipino migrants detained by ICE, including Tita R and Tito E! We demand the Philippine Consulate do their job and protect said Filipino migrants, and provide them with thorough assistance! We demand a Philippines that is able to provide for all of its people, instead of being stripped of its resources by the rich and powerful!”

The demonstration was organized by Malaya Chicago, Migrante Chicago, Anakbayan at UIC, Tanggol Migrante, and the Chicago Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines.

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