Message to Hong Kong DEFEND

I wish to convey my most heartfelt greetings to the members of the HK DEFEND, my compatriots, human rights activists, and peace advocates who are gathered here today.

You come here in the spirit of solidarity. This is the same spirit that brought the HK DEFEND together six months ago. This is also the very same spirit that has given the HK DEFEND the determination to stand up for what is right and just.

I am deeply grateful for the various activities that you have organized in defense of my democratic rights. The protest action that you conducted before the US Embassy in Hong Kong was one of the very first demonstrations to support me and all others victimized by the US-led anti-terror hysteria.

I am aware that your initial action was followed by a series of dialogues with representatives of European governments in Hong Kong. Even more protest actions followed after the European Council yielded to US pressures and decided to include me in the European Union list of ‘terrorists’.

When an international petition campaign was launched, HK DEFEND immediately responded. To date, more than 27,000 signatures have been gathered all over the world in support of my case. These signatures have been submitted to the European Council to protest its arbitrary decision of tagging me as a terrorist and to demand rectification.

Lawyers from Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany, Sweden and the Philippines have come together to take up my legal defense. I filed with the European Court of Justice last February 7 the application for the annulment of the European Council decision tagging me as a "terrorist". I am also about to file with the appropriate Dutch court a complaint against the withdrawal of social benefits. Very likely this case will reach the European Court of Human Rights.

The legal and political struggle against my persecution is far from over. I continue to need your support. Even if I were to win the fight against all the current false charges against me, the imperialists will make further attempts to put me down. That is because they hate the principles that I uphold and the working people that I stand with in the struggle.

I fight not only for my democratic rights as an individual but more importantly for the national and democratic rights of the Filipino people against US imperialism and the local exploiting classes in our motherland. Furthermore, I stand with the people of the world and fight for a future free from imperialism and all reaction.

The Filipino people’s struggle for national liberation and democracy continues for so long as the US and other imperialist powers, with the collaboration of their local puppets, oppress and exploit the people and know no bounds for undertaking plunder and aggression.

Your forum today is of utmost importance. It is an occasion for us to raise the level of our patriotic, progressive and internationalist consciousness.

The Philippines has served as the US launching base for aggressive actions in the Asia-Pacific region since the turn of the 20^th century. How many battle ships and planes have flown from US bases in the Philippines to terrorize the people of Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and as far as the Middle East? How many US troops have gone through our country to suppress the revolutionary movements of the people in other countries? The US keeps a stranglehold on the Philippines because of its strategic importance.

But the Filipino people have resisted US imperialism.. The anti-imperialist struggle that started more than 100 years ago has developed into a powerful new democratic revolution, with a socialist perspective. This is the revolutionary movement that the US attempted to destroy but failed miserably through the Marcos fascist dictatorship. Now, the US seeks again to crush it by making the Philippines the second front of the US war of terror on the people.

Right now, the US is on a rampage. It is using the September 11 attacks carried out by some of its former proteges as license to attack countries and peoples of the world. It misrepresents as terrorist certain countries assertive of national independence as well as national liberation movements and progressive leaders. In this manner, it rationalizes the war of aggression that it is poised to unleash against Iraq. In the same manner, it invents a false reason for increasing US military intervention in the Philippines.

In fact, the US is the super-terrorist force that has killed millions of people. It unleashes wars of aggression, stockpiles weapons of mass destruction, installs regimes of open terror and directs assassinations, massacres and genocide. It presumes that it can solve the ever-worsening economic and financial crisis by intensifying military production and engaging in wars of aggression. For this vile purpose, it is stirring up jingoism, racism and fascism. It uses state terrorism in order to suppress the democratic movement of the people.

You are here today to discuss the situation in the Philippines. Keep in mind that the patriotic and progressive struggles of our people against US imperialism and the local reactionaries are part of the international movement for greater freedom, social justice and all-round development. So are the struggles of the people of China in general and Hongkong in particular and other lands from which you might come.

You are here today in the internationalist spirit of anti-imperialist solidarity. This spirit binds people in their millions around the world, as manifested so militantly in the current mass movement against the US scheme of war on Iraq. The same spirit guides us to fight more resolutely than ever before for liberation, democracy, justice and peace.

Thank you and good day.