Who’s Afraid of People Power in DC?

Did the Philippine Embassy Cancel an Event Out of Fear Filipino-Americans Would Protest the Presence of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo?After hosting a successful National Summit for Human Rights and Democracy in the Philippines gathering more than 350 people and uniting to further organize to oust the Duterte presidency, the Malaya Movement participated in organizing two actions confronting both the Philippine government as represented by the Philippine Embassy on the human rights situation and the United States inside the Senate Hart Building calling to cut U.S. support for the Duterte regime. In addition the Malaya Movement intended to again confront another enemy of the Filipino people, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who also happened to be in Washington D.C. However, the public event put together by the Philippine Embassy titled “Briefing for the Filipino-American Community” wherein there would be a discussion on the “current economic developments in the Philippines,” was cancelled the night before it was to take place. Is this a coincidence?  “Many of the participants of the Summit registered for this event and received a confirmation to attend from the Philippine Embassy immediately after they RSVP’d. We were ready to disrupt yet another attempt of the Philippine government to hide behind their false projection of economic growth and developments,” stated Malaya Arevalo, Secretariat member of Malaya Movement. “We also wanted to confront Arroyo with her standing crimes against the Filipino people that she has yet to serve, including the abduction and torture of Filipino-American Melissa Roxas under her regime. We think they got wind of our arrival and our numbers, and decided correctly to cancel the event,” added Arevalo. ###