Press Release
27 July 2008

For reference:
Norman Uy Carnay
Country Information Officer, Tel. No. 96472567

BAYAN-HK says "long hands of poverty" extend abroad
"GMA is calamity personified"

"Poverty is rampant and the economic and political crisis is even worse. We can feel it so even abroad. Truly for the Filipino people, GMA is calamity personified."

This was the statement today by Norman Uy Carnay, Country Information Officer in Hong Kong of the militant group BAYAN (New Patriotic Alliance) as overseas Filipino workers in HK rallied a day ahead of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

"As breadwinners of our families, we cannot escape from the tragedy after tragedy that GMA's policies and inaction to burning issues bring. Every month, we are full of worries as to how we can still shoulder the increasing needs of our families," he said.

Carnay remarked that the rice problem, the incessant increase in prices of oil and oil-dependent commodities and the Value Added Tax are the major concerns of OFW families that impact Filipinos abroad.

"These are the everyday needs of our families that stretch our budget to the limits. These expenses are on top of what we have to shoulder on education and health that should have been basic services that this government has never delivered," he added.

According to him, there's "not a grain of truth" to the projection of progress in the midst of high unemployment, increasing number of poor people, and dwindling budget to basic services.

"Don't she dare tell us that everything's well. Don't she dare tell us that we're facing a bright future. At the heart of all the calamities we have faced is GMA," he stressed.

Carnay said that Filipino migrants are enraged with the refusal of the GMA government to heed the people's demands that will alleviate the hardships that the people face such as the removal of the VAT on oil and the scrapping of the oil deregulation.

"Instead it keeps on exacting from the earning of OFWs through various government fees. It even takes money from what we send to our families through the documentary stamp fee in every remittance," he revealed.

Meanwhile, he added, it remains silent on issues affecting OFWs in the host country. He mentioned the lack of reaction of the Philippine government to the HK$100 wage increase for foreign domestic helpers in HK that migrant groups have called "too small" as well as the suspension of the levy that migrants believed would lead to massive termination of current FDHs.

"Other consulates have already expressed disappointment over the levy decision but the Philippine Consulate General has remained silent. It just shows how the GMA government mortally fears rocking the labour migration boat that is the only one supporting the country's economy," Carnay stated.

Finally, Carnay echoed the calls of groups in the Philippines for GMA's ouster.

"GMA has committed too many crimes against the people. There is no hope for us as long as GMA is in power. There's only one call on this SONA but Oust GMA Now," he concluded.