Filipino groups picketed the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong on Wednesday to express their anger over the money they say is being wasted as Manila hosts the 2015 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this week.
“APEC is a big part of the reason why we OFWs are slaving away and are being abused in foreign countries. APEC means further underdevelopment of poor countries in the region. APEC means more forced labour migration,” said Dolores Balladares-Pelaez, Chairperson of United Filipinos in Hong Kong.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN, or New Patriotic Alliance) spearheaded the rally, which was attended by representatives of migrant organisations under the two alliances.
The APEC Summit opened on Wednesday in Manila amid great fanfare and some controversy.
Among issues raised by the Hong Kong-based organisations was the budget allocated by the Aquino government for the summit, which amounts to a whopping PHP10 billion (HKD1.6 billion) and reportedly included “wallpapering” slum areas in Metro Manila where delegates are scheduled to pass.
“That 10-billion peso budget could have been better used to fund the country’s social programs, including those that provide services to overseas Filipino workers. As it is, the money has gone to funding a meeting of economic plunderers that will lay the whole region to waste through more neoliberal prescriptions,” said Vicky Casia-Cabantac, Chairperson of Migrante Sectoral Party.
APEC was also criticised by Filipino progressive organisations such as BAYAN for being a “peddler of imperialist globalisation” which furthers underdevelopment among poor countries in the region and creates greater push for labour migration. In addition, the current summit has received flak more specifically for uniting the whole region around the new trade agreements that are being promoted by both US and China.
“The US wants to clinch support for Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific, while China wants to promote its Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. These are schemes for trade dominance that will benefit only big foreign corporations in the region, and will result in more underdevelopment and labour export for struggling economies like the Philippines,” said Joselito Natividad, Program Coordinator at the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants.
Balladares-Pelaez said that rather than “playing host to plunderers” that will further exploit the Philippines’ backwardness, the Aquino government should instead attend to the country’s fundamental economic problems.
“We want to see the day when a Philippine government will plan and implement pro-people programmes like genuine agrarian reform and national industrialisation, which will address the poverty and social injustices in the country and set the stage for the elimination of forced labor migration,” she concluded.
Neither the organisers of APEC nor the social services department of the Philippines government responded to Coconuts HK’s request for a comment.
Photos: Loryjean Yungco
