Filipinos in San Francisco add voices to South China Sea protests
Protestes gathering at Union Square in San Francisco June 12 to decry “China’s bullying.” PHOTOS BY JUN NUCUM
SAN FRANCISCO — Officers and members of various Filipino American groups in the Bay Area banded together to celebrate the 117th Philippine Independence Day by holding a rally at the Union Square and then marching around downtown, with a symbolic stop in front of the Apple store, to protest China’s “incursions and aggressive land reclamations” in the West Philippine/South China Sea.
Bearing Philippine flags and clad in yellow shirts with prints against China’s claims on “Philippine territory,” marchers chanted anti-China slogans and urged the public to boycott China-made products.
“We are here because this is the most meaningful way of celebrating our Independence Day not by looking back on what happened in 1898 but at what is happening now China is threatening, actually invading, Philippine territory,” U.S. Pinoys for Good Governance (USPGG) President Rodel Rodis announced.
“How can you celebrate independence when it is being threatened? This is our way of saying we love the Philippines, we want to preserve Philippine independence so we want China out of the Philippine Sea,” Rodis declared.
Charito Benipayo, USPGG board member and treasurer, regarded the march rally as a “mission accomplished.”
Protesters march below a Chinese flag off Union Square.
“It is indeed a very heartwarming aspiration and participation of many Filipinosin the entire United States and the whole world because this was not done only in San Francisco,” Benipayo reported. “At the same time, Filipinos in New York, Chicago, Canada, Germany, all over and everywhere in the world [are protesting]. We are supported by our neighboring nations. Thank you for everybody’s participation in this wonderful accomplished mission in the celebration of the 117th Philippine Independence Day.”
Other participants said they too were there to show their support for asserting Philippines sovereignty against the “aggressive” activities of China on Philippine soil.
Bernardo Isorena, an 88-year-old World War II veteran with the Philippine Scout, joined other surviving war veterans in making their voices of protest heard.
“I joined the rally against the invasion by China of our territory, the Philippine territory. It is important that we, who fought in the war for our Motherland, are here fighting this time against invasion of China of our territories. We will not allow China to claim and to invade Philippine territory,” Isorena stressed.
For Larry, a young Filipino expatriate, joining the march was his way of making the Filipinos in the homeland feel that fellow Filipinos in the U.S. are also supporting the cause of preserving Philippine territory.
“I am here to protest China bullying in the West Philippine Sea because we should make sure that our voices are heard even in the U.S. on this our 117th Independence day. We have to make sure that our territories are respected and any disputes are settled in the international panel not through force but through diplomacy,” the young Filipino expatriate said
Boyet Bautista, a tourist from the Biñan, Laguna who came with his family, witnessed the march rally and expressed support for the cause.
“Ok yung ginawa nilang anti-China rally on the celebration of Philippine Independence day. I strongly support that,” Bautista applauded. “I also back their call for a boycott of China-made products because the products fuel China’s preposterous claims in the West Philippine Sea. The products are the backbone of China’s strong economy that in turn also makes a rogue state powerful, a state that does not recognize the UN International Tribunal on the Law of the Seas (ITLOS).”
When asked on why they are picketing Apple, a giant American electronics company, Rodis explained that all Apple products are made in China as they do not have a single Apple factory in the U.S.
“We are saying goods made in China should be boycotted. So the moment Apple starts making products in the U.S. or anywhere else, then we will say okay. But as long as their products are made in China, then we are calling for a boycott of all Apple products,” Rodis justified.
Rodis also stated that their group is also picketing Wal-Mart because 90 percent of the goods sold their stores come from China.
Agreeing with Rodis, National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) Bay Area Executive Director Rudy Asercion believes that the success of a worldwide boycott of Chinese goods, might “encourage China to get on the table so we can talk, to negotiate for a peaceful resolution rather the military option.”
“Since China is not inclined to talk at this point, we have to give them an incentive to do that. Right now, they are so powerful, they are economically peaking right now so there is no incentive for them to sit down and negotiate because they know that they can pressure the Philippines to accept whatever it is that they want. So the incentive right now is to get global action on the boycott because right now there are not many countries in the world that are pro-China in this issue,” Asercion explained.
Filipino World War II veterans at the San Francisco rally.
In boycotting China-made products, Rodis clarified that they are not against Chinese workers because they not boycotting the Chinese people.
“We make a distinction, boycott China and not Chinese. In fact, we are supporting the Chinese workers because we are picketing Apple which partners with Foxconn, the biggest exploiter of Chinese workers in China,” Rodis emphasized. “It is the Chinese government, the Communist politburo that runs China that we are opposed to. They are the one with the policy of invading, occupying and militarizing the shoals in the West Philippine Sea and that is the one we are directing our demonstration and rallies to. “
USPGG spokesman and legal counsel Ted Laguatan said that the world, including the G7 countries (the richest countries in the world – U.S., Italy, Canada, Germany, France, United Kingdom and Japan) now know what China is doing.
Many countries are now also protesting the illegal construction of military bases in Philippine territory, which has been reported in mainstream media and supported by
However, Laguatan bared that very recently, China sent communications to the Philippine government that they want to talk about this and they don’t want war. Most probably because, Laguatan said, China became concerned with what it perceived as the unspoken threat of military action from Japan, Australia and the U.S.
“The head of the U.S. Pacific fleet Admiral Harry Harris said China better stop this. Even Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Secretary of State John Kerry in no uncertain terms told China to stop the construction of military positions in the disputed areas of the South China Sea, and that the U.S. Senate said we can resort to military action because of these constructions,” Laguatan added.
“Those are very strong words so China better take heed,” Laguatan said further. “But China is being hardheaded and stubborn, saying they will not stop. Now we’ll see what will happen. What we know is that the world does not now trust China’s intention that much anymore as their credibility and intentions are suspect. Before we are the only ones speaking. Now the world knows better. “
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