BAYAN Canada opposes Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo’s presence in Canada as a direct representative of the Philippine state. Enrique Manalo will be visiting Vancouver, Ottawa, and Toronto from May 6th to May 10th to discuss Government Republic of the Philippines (GRP) foreign policy and hold bilateral meetings with four Canadian Cabinet Ministers including Mélanie Joly, Minister for Foreign Affairs. This visit is in line with celebrating 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries and pushing forward “economic growth.”
But whom will this visit and diplomatic relations benefit? In reality, the GRP’s foreign policies, like the Indo-Pacific Strategy, are just another venue for the US-Marcos II administration to continue selling out the Philippines, its people, water, land, and natural resources for plunder by foreign imperialists including the US, China, European powers, and others including Canada. These proposed agreements between Canada and the Philippines will continue the history of Philippines’ rich resources being funnelled to imperialist nations, such as Canada and the US, as the Filipino people remain poor!
BAYAN Canada calls on allies and Filipinos across the country to denounce the attempts of the bureaucrat capitalists, like Manalo of the Marcos Jr. administration, to implement more foreign policies that don’t serve the interests of the Filipino people. Rather, the opening up of the Philippines to foreign investments and diplomacy, via expanded foreign military presence and cooperation, stunts the genuine development of the Philippines’ own agricultural industries and national industrialization. Development of Philippine national industry and agrarian reform has the potential for lifting the country out of poverty and must be prioritized!
We must reject foreign ownership of our land and resources in order to prioritise serving the Filipino people’s needs. Neoliberal economics has not worked for the masses in any country; it will only lead to thousands of Filipino people migrating to countries like Canada and the US.
We must reject the Marcos Jr. administration’s attempts to expand these failed policies in our homeland and demand that the Canadian government end their complicity in the exploitation of the Filipino people.
Reject and Resist Marcos-US-Duterte!
Philippines Not For Sale!
End Canadian-US war games in the Philippines!
Junk the Labor Export Policy
No to 100% foreign ownership
No to Charter Change
