Fil-Am groups stage anti-China protests across America

By Don Tagala and Steve Angeles, ABS-CBN News North America Bureau

July 24, 2013

NEW YORK –Filipino activists trooped to the United Nations headquarters to denounce China’s aggression and continued occupation of Philippine territories. The rally is part of a global day of protest, staged a year after China created the Sansha Prefecture which administers several island groups in the disputed South China Sea.

Led by the US Pinoys for Good Governance (USPGG), a group that strongly backed the candidacy of President Beningno Aquino III in 2010, protestors said they cannot forget the day China bullied its way to claim 1 Million square miles of the South China Sea.

“We are here at the United Nations so that they will declare that China has no basis in international Law,” said USPGG president Loida Nicolas Lewis said, “this is a struggle we intend to win. These territories belong to the people of the Philippines.”

While a formal hearing for the peaceful resolution of the Philippine-China territorial dispute is ongoing at the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal, Lewis said ground protests like these can make a difference.

“We do not have to go to war, we have to only show the world that the United Nations is ruling for us,” Lewis added.

‘Kababayans’ from as far as Boston and Connecticut joined the protest and are calling other nations to join the fight.

“We own the island, and they are getting it piece by piece, you know, so it’s very important for the Filipino,” Ding Ragasa, a resident of New Haven, CT said, “We should defend our country, we should die for it.”

The Philippines Consulate in New York told ABS-CBN News that the Philippine Government neither supports nor condemns the protest.

In a statement, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said they respect the protesters’ right to free assembly and freedom of expression.

‘International Attention’

Protestors in Los Angeles said, at the very least, they’ve brought international attention to the issue.

Simultaneous protests were held outside the Chinese consular offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

“Over the past years China has been in a dispute over island territories in the surrounding seas with several countries. The US Pinoys for Good Governance has been spearheading the actions here. They’ve been lending their personal time, effort and finances for this,” said Rocio Nuyda.

In San Francisco, a similar protest was mounted, with elderly Filipino World War 2 veterans chaining themselves to the Chinese consulate entrance, to call attention to China’s act of aggression toward the Philippines.

Aside from the day of global protests Filipinos said they will continue to boycott Chinese products and services until the dispute is resolved.