25 August 2006

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo,
Hon. President,
Republic of Philippines ,
Malacanyng Palace ,
Metro Manila ,
Philippines .

Her Excellency,

 STOP KILLINGS THE LEADERS & ACTIVISTS IN THE SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN PHILIPPINES

 We, the World Forum of Fisher Peoples' were shocked to hear and extremely worried about the killings of the fisher folk leaders & activists of Philippines . We condemn all of these killings as well as the latest incident of killing of Mr. Orlando Rivera, the leader of PAMALAKAYA, in the fishing village of Obando in Bulacan.

As our counterpart organization of PAMALAKAYA reported this is not the only incident of such killings of your government against the leaders of the leftwing alliance & the fisher folk. We are concerned about the life of Mr. Sonny de Armas, as he was also marked allegedly by military agents in the same fishing village of Binuangan , Obando, Bulacan.

We, urge and strongly advocate to protect the lives of the active leaders of PAMALAKAYA as well as the activists of social movements in the country who take strong stand against the issues which are detrimental to the lives and livelihoods of the people in your country. There should be a space for the voice of the people and their issues. We are in solidarity with the victims of the communities and convey our strong support for any further action against this situation.

Your Excellency , Philippines being a democratic country, we do hope people should have the freedom to stand against the situations where they want to change according to the benefit to the majority people of the country. However, the killings are going on every corner of the country. We can not accept these killings at all & do not want to hear such killings any more and won't tolerate on such incidents.

Please take every possible step to protect the life of people, specifically who are active in the field of welfare of the majority people in the country.

Thanking You,

Sincerely,
Herman Kumara,
General Secretary-WFFP