On her two-day visit to Canada, Philippine President Macapagal Arroyo blatantly side-stepped the major issue of the over 600 U.S. military troops that are now in the Philippines.

Overseas Filipino organizations and supporters in three major Canadian cities (Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver), numbering around 100, participated in protest activities as Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo began her two-day tour of Canada. Community members in Ottawa were able to directly confront the President in a rally held at a community meeting.

They confronted President Macapagal-Arroyo with strong opposition to the massive re-entry of foreign soldiers in their homeland. The protests of Filipinos in Canada were in firm solidarity with the majority of people in the Philippines who are against the U.S. military intervention.

President Macapagal Arroyo refused to deal directly with the overseas Filipino community's question of the substantial presence of foreign U.S. military combat troops in the Philippines and eluded the community's concerns by lamely calling their protests 'divisive'.

Instead of responding to community's protests, the President insulted them by calling the overseas Filipino community in Canada and all overseas Filipino workers 'the new overseas Filipino investors' in a community meeting in Ottawa after her meeting with the Prime Minister of Canada. She urged the community to continue sending their hard-earned remittances back to the Philippines.

"President Arroyo Macapagal's reference to us as 'overseas Filipino investors' is a slap in our face as overseas workers who work as live-in domestic workers in Canada," exclaims Jane Ordinario of SIKLAB, an organization of overseas Filipino workers in Vancouver, "Instead of using government money to hire an American Public Relations firm and spin doctors to bolster her image, she should focus on creating genuine economic development and peace in the Philippines," she adds.

Another protest action is planned for tomorrow as Macapagal Arroyo finishes her two-day tour in Toronto when she plans to meet with the Canadian business community and the local Filipino community.

- 30 -

Photo from Vancouver rally attached. More photos available upon request. For more information, contact May Farrales or Cecilia Diocson at 604.215.1103 or [email protected]