Build a Brighter Future: An International Cultural Night of Hope and Peoples’ Struggles

Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture 2011

Please come out and support FPAC! Find us at the BAYAN USA booth. Read below for more information.

On behalf of FilAm ARTS, we’d like to extend an invitation to our family, friends, and customers to experience the largest annual celebration of Filipino Arts & Culture in Southern California! FPAC is a two-day weekend of arts, culture, fun, and community, and yearly audiences of over 25,000 intergenerational and multicultural supporters, representing 20 years of community tradition.

BAYAN USA will be participating at this year’s FPAC at Pt. Fermin Park in San Pedro. The address is 807 Paseo Del Mar in San Pedro, CA. Festival admission is $9 per day and tickets can be purchased online at the FilAm ARTS website filamarts.org, through various community organizations listed on the FilAm ARTS website, or on site at the Festival.

FPAC is annually produced by FilAm ARTS, a certified 501 (c)(3) non-profit, community-based organization supported by the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, and the California Arts Council for over a decade. FilAm ARTS three main programs are: Eskuwela Kultura, the Pilipino Artists Network, and the Festival of Philippine Arts & Culture (FPAC). For more information, please visit filamarts.org.

Thank you for your support of BAYAN USA, FPAC, FilAm ARTS and the Filipino American community throughout Southern California. We look forward to seeing you at FPAC!

Remembering the Disappeared: Survivor of Torture and Abduction in the Philippines Appeals to UN Special Rapporteur on Torture for Justice

MEDIA ADVISORY
August 22, 2011

Contact: Kuusela Hilo
Email: info@justiceformelissa.org

Remembering the Disappeared: Survivor of Torture and Abduction in the Philippines Appeals to UN Special Rapporteur on Torture for Justice

What: Justice for Melissa Press Conference; Appeal to UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.

Where: Immanuel Presbyterian Church
3300 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90010

When: Thursday, August 25, 2011, 6 PM – 7 PM

*** PHOTO OPPORTUNITY ***

Los Angeles, CA. In commemoration of the International Day of the Disappeared, Melissa Roxas, a torture survivor who was disappeared for six days at the hands of the Philippine military, will file an official appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Professor Juan Mendez to help remove roadblocks to her pursuit of justice. Working with a team of world-renowned international human rights lawyers who have joined the Justice for Melissa Roxas campaign, Roxas will ask the Rapporteur to call on the Philippine government to fully disclose all information regarding Roxas’ case, cooperate with investigations, pursue charges against those responsible for her abduction and torture, and extend an invitation to the Rapporteur to conduct a visit to the Philippines to investigate the human rights situation.

On Thursday evening, human rights defenders and survivors of human rights violations from different countries will join Roxas for a special press conference to shed light on the continuing impunity in the Philippines and hope for justice for all victims of torture and disappearance worldwide. Victoria Don, Esq., Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris Hoffman & Harrison, LLP; Julie Gutman, Executive Director of Program for Torture Victims; Marvyn Perez, survivor of torture from Guatemala; and Rev. David Farley, United Methodist Church, with the Justice for Melissa campaign, will be featured speakers for this press conference.

In May 2009, while doing community health work in the Philippines, Roxas became the first American citizen under the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration to be abducted and tortured by members of the Philippine military. When she surfaced six days later, Roxas became one of only a handful of survivors who lived to recount her ordeal.

BAYAN USA, GABRIELA USA, Program for Torture Victims (PTV), Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC), Habi Arts, Sisters of Gabriela Awaken, Filipino Migrant Center, San Francisco Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, Babae San Francisco, Anakbayan San Diego, Anakbayan Los Angeles and other organizations are co-sponsoring this Justice for Melissa Press Conference.

“Amigo” Film Screening and Discussion

Sunday, August 21, 2011, 1:00 PM (with discussion at nearby restaurant after film screening)
Laemmle’s Monica 4-Plex
1332 2nd Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Film screening organized by Breakthrough! For questions or to reserve your $6 discounted tickets, email cfljustice@gmail.com or info@habi-arts.org.

After the screening, Breakthrough! and Habi Arts will sponsor a discussion about the film at a nearby restaurant. Stay tuned or attend the film screening for details.

Synopsis

AMIGO, the 17th feature film from Academy Award-nominated writer-director John Sayles, stars legendary Filipino actor Joel Torre as Rafael, a village mayor caught in the murderous crossfire of the Philippine-American War.

When U.S. troops occupy his village, Rafael comes under pressure from a tough-as-nails officer (Chris Cooper) to help the Americans in their hunt for Filipino guerilla fighters. But Rafael’s brother (Ronnie Lazaro) is the head of the local guerillas, and considers anyone who cooperates with the Americans to be a traitor. Rafael quickly finds himself forced to make the impossible, potentially deadly decisions faced by ordinary civilians in an occupied country.

A powerful drama of friendship, betrayal, romance and heartbreaking violence, AMIGO is a page torn from the untold history of the Philippines, and a mirror of today’s unresolvable conflicts.

More Information

Visit http://amigomovie.com

Roxas’ Hometown Rallies to Demand Justice Now

MEDIA ADVISORY
Contact: Kuusela Hilo
Justice for Melissa Roxas Campaign
Email: info@justiceformelissa.org
Website: www.justiceformelissa.org

Los Angeles Community Stands with Melissa to Condemn Philippine Government’s On-Going Cover-up of Enforced Disappearances and Torture

What: Emergency Rally
Where: Philippine Consulate, 3600 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010
When: Wednesday, April 27, 2011, 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM

*Photo Opportunity

Los Angeles, CA – On Wednesday, grassroots organizations and church leaders will rally in front of the Philippine Consulate with  Melissa Roxas, the first American to have survived abduction and torture in the Philippines during the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration. Supporters of the Justice for Melissa Roxas campaign are outraged at the Commission on Human Rights’ Resolution that protects the torturers and abandons the facts that Roxas courageously shared under oath with the CHR and the world in 2009 so that the perpetrators could be brought to justice.

Now almost two years since Roxas was abducted and tortured, there is still no justice for Roxas and all the other victims of human rights violations committed by Arroyo and her military.  BAYAN USA, National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, Rosewood United Methodist Church Advocacy Group, Rosewood United Methodist Women, Filipino Ministry of the Diocese of San Bernardino, AnakBayan LA, SiGAw!, Habi Arts, the Filipino Migrant Center and the Filipino American Health Workers Association will be joining the emergency rally.