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by Ronnie Estoque
The Seattle Globalist was a every day on-line publication that coated the connections between native and world points in Seattle. The Emerald is retaining alive its legacy of highlighting our metropolis’s various voices by frequently publishing and re-publishing tales aligned with the Globalist’s mission.
Filipino American activist and group member Cindy Domingo was an important chief within the Nineteen Seventies motion towards the Marcos dictatorship within the Philippines. She led worldwide solidarity campaigns on the College of Washington campus and have become an lively organizer of the Union of Democratic Filipinos (Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino KDP) in each Seattle and Oakland.
Her brother Silme Domingo and his pal Gene Viernes grew to become lively politically after being alongside and observing the horrendous working situations of “manongs,” older Filipino males, working up within the Alaska canneries. Each Silme and Viernes sought to reform the Worldwide Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Native 37 and based the Seattle chapter of the KDP to proceed their worldwide solidarity marketing campaign work.
Forty-one years in the past at the moment, on June 1, 1981, each Silme and Viernes have been assassinated on the ILWU Native 37’s headquarters in Seattle, which was in the end linked to union President Tony Baruso and two hitmen of the Tulisan gang. Cindy Domingo had led the Committee for Justice for Domingo/Viernes alongside Elaine Ikomo Ko and efficiently pressed a wrongful demise lawsuit in 1989 towards Baruso and others, together with then-Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. The case stays the one trial gained on U.S. soil towards a overseas dictator. The civil lawsuit led to a felony trial in 1991 the place Baruso was convicted of aggravated homicide. He died at Stafford Creek jail in Aberdeen in 2008.
Since her brother’s demise, Domingo has devoted her life to persevering with her worldwide solidarity and social justice work as an lively member of Akbayan North America and because the co-chair of the U.S. Ladies & Cuba Collaboration.
Ferdinand “BongBong” Marcos Jr. will develop into the brand new president, with Sara Duterte changing into the brand new vice chairman, of the Philippines on June 30 — 36 years after his father was pushed from workplace by the Folks Energy Revolution led by Corazon Aquino, the widow of Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., a Marcos opposition chief who was assassinated after returning to the Philippines in 1983 after a self-imposed exile.
South Seattle Emerald: What are your ideas on the current election leads to the Philippines?
Cindy Domingo: The elections are an amazing setback for democracy within the Philippines. Democracy was already undermined by the authoritarian authorities of Rodrigo Duterte and so there was loads at stake on this election for the Filipino folks. The [Vice President Leni] Robredo and [Sen. Francis] Pangilinan marketing campaign represented the pro-democracy pole within the Philippines and whereas they created an enormous motion known as the Kakampink pro-democracy motion, it was not robust sufficient to beat the massive help that was garnered by Marcos and Duterte. There have been a variety of components that contributed to Marcos’ and Duterte’s help: First, there’s the corrupt patronage system that has develop into a part of elections within the Philippines, and the Marcoses had all their ill-gotten wealth to purchase votes, purchase political help on this election. Second, the Marcoses have been utilizing their cash and utilizing social media to revise historical past over time to make folks imagine that the Marcos dictatorship was actually the golden age and never the “lies” that individuals say — a historical past of torture and killings and corruption and underdevelopment of the Philippines as a result of the Marcoses stole billions of {dollars} from the Filipino folks. Lastly, the enjoining of the Marcos and Duterte factions to run for president and vice chairman meant they didn’t have to separate the votes however grew to become a really highly effective block to anybody who challenged these two household dynasties.
SSE: What issues do you’ve gotten concerning a Marcos-Duterte management within the Philippines?
C.D.: Each fathers of the president and vice chairman have proven they don’t have any respect for the Philippine Structure, democracy, and human rights. And whilst you might say they aren’t their fathers, each have proven they’re non-repentant for what their fathers have accomplished whereas in workplace despite the fact that they’re totally conscious of the human rights violations and undermining of democracy that occurred. BBM [BongBong Marcos] and Sara Duterte have each intention of rewriting historical past to change the true histories of their fathers’ presidential phrases. Already BBM has appointed Sara as head of the Division of Schooling, and [current President] Rodrigo Duterte is stacking the Court docket of Appeals with pro-Marcos folks to pave the way in which to overturn the felony convictions of the Marcos household. Marcos has already mentioned he’ll proceed the warfare on medicine that Duterte began which resulted in over 30,000 extrajudicial killings. It’s little doubt that Marcos will rely closely on the army to quash any undermining of his authorities, particularly if the Kakampink motion continues to develop and cohere into an actual pro-democracy motion.
SSE: Who motivates and conjures up you to attempt in direction of a greater future?
C.D.: Normally I’m a really optimistic individual and I get excited nonetheless in trying on the potential of organizing round points or totally different arenas of labor. If I believe who motivates me now, it’s most of the girls which have stepped ahead within the Philippines to face up for democracy and courageously rise up towards authoritarianism. I take into consideration how brave and dedicated to the Filipino folks Leni Robredo is to have agreed to run for president with solely seven months to go earlier than the election. I take into consideration the slander and pretend information that she and her kids have been subjected to, however they at all times took the upper floor. I take into consideration Sen. Risa Hontiveros, being the one opposition senator in all of Congress and all the good laws she handed in her final time period regardless of the troublesome situations she confronted. I additionally suppose the work I do round Cuba conjures up me as a result of going there and seeing that if the U.S. might simply take its foot off of Cuba’s neck, that nation, led by girls, might blossom a lot as a result of even within the midst of an enormous financial disaster introduced on by the 61-year-old blockade, Cuba nonetheless strikes ahead and girls proceed to play an ever-expanding function of their society.
SSE: When did you final go to the Philippines and what was your expertise?
C.D.: I final went to the Philippines in January/February of 2020 proper at the beginning was shut down by the pandemic. It was primarily a private go to with 15 different members of my household and it was fantastic. We had a giant household reunion, and it was the final journey of my mother’s as a result of she died a yr later. That journey meant loads as a result of my mom had ingrained in all of us a deep love of the Philippines and household. Despite the fact that my mother is gone, I do know that our household will proceed to go and proceed our ties with our household again residence. On the similar time, I used to be fearful after I traveled across the Philippines due to the extrajudicial killings [EJK]. I used to be afraid for my sons’ security in addition to my very own since we traveled up north to Ilocos. Given the hundreds of EJKs, nobody is protected because you will be killed for nothing.
SSE: How does Silme’s legacy proceed to stay on at the moment?
C.D.: Silme’s legacy continues in all of the work that we do in LELO [Legacy of Equality Leadership and Organizing], a company he cofounded 49 years in the past. His legacy continues within the work we do across the Philippines, particularly within the labor solidarity we’re constructing between labor unions and labor facilities within the Philippines, and his legacy continues within the work that we as a household do — his daughter is a union organizer in addition to his niece. His legacy is sustained each time we maintain our annual LELO awards dinner as a result of we honor Silme and Gene and one other LELO cofounder, Milton Jefferson. We promised after Silme and Gene have been murdered that we might always remember them and we might make sure that their names and historical past wouldn’t die with them and we’ve got saved that promise.
SSE: How would you describe worldwide solidarity, and why is it necessary?
C.D.: Worldwide solidarity is a mirrored image that we as working folks have a typical agenda, frequent wants, and a typical battle. It signifies that all of us have a proper to have our human wants met irrespective of your nation of origin, it doesn’t matter what your gender is, it doesn’t matter what the colour of your pores and skin is — all of us deserve the identical rights and no borders, gender, or coloration of pores and skin ought to divide us.
SSE: Why is it necessary for Filipino Individuals to take care of a connection again to the Philippines?
C.D.: The Philippines is part of our historical past, our tradition, and our household even when one is born within the U.S. You can not falsely separate those that are immigrants from these which are born within the Philippines as a result of we’re intimately tied collectively. The U.S. has been a significant factor within the growth/underdevelopment of the Philippines, and we’ve got a accountability to make sure that our U.S. authorities has a coverage in direction of the Philippines in addition to some other nation — a coverage that respects the sovereignty of different nations and their peoples and respects their proper to self-determination.
Ronnie Estoque is a South Seattle-based freelance photographer and videographer. You’ll be able to sustain together with his work by testing his web site.
📸 Featured Picture: Cindy Domingo on the Bantayog ng mga Bayani (Wall of Martyrs), 2011, Quezon Metropolis, Philippines, in entrance of her brother Silme Domingo’s identify. He and Gene Viernes have been the primary Individuals to be acknowledged on the Wall honoring the political victims of the Marcos Regime. (Photograph: Sharon Maeda)
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