A rturo Garcia, the spokesman of the Justice for Filipino-American Veterans (JFAV), confirmed in an e-mail to Bobby Reyes that Filipino-American veterans will boycott the reception for visiting Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Nov. 21, 2008. Here is the message from the JFAV spokesman, “For sure we will be there to rally against the tyrant GMA.” The Filipino veterans are upset at President Arroyo, as her administration has not paid them their pensions that now run to billions in pesos in arrears. On the other hand, President Arroyo has been dispensing year in, year out, tens of billions of pesos in congressional pork and payoffs to provincial governors and other local officials – to maintain their blind loyalty so that she would not be impeached or removed in another EDSA-type peaceful revolution.

Mr. Garcia also sent another e-mail confirming that a coalition of Filipino-American pro-active community organizations such as the AJLPP, KMB, Bayan, Gabriela (GABNet) and Filipino-American university clubs will join the protest rally at the sidewalk of the Sheraton Gateway Hotel on Century Boulevard, just a mile away from the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). AJLPP is the acronym for the Alliance for Justice, Liberty and Peace in the Philippines. The KMB stands for the Kabataang Maka-Bayan. Those who would like to coordinate with Mr. Garcia can reach him at jfav_causa@yahoo.com

This can be one of the biggest rallies in the history of the Filipino-American community, as demonstrators intend to walk on the sidewalk even up to the LAX terminals. This will prompt the airport security and the Los Angeles Police Department to implement measures to prevent the demonstrators from reaching the terminals. But such measures will invite the mainstream press and television stations to cover the planned demonstration against President Arroyo.

As these developments occur, many Filipino-American journalists and writers intend to boycott the reception for President Arroyo if she insists that there will be no press conference before, during or after the reception. The journalists who will attend the reception – without a press conference being held – are likely to be called “envelopmental journalists” by the coalition of Filipino-American activists, who intend to publicize the names of the “press lapdogs of President Arroyo.”

A top Filipino diplomat has sent a private message to Bobby Reyes and which message appealed for the cancellation of the boycott and demonstration. Mr. Reyes assured the diplomat that many Filipino-American media practitioners would attend the reception if President Arroyo agrees to hold a press conference. If she does not hold it, then many in the Fil-Am press corps will just cover the demonstration at the hotel sidewalk, where an effigy of President Arroyo is scheduled to be burned – unless the Fire Department will prevent it. Mr. Reyes also told the Filipino diplomat that the media practitioners are not organizing the demonstration and anti-Arroyo rally. They will just provide press coverage of the demonstrators and picketers. But he said that he expects the mainstream press to cover such a rally, which is now looming to be a mammoth one.

There are also reports that there is a big possibility that the reception at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel will be cancelled and that President Arroyo will just stay at the LAX, as her presidential aircraft is refueled and serviced for its flight back to Manila. # # #