Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

One of the leaders of the KPD (Citizens for National Democracy) youth organization YND (youth for National Democracy) Archie Bathan has been arrested/abducted in the province of Bataan by a military unit.

This is a serous issue as many union and civil rights organizers are murdered or disappeared every year in the Philippines. The Philippines is the second most dangerous country in the world to be a union organizer after Colombia.

These people struggling for their human rights need your help!

Also taken with him was Domingo Alcantara, the husband of Kathy Alcantara who was a KPD organizer working with peasants when she was murdered in 2005.

We have no information on the third man arrested Raffy Limcumpao, but we can assume he is an innocent organizer as well.

The Makabayn labour central which hosted the VDLC delegation that visited the Philipppines last December is part of the KPD United Front organization. While in the Philippines, we met with the mother and daughter of Kathy and were very moved by her story. However she is only one of more than 70 union organizers killed in the last three years. Hundreds more human rights workers, community organizers and journalists have been assassinated as well.

Can you or your organization write a letter to the Embassy of the Phillipines in Ottawa, protesting the arrest of these three men and letting them know that we are watching the fate of these men and will
be holding them accountable for their safety and welfare. Also you can sign on to the petition being circulated by the BC Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines who are demanding the release of these men.

E-mail: or write:

Embassy of the Philippines.
130 Albert Street,
Suite 606
Ottawa, Ontario,
K1P 5G4

Copy your letters to the Vancouver & District Labour Council so that we can forward them onto KPD.

Thanks for your support.

Bill Saunders, President, Vancouver & District Labour Council

SUBJECT: PHILIPPINES URGENT ACTION: Please sign on to petition

Dear B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines Members and Friends,

Please sign onto one of the latest appeal for support in the Philippines:

On May 27, 2009, in Samal, Bataan, where elements of the 303rd Provinical Mobile Group (PMG), in full battle gear but with no name plates and not in uniform, carrying high-powered firearms arrested/abducted Archie Bathan, Raffy Limcumpao, and Domingo Alcantara.

Archie Bathan is a leader of Youth for Nationalism and Democracy (YND)-Bataan. Domingo Alcantara is the husband of Kathy Alcantara who was a peasant organizer and Secretary-General for Kilusang Pambasang sa Demokrasya-Bataan killed by unidentified hooded-men on motorcycle on
December 5, 2005.

To support the campaign to release Bathan, Limcumpao and Alcantara, and to demand that the Canadian government take action in support of democracy in the Philippines, please go to website:

In solidarity,
B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (BCCHRP)Coordinating Committee

B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines
Member of the Philippines-Canada Task Force for Human Rights (PCTFHR)
c/o Kalayaan Centre, 451 Powell Street, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6A 1G7
Phone/Fax: 604.215.1905 | http://www.kalayaancentre.net