Gabriela members marched to the US Embassy in Manila today, October 28, to condemn the US’s fake peace conference in the country. The International Conference on Women, Peace and Security is based on UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which supposedly encourages women’s participation in peace and security issues, especially in areas where there is armed conflict. Marcos regime officials from the defense, foreign affairs, and women’s agency departments, attended the conference.

Gabriela Women’s Party representative and Makabayan senatorial candidate Rep. Arlene Brosas, condemned the Marcos regime for its subservience to the US military behind its rhetoric on women empowerment and gender equality. “This conference is not about protecting women and children – it’s about serving US geopolitical interests in the region (Asia),” she said.

“This conference…is nothing but a devious attempt to legitimize US imperialism and drag Filipino women into supporting their war agenda against its imperialist rivals such as China,” Gabriela secretary general Clarice Palce said.

“While it claims to promote women’s representation in peace and security and address violence against women in conflict areas, its real aim is to manufacture justification for increased US military presence and control over Philippine affairs, especially on the PH-China maritime dispute in the West Philippine Sea.”

The US is deliberately dragging the Philippines into an armed confrontation with China through the construction of military bases, conduct of war games, and weapons stockpiling, according to Gabriela. “This will only result in more poverty, human rights violations, violence against women, and destruction of our natural resources,” Palce said.

She called on Filipino women to unite and fight, following the revolutionary tradition of Gabriela Silang. “True peace and security cannot be achieved through imperialist exploitation and warmongering,” she said.

The women held their program on Kalaw Avenue, after police blocked their march.