{"id":204278,"date":"2015-06-16T06:06:35","date_gmt":"2015-06-15T20:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=204278"},"modified":"2015-06-16T06:06:35","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T20:06:35","slug":"usp4gg-protest-vs-chinas-aggression-in-west-ph-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/usp4gg-protest-vs-chinas-aggression-in-west-ph-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"USP4GG protest vs China\u2019s aggression in West PH Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Members of the US\u00a0Pinoys\u00a0for\u00a0Good\u00a0Governance on Saipan gathered together in San Jose to protest China\u2019s aggression in the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea last Friday, in time for the celebration of the Philippine Independence Day.<\/p>\n

Participants assembled at the Kilili Pavilion and marched toward the Oleai intersection holding banners and flags.<\/p>\n

\"USP4GG<\/a>
USP4GG also called on Filipinos to boycott made in China products as a protest against China\u2019s occupation of the disputed islands. (Frauleine S. Villanueva)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Members<\/a>
Members of the US Pinoys for Good Governance in Saipan gathered in San Jose during the Philippine Independence Day to hold a protest against what they called China\u2019s aggression in the West Philippine Sea. (Frauleine S. Villanueva)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Banners<\/a>
Banners of USP4GG called on China to stop its \u201cbullying\u201d in the West Philippine Sea. (Frauleine S. Villanueva)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr. Celia Lamkin, chairperson of USP4GG CNMI\u00a0and\u00a0Guam,\u00a0Marianas\u00a0Chapter, coordinated the protest but was in Guam to personally head the rally there.<\/p>\n

According to Lamkin, the rallies were a success despite only a handful of protesters in CNMI and Guam being able to actually attend the activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to reach out to the motorists or the people who witnessed the rallies,\u201d Lamkin said, adding that various media organizations took notice of their stand.<\/p>\n

She said they wanted to \u201ccreate public awareness\u201d in the CNMI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She also noted that this was how Independence Day should be observed.<\/p>\n

“Let us all show to the whole world the Filipino unity, solidarity and patriotism,” she said.<\/p>\n

Not an attack against Chinese<\/strong><\/p>\n

The group is also calling for Filipinos to boycott products that are made in China until China stops its occupation of Philippine territories in the West Philippine Sea.<\/p>\n

However, Lamkin also clarified that what they are doing is not an attack to Chinese individuals themselves but to their government.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to emphasize that this is not against our Chinese brothers and sisters but the Chinese government whose claims in the West Philippine Sea and the rest of the nine dash lines in the South China Sea are bogus. China does not respect International Law, the UNCLOS, UN Convention of the Law of the Seas,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Various rallies were also held in different locations across the United States as well as in Italy, Canada, France, and the Philippines.<\/p>\n

USP4GG national chair Atty. Loida Nicolas Lewis headed the protest in New York City in front of Apple Store. In the Philippines, USP4GG member and former congressman Roilo Golez headed the protest at the Chinese Consulate in Makati City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the US\u00a0Pinoys\u00a0for\u00a0Good\u00a0Governance on Saipan gathered together in San Jose to protest China\u2019s aggression…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":204279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1180,51,3254,5445],"class_list":["post-204278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-celia-lamkin","tag-guam","tag-south-china-sea","tag-west-philippine-sea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}