The Middle East and Hong Kong chapters of a militant organization of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) have scheduled April 5 and 6 as “No Remittance Day” to protest President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's stay in power. According to John Leonard Monterona, regional coordinator of Migrante-Middle East, this would be the second No Remittance Day called by his organization since March 8, coinciding with the observance of International Women's Day. Migrante's chapter and affiliates in Hong Kong set April 6 as No Remittance Day. They first had their “No Remittance Day on March 2,” the first Sunday of the month when most OFWs in the former British colony usually send money to their families in the Philippines. “Our ‘No Remittance' campaign, which we have set every fifth day of the month, just a single day every month, will be a milestone of our continued protests to the most-corrupt and most anti-OFW Arroyo administration,” Monterona said. Monterona said more OFWs have committed to observe the “No Remittance” campaign as they complain about the Arroyo administration's continuing neglect and disservice to OFWs. He said “evil forces” in the presidential palace “who cannot moderate their greed” are the reasons for the country's problems. “Our continued and unrelenting advocacy in the protection and advancement of migrant rights and welfare is paving the way to the realization of our fellow OFWs and families to collectively act and be organized against the most corrupt and most anti-OFW Arroyo administration,” Monterona said. Meanwhile, a group calling itself the Gloria Step-down Movement-Hong Kong (GSM-HK) accused Arroyo of “squandering people's money” in photo-op campaigns, the GMA News TV said in a report on Friday. The group said Arroyo is arriving in Hong Kong on Sunday “to spew out lies and project false support of overseas Filipinos to her crumbling administration.” __
