Militant women from Gabriela stormed the embassy of the United States this morning and clashed briefly with police guarding the area. The group is protesting what they call the “rape” of theTubbataha Reef. The group is calling for a deeper investigation of the grounding of USS Guardian, saying the said incident is part of the abuses committed by US troops under the Visiting Forces Agreement or VFA.

“US can freely trample on Philippine laws and get away with nary a question or protest raised by our government. And the US gets away unscathed through the VFA,” said Camille Manangan, Gabriela Youth spokesperson. Gabriela also challenged the Aquino government to uphold Philippine sovereignty by scrapping the VFA.

“This is not about the money the government wants us to accept. This is about our violated sovereignty, our damaged national resource patrimony, our women who will be continue to be prostituted and violated by the American military, and the ruined food security of our future generations. We demand nothing less than the scrapping of the VFA by the Aquino government as the best reparation for the rape by the USS Guardian of Tubbataha!” Manangan said.