Anakbayan Sydney

05/10/2026

📣 Migrant Voices Matter Migrant Welfare & Empowerment Mission (MWEM) is conducting a survey to better understand the experiences, challenges and needs of migrants in Australia.

Your experiences and perspectives can help us identify what services are most needed and what should be prioritised.

🔒 Your privacy matters: The survey is anonymous and voluntary. Responses will be analysed collectively and used to help MWEM understand community needs and develop appropriate migrant welfare and empowerment programs.

💬 Your voice can help shape better support for migrant communities in Australia.

👉 Please take a few minutes to complete the survey and share your experience. Scan the QR code above or follow this link 👉https://bit.ly/4hsypFI

25/09/2026

People’s Victory: Mary Jane Veloso Will Walk Free

BAYAN International joins Mary Jane Veloso, her family, and millions of overseas migrant workers, advocates, and solidarity friends in celebrating Mary Jane’s pardon and imminent release. The over decade-long people’s campaign built around the steadfastness of Mary Jane and her family proves that collective and organized mass action can move mountains.

Unjustly arrested and sentenced to death in Indonesia in 2010 on charges of drug trafficking, Mary Jane was in reality a victim of human trafficking by illegal recruiters. It was the people’s movement, led by her family together with Migrante International, progressive lawyers, migrant advocates, interfaith leaders, and even Indonesian allies that ultimately forced the Aquino government to take action. It was this same mass movement that organized, rallied, and campaigned tirelessly for her release over the past decade, and eventually for her unconditional pardon once she was transferred back to the Philippines—another people’s victory in and of itself.

We will not allow politicians to parade this victory for their own personal gain and cover up the critical role the mass movement played. We will never forget the deafness of the Aquino, Duterte, and Marcos administrations alike, who only took action when it was politically untenable for them not to. We must remember that despite having authority to pardon Mary Jane immediately upon her return to the Philippines in December 2024, the Marcos administration kept her in prison and separated from her loved ones for almost 2 years.

There are hundreds of thousands of more Mary Janes around the world—victims and survivors of the Philippine government’s inhumane policy of labor export that treats overseas workers as commodities and milking cows, and abandons them once in distress. With this latest victory, we are inspired to organize even harder to end forced migration and the the rotten social system that causes it.

25/09/2026

Progressive groups gathered at Sydney Town Hall and Melbourne's State Library to mark the 54th anniversary of the declaration of martial law in the Philippines, calling for accountability over corruption and governance issues.

Find out the details and other news today on SBS Filipino: https://www.sbs.com.au/language/filipino/fil/podcast-episode/mga-balita-ngayong-lunes-ika-21-ng-setyembre-2026/dghn4me1k

23/09/2026

Join us for an educational discussion on the realities of Filipino migration this Friday, September 25. Together, we will talk about the history of Filipino migration abroad, the root causes of Filipino migration and our general and particular tasks as Filipino youths in the diaspora.

Date: Fri 25 September
Time: 6pm
Venue: Humanist Society of NSW, 10 Shepherd St, Chippendale NSW 2008

Light refreshments will be available, feel free to bring a snack to share.

21/09/2026

21/09/2026

21/09/2026

It has been 54 years since the declaration of Martial Law, yet the Filipino people’s demands for genuine democracy, accountability and an end to corruption remain unmet. The dictatorship of Marcos Sr. was overthrown by the Filipino people in 1986, but the rotten system of bureaucrat capitalism, imperialist domination and fascist repression that sustained it remains. Anakbayan Sydney calls on Filipino youth and the Filipino people to remember, resist and fight back.

Last year, Filipinos of all sectors marched to Malacañang demanding accountability over billions of pesos in public funding poured into the pockets of private contractors intended for flood control infrastructure. One year later, what has changed? Again, we see the news cycle of Filipinos devastated by flooding, with communities across Luzon suffering the loss of homes, livelihoods and loved ones during the monsoon rains this August. The Filipino people have already demanded action. Yet a year on, those responsible have not been held to account, and communities continue to bear the consequences. Lahat ng sangkot, dapat managot!

Instead of meeting the Filipino people’s demands for genuine land reform and national industrialisation, the US-Marcos regime continues to prioritise foreign interests. Pax Silica enables US corporations to exploit Philippine land and critical mineral resources to fuel their AI capabilities in their arms race against China while damaging the ancestral lands and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples and farmers. Nothing about this agreement aims to benefit the Filipino people and their desire for genuine national development as our land is extracted for the interests of imperialist powers. This initiative is linked to the militarisation of our land through US-Australian military drills, including the Balikatan and Kasangga exercises, which deepen the country’s role as a proxy for US strategic interests in the Asia Pacific.

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21/09/2026

On Sunday 20th September Anakbayan Sydney joined Filipino mass organisations across so-called Sydney to stand against corruption in the Philippines. Marking 54 years since Martial Law and one year since the eruption of the anti-corruption rallies, we only continue to see how feudalism, U.S. imperialism, and bureaucrat capitalism worsen the conditions for Filipinos in both our homeland and abroad.

The Filipino people experience the brunt of the corroboration between our State and U.S. imperialists. Over the past year, we see President Bongbong Marcos sell the Philippines out to the U.S. through the advancing of the Pax Silica deal, dedicating over 1600 hectares of Philippine soil to building an AI development hub in the name of so-called ‘modernisation’. Touted as a positive collaboration for the Filipino people, we know that this imperialist violation of our sovereignty only serves the development of the U.S. war machine, implicating us further into rising tension between imperialist powers.

Amidst the theatrics and noise orchestrated between the ruling class cliques of Marcos and Duterte, we know that behind closed doors the ruling classes will ultimately protect one another before surrendering to the will of the masses. Mobilising with Filipinos in Sydney and joining the calls from the homeland, we show that no Filipino, whether in the Philippines or across the globe, will let our country be the U.S. imperialists’ toy at the expense of the masses. We stand firm against corruption, call for genuine national independence, and rise against feudalism, imperialism, and bureaucrat capitalism.

REJECT! REJECT! REJECT PAX SILICA!
THE PHILIPPINES IS NOT FOR SALE!
MARCOS SINGILIN! DUTERTE PANAGUTIN!

18/09/2026

Wondering about our next activity? We’ve got a lot of things coming up in the next two weeks and we’d love to see you there ❤️‍🔥 Whether it’s your first interaction with us or your hundredth, whether you know anyone in Anakbayan or you’re yet to, we would love to meet you.

Our activities this month kicks off tonight (Friday 18th) with a primer and workshop on Baybayin. Over the weekend, join us this Sunday as we demonstrate against the ongoing corruption in the Philippines, firmly declaring that no Filipino — whether back home or abroad — will stand for the plundering of our people.

Next week, come through to our discussion on Friday the 25th, where we discuss the situation of Filipinos abroad, the struggles of migrants, and the reasons behind our increasing migration. Then, on Sunday the 27th, we’ll be stalling at Parramatta Zine Fair, keen to chat with you and show the materials we’ve been working on.

Wanna know more or get involved? Shoot us a DM and let’s chat! See you soon 🫶