FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 18, 2012

Jollene Levid, AF3IRM National Chairperson, chair@af3irm.org, 323-356-4748

Ivy Quicho, Mariposa Center Executive Director, ivy@mariposacenterforchange.org, 951-333-4306

AF3IRM & MARIPOSA CENTER FOR CHANGE CALL FOR

AN END TO GRACE GRANDE’S PERSECUTION

LOS ANGELES: On October 19, 2012, Grace Grande will be handcuffed, fingerprinted, photographed and undergo a process of arrest we associate with those charged with heinous crimes. Ms. Grande will surrender herself to the Los Angeles Attorney General’s office for extradition hearings, following a Philippine government request to return her to the archipelago and to the seemingly unbridled power of a politician-warlord.

Although the Philippine extradition request was ostensibly based on a “qualified theft” accusation by Nancy Manlangit, an employee of the politician-warlord, Ms. Grande’s one true “crime” has been her steadfast refusal to remain a mistress of Philippine Congressman Patrick Antonio.

For exercising her right to end a relationship, Ms. Grande has been subjected to trans-border stalking and harassment, six-months imprisonment by ICE, a five-year legal battle over custody of her children, threats – both veiled and overt -- and the constant heartache of watching her sons, ages 14 and 13, traumatized over and over again. Because she would not surrender her rights as a woman, a human being and as a mother, Ms. Grande has been punished over and over again, as have her children.

“From the start of this campaign, Ms. Grande has wanted nothing but freedom from her powerful abuser, safety for her family, and justice, not just for herself but for all women trapped in concubinage. Ms.Grande’s bravery has been an inspiration to all women,” said Ivy Quicho, Executive Director of the Mariposa Center for Change.

Were it not for the tragic dimensions of this case, AF3IRM and the Mariposa Center would find the situation laughable: a little known Philippine congressman using every trick possible to manipulate two governments; a congressman more affiliated with cockfighting than anything else able to use an Extradition Treaty with the United States to compel sexual slavery upon a woman, and no one seems to be able to halt the continuing persecution of a mother of two boys who only wants to live an ethical life.

AF3IRM Chairperson Jollene Levid said that “in creating a seeming inevitability by which Ms. Grande will be returned to sexual slavery, this congressman is in effect using the legal instrumentalities of the United States for trafficking. Considering that the US State Department issues an annual report judging other countries on their efforts to curb trafficking, what this congressman expects the US to do with Ms. Grande is unconscionable, unacceptable and repugnant.”

Even for the Philippines, where mistresses who try to leave powerful men are beaten up, maimed and/or killed with impunity, this manipulation of juridical processes for macho vengeance is unparalleled. That the Philippine Department of Justice and Department of Foreign Affairs would allow themselves to be used in this manner merely underscores the iron feudal heel beneath which Filipinas are battered down.

AF3IRM & MARIPOSA CENTER FOR CHANGE call on all who believe in women’s rights and women’s liberation, on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, to Stand With Grace.

AF3IRM & MARIPOSA CENTER FOR CHANGE call on all women to denounce trans-border stalking and harassment, and the repugnant use of US legal instrumentalities to persecute a woman determined to end a relationship.

AF3IRM & MARIPOSA CENTER FOR CHANGE call on all transnational women to organize and push back against this perversion being committed on US soil.

Affirm women's right to physical integrity. Stand by our right to choose who and when to love. Condemn the theft of mothers' rights. Break the silence. End the Stealth. STAND WITH GRACE.

For more information on the Stand with Grace campaign, please visit the AF3IRM website (www.af3irm.org) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/standwithgrace). To donate via Paypal, please send gifts to donation@mariposacenterforchange.org. Gifts of $50 or more are tax deductible.

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