Filipino Americans met with the staff of U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY18) at the lawmaker's district office here last week to discuss the case of human rights victim Melissa Roxas, an American citizen of Filipino descent, as well as a call to cut U.S. military aid to the Philippines.

Organized by the N.Y. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (NYCHRP), the delegation included Fr. Benjamin Alforque, president of the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON), members of Sandiwa National Filipino-American Youth Alliance, and writer and professor Luis Francia.

The delegation sat down with Lowey's district representatives Stephen Papas and Virginia Noriega.

The delegation provided Lowey's staff with updates about Roxas' case.

On July 1, Roxas filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of State against the Philippine Government for her alleged abduction and torture by military agents last May.

The complaint asked the U.S. Government to conduct an "impartial and vigorous investigation of the Philippine Government's culpability" about the incident.

In her complaint, Roxas said that 15 armed men forcibly took her and two other people in La Paz, Tarlac, Philippines on May 21, while her team was conducting research for a future medical mission in the area.

She said she was subjected to mental and physical torture in a place which she believed was military camp, and that she was released six days later.

The complaint, filed by Roxas' counsel Arnedo Valera, added that Roxas is suing the Philippine Government for "the pattern of abduction, forced disappearance, torture, extra-judicial killings and other rights violations committed under the presidency of Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo."

Meanwhile, the Fil-Am delegation asked Lowey to help pursue justice and accountability including cutting U.S. military aid to the Philippines.

"As much as possible, we believe we have a moral basis to demand that aid to the Philippine military be cut because of the Philippine military's culpability in committing heinous crimes of murder, abduction and torture with our hard-earned tax dollars," said NYCHRP member Ramon Mappala.

Lowey chairs the House Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.

Among the main points discussed with her staff was the need to retain the restrictive language of the 2008 U.S. Appropriations bill.

The language tied a portion of that year's U.S. military aid package to the Philippines to the following conditions: implementation of recommendations on human rights put forth by United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston; arrest and prosecution of all military personnel responsible for perpetrating human rights violations; and that the Philippine government ceases its rampant vilification of leftist organizations, churches and other civil society groups, particularly accusing them as communist fronts.

Lowey was one of the supporters of the language's inclusion in the 2008 bill.

"We need to be assured that key supporters like Lowey will stand their ground when any pushback comes from the Senate on this language to be included in the 2009-2010 bill," said Mappala.

It is expected that the Senate and House Appropriations Committees will go into conference in early July to reconcile their bill versions and come out with a final Appropriations Bill by mid-July.