Australia - What is it doing to Pinoys?

Here's once again a classic story of how a Slave Master exploits its' slave country.

I am not suggesting any hate message here against Australia - don't get me wrong - as a matter of fact - I have plenty of Australian friends and I find them really a good people. At any rate, there are probably politicians who give a country a bad name - this is where I am getting at.

First - I bring you a consolation... This is good news to probably majority of the un-enlightened Pinoys...  - but definitely not to those who are enlightened.

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AUSTRALIA TO HIRE THOUSANDS OF OFWS!

GMANews.TV - Monday, December 28

Thousands of skilled overseas Filipino workers (OFW) are expected to be employed in Australia next year with the scheduled signing of a labor agreement next month, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said Sunday.

Roque said he would flying to Australia on January to sign the agreement for the hiring of thousands of Filipino professionals.

He said the agreement that would be inked with Southern Australia would open good quality and high-paying jobs to Filipino workers.

“Those who would qualify for the jobs would get at least $4,000 monthly salary and there would be no placement fee," Roque said.

The government had earlier reported that Australia is expected to hire about 300,000 Filipino workers in the next three to five years.

Besides Australia , Roque said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is also exploring possible new markets for Filipino professional workers.

He said Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East are expected to hire the most number of skilled Filipino workers, including engineers, construction and hotel workers.

But local recruitment agencies said the expected passage of the amended Migrant Workers Act may lead to downtrend in hiring of OFWs in 2010.

Lito Soriano, a recruitment consultant, said the proposed law approved by the bicameral committee mandates that the country would deploy workers only to countries with existing bilateral agreements with the Philippines. Only 14 out of 194 nations have bilateral relations with the Philippines.

Likewise, recruitment leaders reported that the recent decision of Japan Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to postpone the implementation of the agreement on the establishment of a US military facility in Okinawa may also imperil the hiring of more OFWs in the coming year.

The Philippine government is hoping to capture at least 20,000 jobs for Filipino construction workers in Japan with the start of the construction of the US facility there. - Jerrie Abella/KBK, GMANews.TV

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Now for some really unpleasant news - that you will never be able to read from any News Network at all! This is an article written by a priest based in Zambales... Read it and be enlightened.

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The Truth is in the Floods!

by Fr. Shay Cullen
from PREDA Foundation

The truth about climate change is essential to the Copenhagen Conference and its aftermath. The nations of the world have not reached a comprehensive breakthrough agreement but the world desperately needs one to greatly reduce the outpouring of greenhouse gasses.

The people and especially the poor in developing countries who are being impacted daily and will be most affected by rising ocean levels, greater storms, floods and droughts in the future have little real say in the deliberations or the decisions. The rich and the powerful nations will be deciding the future of the planet as they have already done for centuries. Their economic wealth and military power has been built on the exploitation of the poorer nations, extracting their cheap low cost raw materials, processing them with fossil fuels and destroying the atmosphere as they grow rich. They grow richer by selling back to the poor nations high-priced manufactured goods as they have done for the past five hundred years.

The rich nations have made sinful alliances with the corrupt rulers of the poor nations to achieve this immoral and unjust exchange. However, wealthy nations like Australia foster coal-burning power plants on the poor nations like they have done and are doing in the Philippines and lock them into long term supply deals.

Coal is used to meet nearly 40% of the world’s current energy demand, creating over 40% of annual global carbon emissions. Global coal consumption is expected to rise by 1.9% to 4.2 billion tonnes by 2010. Australia is the worldís largest exporter of black coal, a position it has held since1984.

The Australian Senate has blocked a new law that would help reduce the carbon emissions. Australia is contributing to the global warming while talking hot air in Copenhagen. How much better to finance geothermal power generation that has zero CO2 emissions for local power generation so feasible in the volcanic Philippines? But no, they want to sell Australian coal and the ruling Philippine elite decide in cahoots with them against the national interest of Filipinos. The Filipinos are the ones that suffer most.

The Indigenous People of the Aeta communities of Botolan, Zambales, not far from where I live, have suffered a total wipe out of their community, houses, simple fans, a small TV for which they saved for months all gone. Some died, most mercifully escaped. But their small farms and a secure future are all gone. They are refugees on waste land. I go there every ten days with relief food to help keep them going while planning a small re-housing project with the help of the Irish Church relief agency Trocaire – a small help for a massive problem.

Climate change damages and destroys thousands of lives. Antong is a tribal leader of the Aeta people here in Zambales province the Philippines. I sat with him in an impoverished makeshift refugee camp with tiny shelters made of grass hovels and plastic sheets. He told me the recent devastation that wiped out his village and all their lands.

He is knowledgeable about Global Warming and knows that the blocking of the atmosphere with gasses from factories and millions of vehicles heats the oceans and brings ten times the evaporation of the seas and ten times the amount of rain all in a few days. Nothing can stop the raging waters that cover the lands and washes away the soil and leaves behind sand and stones. If only the negotiators in Copenhagen could see and understand this, they might agree more readily to really curb emissions.

ìNow we are impoverished and 100 families are huddled here, the rest have scattered, I know not where they wentî, he lamented as the relief workers handed out plastic bags of rice and canned goods.

A once proud people and a simple sustainable village life swept away in the deluge. They are the human face of global warming. They suffer the consequences of the high living of the rich and empty promises, this will not change unless all of us common people get out and rally and campaign for true global cuts in emissions and demand justice for the victims of global warming and climate change. 


END

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First - they dump Coals into our land.... to make us less green as we wanted to be. Then they profit from it - along with their local political cohorts - who are merely Big faces with very small brains... Too small to accommodate any conscience, morality nor decency.!

Then they export local slaves... the slvaes thought they will make money - but little do they know is that - it is a trap to be inside a system. This system desensitizes the slaves to think they are diving outside the frying pan... without seeing that they are actually diving into the fire. This system gives them a false hope, systematically erasing their own native culture and severing their kin, or ties with family and community.

This system provides money to the slaves... money that will be reinvested back to the Slave Master country in terms of products, services, project earning and taxes derived from the grid.

Those who have eyes - let them see... those who have ears - let them hear... But many have eyes - yet they are blind... many can hear - yet they do not understand.


-ehnriko-

OFW wins abuse case vs Lebanese employer

A Lebanese national was convicted for beating up a Filipino domestic worker in 2006, the first conviction ever for maltreating a migrant worker in the history of Lebanon. In a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippine Embassy in Beirut said Fayrous Farez was sentenced on December 9 by a Lebanese court to 15 days in prison, US$34 (P1,586) in court fines, and US$7,200 (P1,586) in compensation to victim Jonalyn Malibago, a native of Quirino province. “The Embassy views this case as an important legal precedent in Lebanon, being the first conviction of a Lebanese employer for the abusive treatment of a migrant worker, who significantly happened to be a Filipino," Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Mohd. Noordin Pendosina N. Lomondot said in his report. Welfare Officer Mario Antonio rescued Malibago three years ago from her Lebanese employer who was beating her up as she tried to escape from Farez’s car around 200 meters away from the Sassine Evacuation Center in Beirut. Glenda Manalo, then Labor Attache, and another Welfare Officer from Riyadh then brought Malibago to a hospital for treatment of her bruises. The Embassy had earlier coordinated with the Caritas Migrant Center, an international non-government organization with a branch in Lebanon specializing in the welfare of migrant workers, mostly women, for filing and pursuing the case against Farez. Lomondot also expressed hope that the conviction would push the Lebanese government to enact laws and regulations to protect the rights of migrant domestic workers. The Middle East chapter of Migrante, a migrant workers' rights group, welcomed the decision, but said that Malibago's case is just one of many in Lebanon and other Middle East countries where many overseas Filipino workers (OFW) have been victims of abuses and maltreatment in the absence of consistent legal assistance. “Sad to say, several RP posts in the Middle East are hesitant to hire local lawyers in defense and in filing cases against abusive employers," Migrante regional director John Leonard Monterona said in a statement. Based on Migrante monitoring, there are still almost a hundred OFWs seeking refuge in the Embassy-run Filipino Workers Resource Center after suffering abuse and maltreatment from their employers. – Nikka Corsino and Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV

OFW Deployment UP "Again!?!?!"

ANG BAGONG BAYANI

ni Rafael A. Pulmano

Nilisan ang bansa kapalit ng dolyar
Singaporeang paslit ang inalagaan
Ang sariling anak, nalamnan ang tiyan
Gutom sa kalinga ng magulang naman.

Gurong naghahangad ng riyal na kita
Nag-domestic helper sa Saudi Arabia
Four years nagtiyagang pakadalubhasa
Sa ibang lahi pa nagpapaalila.

Dating chief engineer sa sariling nasyon
Sa abroad nag-apply: karpentero-mason
Noo'y naka-jacket sa lamig ng aircon
Sa init ng araw ay sunog na ngayon.

Sawa na sa laging galunggong ang ulam
Nagsikap marating ang bansa ng sakang
Sariling katawan ang ikinalakal
Umuwing mayaman, malamig na bangkay.

Nagtiis maglayo yaong bagong kasal
Upang pag-ipunan ang kinabukasan
Masakit na birong pag-uwi ng bahay
Nangulilang kabyak, may iba nang mahal.

Sila ang overseas contract workers natin
Masipag, marangal, at mapangarapin
Kahit may panganib, ayaw magpapigil
Legal o ilegal, bansa'y lilisanin.

Gobyernong kailangan ang foreign currency
Passport, POEA at etceterang fee
Saludung-saludo, labis ang papuri
Sa OFWs - ang Bagong Bayani.

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Philstar.com - Friday, December 18

MANILA, Philippines – The government's deployment of workers abroad has slightly increased in November, registering an 11.7 percent growth rate.

Figures from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed that as of November this year, a total of 1,284,133 overseas Filipino workers have been deployed to different parts of the globe compared to 1,149,429 for the same period in previous year.

A total of 986,666 OFWs came from the land-based sector while a number of seafarers or sea-based workers account for 297,467.

POEA records also showed that the number of new hires for land-based OFWs was trimmed down to 320,508 this year from last year's 346,871.

However, POEA head Jennifer Manalili said the number of re-hires for the sector has improved from 559,809 last year to 666,158 this year.

“A positive employment growth would mean more opportunities for foreign workers,” Manalili told a press conference today at the POEA building in Mandaluyong City.

Saudi Arabia is still the top OFW destination with 900,127 OFWs as of October this year, while the United Arab Emirates came in second with 160,242 OFWs deployed in the same period.

Manalili is also optimistic that countries like Guam, Qatar, Singapore , Malaysia and Brunei will demand more foreign manpower next year. - By Dennis Carcamo (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)


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REACTION:

by: ehnriko

The above article clearly indicates what kind of country we have.

What we clearly have is a 'Slave country' if not a country of slaves (labor/sex and corporate)!

We take pride in sending Pinoys abroad to be the slaves of the world.

We allow the systematic degeneration of our children... Children need to be guided by their parents from age 0-12!

But they literally grew up unguided, lacking the attention they need and causing them to seek it with their peers or strangers if not incest.

This is really an alarming situation!

For 30 years - our country has been exporting slaves abroad and has in effect produced a generation of Bastards - ... Bastards producing more Bastards!

Recently, I came across some words spreading around that the DOH is distributing pamphlets about Sex Education with the Heading "DI DAPAT MAGTIIS" - or something like that... clearly and openly suggesting the use of condoms.

Also recently, reports have risen that the youngest age of kids having sex in the Philippines is 10 years old!!! Pregnancy at the age of 13!!!

What can you expect of a generation who virtually grew up under the care of their Grandparents who also need Care themselves... and who are also having tendencies to behave like kids again???

The generation of Pinoys going abroad is an effect of what the first worlds have done to this country. To make us their pool of Laborers. Flattering us that we are the best laborers in the whole world! - and WE ARE ALL SUCKERS!

Pinoys love to brag their accomplishments against their fellow Pinoys... but they are Self Reducing in front of Foreigners! Where is this coming from???

Indeed, a cancer has grown into this society... Where did I read this slogan... "SPREAD THE CHARITY VIRUS" - What?... How on eart can one come up with mixing a NEGATIVE WORD with a POSITIVE WORD for a Slogan? Where did these guys pick their brains from? Don't tell me, they have PHD's and MASTERAL Degree?... Shooots!

Come on, Face it! There are probably 99% of Pinoys with MBA's and PHD's who took them for the sake of keeping their jobs in the Government. They dont even know what they have studied at all. As a matter of fact, getting the diploma was all there is to it. But ask them to use their imagination or think of solutions in making their jobs more productive... Not a single one will come up of something sensible. They work in the Government, yet they don't know how to fix it.... and they will blame the leadership.

What can we expect from a Government composed of Clowns? I call them clowns because they are all actors in a circus... Yes - our Country is ran like a circus - everything should be staged and scripted. No spontaneity at all since they all seem to lack a Prime Directive.

What can my blog do against them?.... What can my blog do to stop total degeneration of this country? 10 years old kids sniffing rugby in the streets, having sex and orgies, 16 year old girls prostituting in the streets, 12 year old boys working as assasins, 50 to 70 year old politicians - living life like a Hollywood character Druglord/ Warlord/ Gambling Lord, people acting like a crazy mob over a ring fight in international TV - and saying "Proud to be Filipino"... WAKE UP Pinoys!

Nasaan na ang kahihiyan at dignidad mo sa sarili?

Every action you make should contribute in nation building, cultural and heritage revival and fortification, national identity forging, real moral values forming, education quality improvement, technological revolution initiation. These and many more items should be the agenda of the modern Pinoy.... unfortunately - NOT.

I am an exploited technocrat myself, it is virtually impossible to escape an adversity without enough money. But this will not stop me from spreading a consciousness.

I leave this one now on this note.

"There are only 3 types of people... Those who see, those who can see what is presented to them... and Those who cannot see.: - Leonardo Da Vinci - in the 1600's

Little Badjao Girl way of surviving in the Philippines suburbian Traffic

These so called Badjao Children - a Philippine Minority equivalent to nomads of the desert, or the gypsies in central or eastern Europe.

They thrive during heavy traffic conditions along the stretch of Aguinaldo Hi-way in Bacoor and Imus, Cavite.

They are ambulant, ride from one jeepney to another, play their improvised PVC tamborines/ congos/ percussions and sing their mantras... I cant understand the song or language they speak, for the Filipino majority, this is foreign sounding.

Nothing is free... it is quite a feat to be able to get a video shoot of these kids... they normally avoid cameras... I have been waiting to steal this shot for the longest time.

Afterwards, this girl approached me... it costed my P15. :-) Anyway, it certainly made my day... knowing that these kids can survive the harsh concrete and urban jungle... under the heat and cold weather. they dont have the luxury of vaccinations, yet they flourish and thrive under these adversities.

Maybe God takes care of them... maybe, their genes are much stronger due to the fact that they have less alien chemicals in their bodies...

There's more thought I wish to provoke with this video.

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The exodus of Filipinos to go for a greener pasture outside the country is clearly a manifestation of how mismanaged our country is.

The lack of imagination results to hypocritical visions and goals causes bad governance.

Leaders of this country are greed driven - all possessing narcistic and edifice complexes... tend to be self righteous and justify their lavish - extravagant lifestyles.

Blaming the poor for being poor and telling the poor that it is a sin to be poor and they are poor because it's their own fault - because they are lazy.

This self-glorifying syndrome adds to a self-destructive pattern of mentality detrimental to the welfare of the nation as a whole - resulting to slave trade and labor export.

Leaving the children to fend for their own.

If we look at the pattern based on the history of the Philippines during the last 500 years... we are going to a down trend in terms of being Masters... and an uptrend in terms of becoming Slaves.

Wake Up! Philippines...

Office of the Slave Merchants of the Philippines

Here's a typical site in front of Manning agencies, Long lines or crowd of job seekers wishing to work abroad... or just anywhere but here (locally in Philippines)...

They are willing to leave their families in exchange of left over dollars from the big tables of the huge global corporate empires of the giant corporations abroad.

They are motivated by the thought of a good a prosperous living dictated by money for their family... they are enslaved by the thought of that Money will make their lives a lot better. In exchange for time with family, time for community, time for country.

They end up building the lives and infrastructures of other foreign nations, from buildings to cars, to factories to end products.

They go home after many months or years, seeing their family more alienated from them, if ever they can still get home with a family i tact - thats if they're lucky. They go home with money to buy everything their family needs, except lost time.... they go home thinking of retiring and investing their money in the bank, money market, or quick - hi return investments which are normally scams... They end up - back to where they started... but more loss than gained.

Time lost intended for family... is never regained, not even money can buy it back.

And they say that the family is the basic fiber of the society and if it's strong, a nation can also be strong.

How on earth can one say that this country is a strong Republic??? when the basic fibers of society is systematically being destroyed?

How blind can a whole nation be?

.... I am provoking your thoughts.

Articles 210 and 217

OFWs storm consulate in Jeddah to seek help

RONALDO Z. CONCHA and KIMBERLY JANE TAN, GMANews.TV
08/18/2009 | 08:11 PM

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia - More than a hundred “distressed" overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) forced their way into the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah on Monday and Tuesday to seek help in returning to the Philippines.

Consul General Ezzedin Tago and other consulate personnel complained that the OFWs almost destroyed the gate to the consulate compound by forcing their way inside early Monday.

Joseph Copundan, who stands as a leader of the stranded workers, said they decided to go to the consulate because they have already lost hope of being sent home by local authorities.

Most of the workers have been living under an overpass in Jeddah’s Khandara district for the past four months in a futile attempt to get Saudi immigration police into deporting them, Copundan said.

It has become a practice of stranded expatriates— Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans and Filipinos — to camp out in large numbers under the overpass so that they could be deported at the Saudi government’s expense. (See: 37 Pinoys camp out in Jeddah in bid to get deported])

The supposed advantage of such arrangement is that one need not secure an exit visa, which a runaway worker may not be able to provide as the consent of his or her employer is needed.

The perceived lenience of officials in Jeddah has become a magnet for runaways or overstayers based in Riyadh and the eastern cities of Saudi Arabia who wish to go home.

Consulate officials have in the past said many runaways were duped by members of syndicates promising them a quick exit through the Jeddah “backdoor."

As the latest group of OFWs have found out, however, the quick, backdoor exit is non-existent.

Copundan said some of his companions have been staying under the bridge for almost four months now without any clear future, prompting them to seek help from the consulate instead.

“Nagdesisyon na kaming lahat na pumunta ng embassy para magkaroon ng aksyon (We decided to go to the embassy so that they would take action)," he said.

Unruly

Consul General Tago said they were ready to help but complained about the unruly act of the workers.

“Hindi maganda ang pinakita nang ating mga kababayan. Tinutulungan naman namin sila pero dapat na ilagay natin sa tamang proseso at hindi ang ganitong klase ng paraan (What they did was not commendable; we would have helped them had they followed the right process)," he said.

Tago said that the disturbance caused the diplomatic police at the consulate to increase their number and to rent two buses to bring the workers to the deportation area.

Tago also blamed the workers for delaying their own entry into the deportation area at the Jeddah airport, prior to their flight home. He said there were only about 110 OFWs who came to the consulate, but their number swelled to 150 when it was announced that buses were coming to take them to the deportation area.

“Apparently some of our kababayans were texting others hiding in the city to join them," he said.

On Tuesday, the stranded workers returned to the consulate and demanded that officials do something to end their misery.

Tago assured the workers that the consulate is doing everything in its power to help distressed OFWs return home.

The workers said they also believe that the consulate could do something if it really tries. They cited the mass repatriation of Filipinos in mid-2007, which started when about 70 OFWs who camped out at the Khandara overpass decided to march to the consulate.

At that time, consulate officials were clueless about what to do, but when the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila gave the order to work on the workers’ repatriation, Consul General Pendosina N. Lomondot sought help from the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Top Saudi officials not only agreed to grant amnesty to 925 runaways and overstayers but also paid for their plane tickets.

Last year, a group of mostly runaways also flocked to the consulate in Jeddah in hopes of getting the same favorable treatment. Many of them ended up being returned to their place of work by immigration officials. - GMANews.TV

48 distressed OFWs return home from Riyadh

KIMBERLY JANE T. TAN, GMANews.TV
08/25/2009 | 07:36 PM

Forty-eight more Filipino household service workers who have escaped from their employers in Saudi Arabia returned to the country on Monday.

The workers arrived in Manila from Riyadh at 11 a.m. Monday via Gulf Air flight GF 154, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said.

OWWA Administrator Carmelita Dimzon said most of the workersd carried only temporary travel documents issued by the Philippine Embassy because they were unable to get back their passports.

Foreign employers are known to hold on to the passports of their expatriate workers as a measure to prevent them from switching to other employers or workplaces.

Dimzon said the workers left their jobs for various reasons, including difficult working conditions, maltreatment and abuses.

“Some of the returning workers complained of physical and sexual abuse, while others reported that their employers did not pay them the salaries agreed upon. Still others said they were forced to work beyond the stipulated working hours, not fed properly or were left hungry for several days," she said.

Dimzon said OWWA’s Repatriation and Assistance Division is assisting the workers in returning to their respective provinces. It is also preparing the needed documents for those who intend to file formal complaints against their employers or erring labor recruiters.

Officials have said the increase in number of distressed overseas Filipino workers is to be expected as the number of OFWs also continue to increase.


Consul General Ezzedin Tago, head of the Philippine Consul General in Jeddah, earlier said a total of 1,689 “distressed" Filipinos have been repatriated this year from Saudi Arabia, which employs an estimated 1.2 million OFWs.

Tago has said 185 others were awaiting deportation since June. The number does not include runaways and overstayers who are seeking to return home via the so-called “backdoor exit."

In 2008 alone, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) brought home a total of 5,540 distressed OFWs from various countries, mostly domestic helpers in Middle Eastern countries and Asia.

Philippine labor officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have also noted a 20-percent increase in the number of Filipino domestic helpers fleeing from their employers so far this year. -GMANews.TV

18 OFWs held in Riyadh over 'mixed gathering'

RONALDO Z. CONCHA, GMANews.TV
08/17/2009 | 01:01 PM

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia -

Eric Jocson, chairperson of Migrante-Riyadh, said they were arrested Friday around 3 p.m. at an apartment at Badea district in the Saudi Arabian capital city.

“Nagulat na lang kami nang biglang may kumatok sa kuwarto at nang aming pagbuksan ay bumulaga sa amin ang mga mutawwa (religious police) (We were surprised when somebody knocked on the door and when we opened it, there were mutawwa)," said Jocson.

Among those arrested, he said, were Migrante officials and "distressed OFWs" who ran away from their employers.

Under Saudi Arabia’s laws, men and women who are not married or related are not allowed to come together in private or public gatherings.

Jocson said they were not supposed to be the target of the raid, but the people in the room next to where they were staying.

He said they were arrested because a fellow Filipino in another apartment ratted on them to the police.

"Sinabi sa amin ng ibang lahi na nandoroon ng mga sandaling iyun na kitang-kita nila ang isang Pilipino na itinuturo ang kanilang lugar sa isang grupo ng mga mutawwa bago naganap ang raid, napakasakit isipin kung totoo ngang kababayan din natin ang may gawa nito," he said.

(We were told by other expatriates that they saw a Filipino pointing to our place to the mutawwa before the raid. It would be painful to find out if this were true.)

John Leonard Monterona, Migrante Middle East coordinator, said the gathering was part of their rights and welfare assistance program wherein they give advice and assistance to distressed Filipino workers before endorsing their cases to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Riyadh.

Jocson said he was freed on bail but added that they might still be sued for immorality or prostitution because they mixed unrelated men and women in the same room.

"Wala naman kaming ginagawang masama hangad lang namin ay makatulong tapos kami pa ang mapapasama dawit pa ang kinabukasan at buhay ng aming pamilya na umaasa sa amin," he said.

(We weren’t doing anything wrong, we just wanted to help but we ended up paying for it, and we might have even risked the future and life of our families who are counting on us.)

He was, however, thankful to the Philippine Embassy for their immediate response to the matter. The migrant leader specifically cited Ambassador Antonio Villamor, Labor Attaché Resty dela Fuente, and Vice Consul Roussel Reyes for their assistance.

In a statement released Monday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said that embassy representatives have informed the investigating officer of the case that Migrante is a recognized non-government organization and that they might have been conducting a meeting when the apartment was raided.

The case, said the DFA, has already been transmitted by the police to the Prosecutor’s Office for “further action." In alleged immorality cases, only the Saudi Prosecutor’s Office can recommend kafala, the sponsorship system where employers have control over their workers’ visas.

But the DFA said that Foreign Affairs executive director for Migrant Workers Affairs Agnes Cervantes has already assured Migrante chairperson Garry Martinez that the department will continue to closely monitor the case and provide all possible legal assistance when necessary.

At the same time, the embassy remind OFWs to be be mindful of the local customs, traditions, and laws of the countries where they are working to avoid trouble. - with Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV

source link:

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/170011/18-ofws-held-in-riyadh-over-39mixed-gathering39

Recruitment firm comes to quick rescue of OFW

MALU CADELINA MANAR, GMANews.TV
09/04/2009 | 04:07 PM

KIDAPAWAN, Philippines – A 30-year-old Filipino domestic helper from the southern Philippines, who escaped from her employer in Kuwait because she could no longer bear alleged physical abuses, has been arrested by the police.

But unlike many other runaway overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who either languish in jail or get stranded in the host country, Amelita Rebuya will be able to return home to the Philippines very soon.

This assurance comes from Rebuya’s recruitment agency, Phiilquest International Management & Service Contractor, which said it took action right away after learning of the OFW’s plight.

Conrad Crisostomo, head of Philquest in the southern city Kidapawan City, said the agency learned of Rebuya’s plight from her elder sister Nora Laudatu, who resides in Barangay Kibia in Matalam town of North Cotabato.

Crisostomo said Philquest immediately contacted its partner agency in Kuwait and coordinated with other government agencies to search for Rebuya.

Officials of the Philippines Embassy in Kuwait then set forth to locate Rebuya. With the cooperation of Philquest's partner which talked with the employer, she was released to the custody of the Embassy.

In a letter addressed to Philquest, the Rekabi Group and Khalid Dakhnan in Kuwait said Rebuya’s sponsor or employer issued on Thursday the ticket and passport.

"Rebuya’s employer has traveled to another country that is why the issuance of the ticket was delayed," Constanino quoted Khalid Dakhnan as saying.

Documented OFW

Dakhnan also asked Philquest to inform Rebuya’s family back in the Philippines about the matter, said Constantino.

"Rebuya is a documented OFW. This is the good thing about being a documented OFW. It’s so easy to follow up her issues and concerns," said Herminia Infanta, manager of the Public Employment Services Office (PESO) in Kidapawan.

Laudatu said her sister wants to return home and start her life anew.

"But if she wants to go to another country and work there, we will always be willing to help her," said Crisostomo of Philquest.

"It was just unfortunate that she found an employer who turned out to be her problem," he added.

Cases of runaway OFWs had been on the rise in the past years in the Middle East.

According to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), it has repatriated a total of 405 OFWs mostly from the Middle East from January to July 2009.

In 2008 alone, OWWA brought home a total of 5,540 distressed OFWs from various countries, mostly domestic helpers in Middle Eastern countries and Asia.

Fleeing from employers

Last week, the OWWA also repatriated 80 Filipino workers from the Middle East. Of the total 50 came from Amman, Jordan; 16 from Dammam, Saudi Arabia; 10 from Damascus, Syria; three from Muscat, Oman; and one from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Among those repatriated were 29-year-old Aisa Guiapar, who was also molested by her employer; 45-year-old Gloria Ubarde, whose employer gave her cigarette and injection marks; Lolita Montesclaro who was imprisoned in Dammam; three of the seven OFWs who were locked up by their foreign recruiter in Oman; and 10 Filipino workers who were imprisoned in the Duma Detention Center in Syria.

Philippine labor officials in the United Arab Emirates have also noted a 20-percent increase in the number of Filipino domestic helpers fleeing from their employers so far this year. - GMANews.TV

Remorseful OFW tells UAE court: I stole for my mother

A Filipino toy salesman in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) pleaded guilty to stealing 15,000 dirhams (P198,985) from his employer, saying he did so for his sick mother, a news report said Friday.

UAE-based news site Khaleej Times (www.khaleejtimes.com) said the 36-year-old salesman had appeared in the Court of First Instance in Deira on Thursday and said he regretted very much what he did.

He then asked for a swift verdict, which is expected on September 14.

Court records showed the Filipino took more than Dh15,000 on June 4 from the gift and toy store he was working for at a shopping center in Deira.

The manager of the store said other employees discovered the theft at about 7:30 a.m. that day.

“One of the door locks was not there," the British manager said when questioned by prosecutors. He also said that the cashier’s drawer was opened.

Also, the manager said the surveillance cameras were “put out of work." He added the stolen cash was of different currencies and it was more than Dh15,000.

But store management tracked down the thief when they checked the CCTV cameras of the shopping mall.

Records showed the defendant was seen heading to the gift store about 5:30 a.m. and going out about 10 minutes later. - GMANews.TV

Abused DH in UAE

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Ramadhan para sa mga Yakan

The Yakan tribe of Muslim Mindanao is the Filipino Muslim majority in Riyadh.

The voices of the majority asks for peace in Mindanao, not only during this Ramadan... but all the days of their life.

The Filipino Mind

I got this from my yahoo group and I feel it is worth sharing in this blog, talking about the Filipino Mind."


"The mind.
The peculiar mind.
The peculiar Filipino mind. What is wrong with it?
The peculiar Filipino mind needs what? Renewed thinking?
What truly does the Filipino mind need? A transformation? Re-engineering?

Many think it needs an overhaul. Why? Because of the perceived acts that it manifests. What kinds of acts? Inferior acts that yield little to improve his lot.

TI says we came from slaves, so what do you expect? Slave mentality he says, what else? And slave mentality is counterproductive.

So we are slaves. Are we the best slaves? The better slaves?

Kit agrees that we have a slave mindset. Do we really? It appears to be generally true.

Many say culture made us to have that mindset. TI seems to agree. Bert says, "Noo... it's the need of the imperialists that caused it. The imperialists caused the slave culture that makes the Filipinos tick as they do.

TI says historically we were mostly slaves before the colonizers came. Only few of us were of royal blood. Even the royal blood became subjects of the Imperialists; in reality, managers and/partners of the imperialists that were compensated better that the pure slaves that most of our parents and us are.

We continue to be slaves and continue to survive as slaves. Aside from the wealthy local imperialist managers, some of us have better "slaving" luck outside the country. They are paid more for being imported slaves of employing foreign countries. They are the new hero slaves.

We don't want to be slaves anymore, don't we, like Bonifacio and Aguinaldo wanted themselves to be free and not beholden anymore to a foreign power? Or, just to be better slaves like Rizal wanted us to be?

Is it possible for us to cease to be slaves? Yes, via a mindset change that will make us self sufficient. But how many can society accommodate of the self sufficient? Won't these lucky ones need to employ slaves to make themselves self-sufficient? There will still be servants won't there?.

The servants are poor. The poor will be with us forever. It's like in any insect colony or animal kingdom. There are always the privileged and the servants to provide services to the privileged.

Who are the privileged? Those who are earning well. How are they earning well? What sets them apart form the many servants around them? Can we all be privileged?

What makes the privileged and the poor? Their cultured mindset? Luck? Degree of education? Traditional endowments? Hand me down assets and businesses? Amount of capital available - landed and moneyed? Different minds that come from genes? Family culture? In/conducivity of environment? Corruption? Criminal activity? Religion? Mafia? Imperatives for survival? Trapoism? Foresight? Courage and discipline?

Many chose the cultured mindset. So if the poor wants to improve its lot it needs a renewed thinking. Is this fair and correct?

Nelson says the mindset can change only if the Filipinos want it changed. Do the Filipinos know enough to understand that they need to change his mindset so they can progress? What could help them be motivated to look into their minds, examined it, look for solutions, and apply the solution. A happy and good vision helps adds Nelson. Are Filipinos capable of these mental activities for change with their present mind set?

What created the Filipino mind? Language, traditional and "forced" culture? His environment? Resources or lack of it? Circumstances? Parents and family? Teachers, clerics and trapos? Foreigners? Genes? Education and Experience? Observation and events? Forced designed or product of evolution?

Food for thought: "It takes a village to create a prostitute." If we destroy the enabling factors that make a prostitute would society still be plagued with prostitutes?

What were the enabling factors that made the present mindset of the Filipinos? Is the operative village still in existence? Everybody seems to agree.

Ogie"

Teresita Santos

A story of injustice... the Teresita Santos story.

For 2 years justice was delayed...

Human Rights of Saudi and Patnubay.com was there to help Ms. Santos.

There was no comments obtained from the Philippine Embassy of Jeddah.

This story was posted Dec. 2007.

Bryan Cruz

The story of Bryan Cruz... he had liver problem and Dialysis treatment has costed all their families life long earnings.

This story was posted April 12, 2008.....

Joel Lozada

OFW Joel Lozada in distress..., this news was posted in 2008, 28 March. Joel escaped his first sponsor in 2000. Worked elsewhere in Saudi without an Eqama (Working Permit). He worked in Batha, (Filipino community area) in a bakeshop, but his leg problem worsened and his bakeshop employer won't help him or is not able to help due to his lack of documentation.

The case of Joel epitomizes a common dilemma among Pinoy Workers in Saudi Arabia.

It is already a problem to be employed by the wrong employer, but to escape him can make the problem much worse... not immediately but eventually.

Unless you know where to go to as soon as you can or will escape.

The problem is... 99% of our OFW's do not know where to go as soon as they do escape.

OFW Arnold Torres' Rights

Mr. Arnold Torres, victim of a vehicular accident in 2008 needs justice and help.

Joseph Peruda 2

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Rey Escano

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OFW SOS

As a former OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) who had my share of sufferings abroad; but eventually lived to tell the tale; It is my natural call to do this blog as a means to share, spread and create awareness to the general public about the truth and the bigger picture most Filipinos and/or Non-Filipinos are unaware of.

This blog is dedicated to store or compile all stories of sufferings, survival and success of many OFW abroad. May their stories inspire and create a wave of consioussness that may somehow promote veering away from the pitfalls of altruism.

We tend to do self sacrifices for the survival of our family/ies, but little are we aware of - that the price of such self imposed heroism is too much.

There is no amount of money enough to buy lost time and/or fix broken families... these two elements are vital if we are planning to systematically destroy a nation, do we want this to happen???

Thanks to our Media for making Willy R. and the like a hero to the masses... you are the perfect agents to bring this nation as a feedstock for the birds. In other words... a nation of slaves. (Slaves to Idolatry, Greed, False Hopes, Illusions of Grandeur and Global Corporations). We definitely do not want this... but we are left with very little choices... this is what we were programmed to believe.

Join me in this walk towards reality.