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Saturday, September 12, 2009

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.

******************************************************************

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

Friday, September 4, 2009

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

Wednesday, September 2, 2009