amendoza

Bulldozing for building up dreams

General

Aug 222015

Philippine Daily Inquirer By: Eunice Barbara C. Novio, August 23rd, 2015 06:32 AM FAMILY FIRST Datuin says, “I don’t care if we are called ‘bagong bayani’ or how my remittances keep our government afloat. My family comes first, not how my remittances keep our government afloat.” I WAS 46 when I came to Saudi Arabia and will be turning 53. I was being called by my first name by my fellow expats. The ones who are half my age dearly call me kuya.” “Now I’m feeling like a relic and cringing when some newbies call me Mang Jet or worst, tatang,” Froilan or Jet Datuin, from Los Baños, Laguna, says with a laugh. He is a bulldozer operator at Abdul ali al-ajmi Company in Saudi Arabia, which has other projects in Dubai and other parts of the Middle East. In his six years in the company, he lives in the desert with other overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and nationalities. Odd jobs Back in the Philippines, he had a regular job as a timekeeper in a construction company in Manila in the ’90s with modest weekly salary that kept them stable. His wife, Edna, is a public schoolteacher. But his company was taken down by the Asian flu and eventually shut down in mid-2000. Due to age and being an undergraduate, he could not get stable jobs. “I drove a jeepney and sometimes be a private driver to augment our income,” he recalls. Without a permanent job and relying on the Read More …

US official gives Del Rosario ‘pep talk’

News

Apr 182015

US official gives Del Rosario ‘pep talk’

A senior US official on Friday met with Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario who is set to leave for Washington to get “substantive support” from the United States in the Philippines’ dispute with China in the South China Sea. Scot Marciel, principal deputy assistant secretary at the Department of State’s Bureau of East Asian Pacific Affairs, was in the Philippines on April 16-18 as part of his regular visit to Southeast Asia. In a roundtable with Filipino reporters at the US Embassy in Manila, Marciel said he had a “broad discussion” with Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) officials on Friday on key regional issues, including China’s reclamation work, the rise of tensions in the South China Sea, and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the US and the Philippines. “I reiterated [to the DFA] the concerns that we have made public about certain actions that we think undermine the overall positive environment in the region,” Marciel said, referring to the reclamation by China of contested islands in the South China Sea where it is building airstrips and military facilities. Marciel expressed the hope that all claimant nations in the South China Sea—the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei—would show restraint and refrain from provocative actions. “We exchange ideas on how best to create that pattern of behavior among all the claimant states that will reduce tensions,” Marciel said, admitting that there was “more work to do” in addressing the problem. The Philippines has an arbitration case pending in the Read More …

Aquino meeting Organization of Islamic Cooperation head on peace process

News

Apr 182015

Aquino meeting Organization of Islamic Cooperation head on peace process

President Benigno Aquino III is expected to meet with the head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for a discussion of the government’s peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that has been set back by a clash between state forces and rebels last January. OIC Secretary General Iyad bin Amin Madani will speak with President Aquino and Senate President Franklin Drilon before he leaves the country on Monday, a statement from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp) said on Saturday. The statement did not indicate when the meeting would take place. Madani will also meet with top leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and MILF “to strengthen the Bangsamoro Coordination Forum, which was created by the OIC to harmonize the two Moro fronts,” the Opapp said. Madani also made courtesy calls on Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. Madani led an eight-man delegation on a four-day visit to the Philippines, a move largely seen as an effort to save the peace process, as lawmakers threaten to block the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, the single piece of legislation needed to establish a Bangsamoro autonomous region in Mindanao and end a decades-long conflict on the island. The new autonomous region would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), created by the peace agreement between the government and the MNLF. Mr. Aquino has described the ARMM as a “failed experiment” after the Read More …

Alien ID deal cost gov’t P600M—COA

General

Apr 182015

Commission on Audit building. FILE PHOTO The government lost P626.3 million in projected revenues due to a questionable agreement the Bureau of Immigration (BI) entered into with a private firm to automate alien registration in the country, the Commission on Audit (COA) found. In its audit of the BI for 2013, the COA said amendments to the original build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract between the BI and Datatrail Corp. were “void, inoperative and without legal effect” since they were not sanctioned by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda). The changes in the BOT agreement—which was signed in December 2003—were approved by former Immigration Commissioner Marcelo Libanan and Commissioner Roy Almoro in March 2007. “The amendments introduced to the BOT agreement appear (to be) very disadvantageous to BI,” the COA noted. “The amendments, modifications or variations introduced… to the BOT were void, inoperative and without legal effect because of the various violations to Republic Act No. 6957,” it said, referring to the BOT Law. Among the amendments to the contract for the Alien Certificate of Registration Identity Card project was a modification of the revenue-sharing scheme between the BI and Datatrail, formerly known as J. Serrano Trading Corp. The project was supposed to modernize and hasten the registration of foreign nationals living in the country by introducing a microchip-based ID card. From the original 50-50 sharing in gross revenues, the COA said the BI agreed to a 67-33 sharing scheme in favor of Datatrail. It said Libanan and Almoro also approved a Read More …

Make a stand for clarity of corporate purpose

General

Apr 182015

Make a stand for clarity of corporate purpose

‘THE CLARITY Principle’ By Chatman Sullivan John Wiley & Sons, 2013 When a company is steering toward unclear directions, someone must be bold enough to confront a confused situation and tell the boss to take stock of what’s going on. When top corporate leadership refuses to confront a “neither-here-nor-there” situation as the company sinks to lower levels of market performance, one must muster enough courage to point out the unfortunate impasse. When the boy said the Emperor had “no clothes,” he told the truth others would not dare speak of, fearing the Emperor’s wrath. The book, “The Clarity Principle,” calls it a “powerful leadership moment.” It’s that moment when truth is told against sacrosanct ill thought-out strategies and unchecked practices that push a firm into a sea of red ink. Author Chatham Sullivan, who taught at the Wharton School of Business and the School of Social Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, calls for “more clarity in communicating the purpose” of the firm. In the book, he mentions the conflict in policy between Steve Jobs and John Sculley, chair and president, respectively, in Apple Inc. The root of the problem is traced by the author to the move of Jobs to split off the Mac division from the rest of the Apple business. “Better to be a pirate,” Job was heard to have said, than join the navy. Jobs wanted “to free Macintosh designers from the bureaucracy of the larger organization.” As conceptualized by Jobs, he would handle Mac, while Read More …

From show biz to big business

News

Apr 112015

TITOY FRANCISCO presenting to Hakuho Sho the championship certificate of the Sumo winter league tournament, on behalf of Coca-Cola (Japan) Company Ltd., a sponsor of the competition. HE could have become another Gary Valenciano or Ogie Alcasid but big business prevailed. Like the two singers, he was also a member of Kundirana, a singing group that often held concerts outside the school (La Salle Green Hills). The group required that no member had failing marks despite the rigid, almost daily practices. Evaristo Sanchez Francisco Jr. or Titoy for short, had the highest grade point average of his graduating year in the early ’80s. Francisco finished Mechanical Engineering from the University of the Philippines Diliman. He graduated cum laude. “At one point during my childhood, I wanted to be a professional band member. That was the time of the Minstrels, Circus band, etc.” “The closest I got to it was having a one-year stint in Kundirana.” After a series of jobs in major international firms that included Unilever Philippines, Kraft Foods Inc., Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. and Interphil Laboratories, Francisco is now the executive vice president and general manager of Coca-Cola (Japan) Co. Ltd. Below is a Q&A with one of the country’s successful expatriates: Global Pinoy (GP): Please describe a typical day for you. Francisco: It’s been exciting working for a global company like Coca-Cola. We operate in more than 200 countries and we have more than 100,000 employees worldwide. One of the strengths of the Coca-Cola Company is we Read More …

Harsh reality of waiting 24 years before being reunited with siblings

General

Apr 112015

Harsh reality of waiting 24 years before being reunited with siblings

WITH NUMEROUS petitions being filed and limited number of visas available, it is taking several years for visas to be available on approved petitions. For Filipinos who are waiting for visas, the wait can take longer than two decades. Bernadette is a US citizen and has one sister in Manila who recently became a widow. Bernadette wants to petition her sister so they can live in the United States together during their twilight years. Bernadette is now 69 years old and her sister is just a year younger. Bernadette was informed that she can file a petition for her sister and it will be approved in a year. She filed the immigrant petition. The petition was approved with a priority date of 2014. Bernadette was excited but was told that the visa will not be issued to her sister until after 24 years. Why is it taking so long for family petitions to be processed? Modernizing visa system For Filipino nationals, the waiting period ranges from 2 to 24 years. Petition by green card holders for their spouse and minor children is currently taking around two years while petitions by US citizens for their siblings is currently around 24 years. There is no uniformity in the movement of the priority date for each preference category in any given year. For instance for sibling petitions, in 2013, the priority date under the fourth preference category was 1989; and, moved to 1990 in 2014; and, is now 1991 currently for 2015. Under Read More …

Obama scores China bullying in South China Sea

News

Apr 102015

Obama scores China bullying in South China Sea

President Barack Obama. AP FILE PHOTO KINGSTON, Jamaica—US President Barack Obama said Washington is concerned China is using its “sheer size and muscle” to push around smaller nations in the South China Sea, just hours after Beijing gave a detailed defense of its creation of artificial islands in the contested waterway. China’s rapid reclamation around seven reefs in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea has alarmed other claimants, such as the Philippines and Vietnam, and drawn growing criticism from US government officials and the military. While the new islands will not overturn US military superiority in the region, workers are building ports and fuel storage depots and possibly two airstrips that experts have said would allow Beijing to project power deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia. “Where we get concerned with China is where it is not necessarily abiding by international norms and rules, and is using its sheer size and muscle to force countries into subordinate positions,” Obama told a town-hall event in Jamaica on Thursday ahead of a Caribbean summit in Panama. “We think this can be solved diplomatically, but just because the Philippines or Vietnam are not as large as China doesn’t mean that they can just be elbowed aside,” he said. The United States has no claim of its own, but broadly supports its Asian allies against Chinese pressure and has asserted that freedom of navigation is in its national interest. China rejoinder Beijing immediately rejected Obama’s comments, saying it only seeks Read More …

Filipino maid rescued after FB cry for help

News

Apr 102015

Filipino maid rescued after FB cry for help

A Filipino maid was rescued by Philippine embassy officials from her employer in Bahrain after she posted a desperate cry for help on the social networking site Facebook. Staff at the Philippine embassy were alerted to the plight of Abby Luna, 28, who claimed she was raped and beaten by her employer’s son, after she posted a three-minute video on her Facebook page on Thursday morning. READ: OFW in Bahrain seeks help via video Luna’s tearful plea made the rounds online, attracted about 78,000 shares and 19,000 likes, reaching the Philippine authorities who made her rescue possible. “The rescue was prompted by the video message…She is now under the care of our embassy,” Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesperson Charles Jose told AFP. Philippine embassy officials and staff from Luna’s employment agency picked her up from her employer’s house, Jose said, adding that police were investigating the incident. Luna’s alleged assailant denied to police that he attacked her, Ricky Aragon, vice consul at the Philippine embassy in Bahrain, told AFP by phone. In the three-minute long video, which appears to have been made on a webcam, a sobbing Luna accused her employer’s “drug addict” son of raping her. She also posted a written appeal for viewers to contact the Philippine embassy on her behalf. “Help me get out of here. I’m scared. Until now, my genitals hurt. My leg is bruised. He (attacker) punched my leg to immobilize me,” said Luna, a resident of Los Baños, Laguna, who had been Read More …

PH asserts rights in disputed sea

General

Mar 282015

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines has dismissed China’s criticism of its plan to repair military facilities in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), saying it has sovereign rights over territories in the disputed areas. The Philippines’ activities are “in no way comparable to China’s massive reclamation activities” in the waters, said Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesperson Charles Jose. Jose said accusations that the Philippines was being “hypocritical” would not detract from Beijing’s own actions which are raising regional tensions. The statement by Jose was the latest volley in an increasingly tense war of words over the sea, parts of which are claimed by both countries as well as Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. “The Philippines’ possible undertaking of necessary maintenance and repairs on its existing facilities in the West Philippine Sea… is in no way comparable to China’s massive reclamation activities which not only violate international law… but also unnecessarily raise tensions,” Jose said. West Philippine Sea is the name the Philippines has given to that portion of the South China Sea where Filipino troops and civilians occupy some islands. Most vocal in criticizing China The Philippines has recently been among the most vocal in criticizing China’s development of isolated outcroppings in the waters into large facilities capable of hosting bases and even airstrips. Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the Philippines would resume its own construction of facilities in the sea, prompting Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying to denounce his remarks on Friday. “This does not only violate Read More …

Older Entries Newer Entries