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Last of distressed OFWs in Lebanon home by yearend—DOLE

News

Dec 282013

By Tina G. Santos
Philippine Daily Inquirer

5:04 pm | Saturday, December 28th, 2013

FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The 36 remaining distressed Filipino workers in Lebanon are to be flown home before the year ends, the Department of Labor said Saturday.

Citing a report from Irma Valiente, the assistant labor attache in Beirut, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the Lebanese General Security Department has agreed to waive all penalties and fines, thus allowing the 36 workers to leave immediately.

The workers, most of whom are domestics, are staying at the Filipino Workers Rescue Center, Baldoz said.

“The plane tickets of the 36, who are all female ‘runaways’, will be paid for by Caritas Lebanon, a religious non-government organization in Bierut. We are now finalizing the flight bookings of the distressed OFWs,” Valiente said in her report to Baldoz.

Baldoz had earlier directed all Philippine Overseas Labor Offices to fast-track the settlement of cases involving distressed Filipino workers so they could be repatriated as soon as possible.

She urged labor officials to work closely with the Philippine embassies, establish rapport with licensed overseas employment providers, and intensify networking and coordination with the immigration and labor offices of the host countries.

“I commend the POLO in Lebanon for sustaining our efforts to fast-track the settlement of cases and repatriation of OFWs,” Baldoz said. “This is, without doubt, the result of our POLO-Lebanon’s good rapport and active networking with Lebanon’s immigration and labor offices.”

Immigration bureau eyes office in Makati’s central business district

News

Dec 242013

Immigration bureau eyes office in Makati’s central business district

By Niña P. CallejaPhilippine Daily Inquirer 5:28 pm | Tuesday, December 24th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration wants to make its services accessible to foreign nationals by setting up a frontline office at the central business district of Makati City. Immigration Commissioner Siegfred Mison said the agency has been scouting for a building in Makati to house the immigration personnel in its frontline operations. “We would want our services like processing of renewal and extension of visas of foreign nationals to be accessible. They can no longer have the excuse that our office is too far from them,” Mison said in a recent interview with reporters. The BI main office is located in Intramuros, Manila, while it has field offices in other regions in the country. “Our main office will still be here in Intramuros. My office will still be here. Just a part of operations will just be transferred to Makati to make it conducive and convenient foreign nationals,” Mison said. Makati is the place of choice, according to Mison, since it is the middle of the metropolis’ urban centers. “We think most of our foreign nationals stay there since it’s the country’s financial capital. It is also relatively near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport,” the BI chief said. Mison said the agency would like to see the office set up by 2014 in line with its plan to hire 200 additional immigration officers to be assigned in the country’s ports of entry. The immigration commissioner Read More …

Manila mayor Joseph Estrada to apologize over Hong Kong deaths

News

Oct 232013

Manila mayor Joseph Estrada to apologize over Hong Kong deaths

In this file photo taken on August 23, 2010, Philippine policemen take position as they start their attack on a hijacked tourist bus in Manila. AFP FILE PHOTO MANILA – Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada will formally apologize over the deaths of eight Hong Kong tourists in a 2010 hostage crisis, an aide said Wednesday, despite President Aquino insisting none should be given. Estrada, a graft-tainted ex-president who was elected mayor of Manila in May, will go to Hong Kong this week to present the apology in the form of a resolution passed by the city council, a city official said. A formal apology has been one of the long-standing demands by the Hong Kong government over the deaths of the eight tourists in Manila in August 2010 after they were taken hostage by a disgruntled Filipino policeman. “There is an admission of a bungled operation. The city of Manila is being more candid now,” Luch Gempis, secretary of the Manila city council, told AFP. Philippine authorities have acknowledged that police and other authorities mishandled the hostage situation. But President Aquino has consistently refused to make a formal apology on behalf of the national government, insisting the deaths were primarily caused by the actions of the hostage taker. The lack of an apology, as well as a refusal to pay compensation, has caused deep tensions between Hong Kong and the Philippines. Aquino reiterated on Wednesday that no national government apology would be given. “The act of one individual should not be Read More …

PH envoy to China back home for consultation

News

Sep 052013

PH envoy to China back home for consultation

Agence France-Presse 6:16 pm | Thursday, September 5th, 2013 Erlinda Basilio INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has asked its ambassador to China to return home for consultations, the foreign department said Thursday amid fresh tensions in a seething maritime territorial row. Ambassador Erlinda Basilio flew back to Manila as the defense department this week accused China of laying 75 concrete blocks on disputed territory in the South China Sea. “She was asked to come home for consultations, and she will (be in Manila) for the next few days,” Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez told reporters. Defense officials have expressed concern the Chinese block-laying could be a prelude to building structures at the shoal. The outcrop is about 650 kilometers from Hainan island, the nearest major Chinese land mass. Asked if Manila would lodge a diplomatic protest or undertake other options, Hernandez said: “We are still studying the matter.” The Philippine foreign ministry earlier said President Benigno Aquino had also called off a planned trip to China on Tuesday for a trade fair after Chinese authorities imposed conditions on the trip. The concrete blocks have raised concerns in Manila that China could be planning construction in the waters, as it did in Philippine-claimed Mischief Reef in another area of the sea, in 1995. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei rejected the Philippine allegations of block-laying on Wednesday, while asserting China’s sovereignty over the shoal. China claims most of the South China Sea, including waters close to the coasts Read More …

DFA creates body to probe sexual exploitation in PH foreign missions

News

Jun 202013

DFA creates body to probe sexual exploitation in PH foreign missions

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 7:07 pm | Thursday, June 20th, 2013 Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA—The Department of Foreign Affairs set up Thursday a fact-finding body to investigate alleged sexual exploitation of distressed Filipino workers in at least three Philippine diplomatic posts in the Middle East as it asked eight more of the country’s ambassadors in the region to come home “for consultations.” Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario ordered the ambassadors home to discuss the alleged cases and draw up measures to prevent such offenses from occurring in Philippine foreign missions. The Philippine envoys to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya and Lebanon were summoned a day after Del Rosario called on the ambassadors to Jordan, Syria and Kuwait and officials linked to the alleged prostitution rings to take the next flight home to give their side of the issue. “To be as thorough as possible in addressing the issue on the alleged sex-related offenses, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario has instructed the ambassadors of 11 of our embassies in the Middle East (including the three earlier called home) to come home immediately for consultations and to discuss related issues,” Hernandez said at a news briefing. “We need to have our ambassadors participate in the fact-finding initiatives that the DFA has started, We need to find ways to collectively encourage victims and witnesses to come forward and submit formal complaints and testimonies,” he added. Hernandez said the envoys in the Read More …

UN sends out call for $47-M aid for Mindanao rehab in 2013

News

Jun 202013

UN sends out call for $47-M aid for Mindanao rehab in 2013

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 5:42 pm | Thursday, June 20th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines — The United Nations’ humanitarian agency called for immediate international response to the prevailing needs in Mindanao provinces devastated by Typhoon “Pablo” and decades of conflict, estimating that the region would have to raise $47 million (roughly P2 billion) for shelter and livelihood needs in 2013 alone. Top officials of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) also bared on Thursday that it has started downsizing its operations on the ground in typhoon-hit parts of Mindanao as operations shifted from immediate relief to long-term rehabilitation. The $47 million is part of a $91-million call for aid under the agency’s revised humanitarian action plan for Central and Western Mindanao as of this month, according to David Carden, head of OCHA Philippines. “This revised plan will help us to meet the ongoing needs of those affected by Pablo, particularly in the areas of shelter, because people need shelter and livelihood,” Carden said in a press conference on Thursday. “The requirements are still there in the areas of shelter, education, socio-psychological rehabilitation. A lot of people who lost relatives, friends, they are recovering now and I’d say we don’t have much time… We have to move rather quickly,” Rashid Khalikov, Geneva-based UNOCHA director who led a high-level visit of aid officials and international donors to Maguindanao this week. Carden said the revised call for aid aimed to “meet the humanitarian and protection needs of 530,000 affected Read More …

US green card limbo: for one Filipino, a long wait

News

Apr 302013

US green card limbo: for one Filipino, a long wait

2:32 pm | Tuesday, April 30th, 2013 This recent undated photograph obtained courtesy of Elizabeth Arnulfo shows Arnulfo Babiera (R), who applied for a US green card a decade ago, in the hopes of reuniting with his sister, Elizabeth Arnulfo (L), a naturalized citizen. But at the current rate, his wait could extend until 2027.a naturalized citizen. But at the current rate, his wait could extend until 2027. Foreigners seeking to immigrate to the United States under the family reunification program may however see changes on the horizon, with a new reform seeking to resolve the four million cases in limbo, like that of Babiera. AFP PHOTO WASHINGTON—Arnulfo Babiera applied for a US green card a decade ago, in the hopes of reuniting with his sister, a naturalized citizen. But at the current rate, his wait could extend until 2027. Foreigners seeking to immigrate to the United States under a family reunification program may however see changes on the horizon, with a new reform seeking to resolve the four million cases in limbo, like that of Babiera. “That is my dream, going to the United States of America — to earn more, to support my family here. My income would be greater than it is here,” Babiera told AFP by telephone from his home in Davao, in the southern Philippines. Babiera, a 58-year-old employee of a recruitment agency, earned the right to come to the United States when his sister Elizabeth filed a green card application on his behalf in Read More …

Philippines discovers pangolins on Chinese poacher boat

News

Apr 142013

Philippines discovers pangolins on Chinese poacher boat

Agence France-Presse 11:47 am | Monday, April 15th, 2013 This undated handout photo received on April 10, 2013 and released by the Philippine coast Guard (PCG) shows coast guard personnel inspecting the Chinese fishing vessel which ran aground off Tubbataha reef in Palawan island, western Philippines. A Chinese fishing boat has run aground on a World Heritage-listed coral reef in the Philippines, roughly 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) from China’s nearest major landmass, authorities said April 9. AFP PHOTO/PCG MANILA – The Philippine coast guard said Monday it had found hundreds of frozen scaly anteaters, or pangolins, in the cargo hold of a Chinese boat that ran aground in a protected marine sanctuary last week. Wildlife officials have been informed of the surprising discovery, which could lead to more charges for the 12 Chinese men arrested on charges including poaching after their boat was stranded in Tubbataha Reef last week. “We found 400 boxes containing anteaters aboard the vessel, and we are now determining where these came from,” coast guard spokesman Lieutenant Commander Armand Balilo told AFP. He could not say whether the pangolins were frozen alive, or had already been butchered as meat. A protected species, pangolins are widely hunted in parts of Asia for their meat, skin and scales. In China, they are known as a delicacy and are purported to have medicinal qualities. According to the International Union of Conservation of Nature, all eight species of the insect-eating mammals are protected by international laws around the world. Two Read More …

Silence reigns in Sabah village after heavy firing—radio report

News

Feb 282013

Silence reigns in Sabah village after heavy firing—radio report

By Allan NawalInquirer Mindanao 1:28 pm | Friday, March 1st, 2013 DAVAO CITY, Philippines—An uncanny silence now engulfs Felda Sahabat 17, a community in the seaside village of Tanjung in Tanduo, Lahad Datu following nearly an hour of gun fight between Malaysian security forces and members of the Sulu sultanate’s “royal army,” the short wave station Free Radio Sarawak near Sabah reported Friday. Another SW station based in Kota Kinabalu said more Malaysian security forces in full battle gear were seen heading for Tanduo and were expected to beef up security forces stationed there when the stand-off between the two sides started February 12, three days after followers of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III landed in the village. Both stations said they could not confirm the number of casualties but their reporters quoted villagers as saying those being moved out for injuries were members of the Malaysian security forces. Abraham Iridjani, spokesperson for Jamalul Kiram, told Manila reporters that there had been injuries on the side of the “royal army” as well. Malaysian authorities remained mum on the firefight, the Kota Kinabalu station said. Reports by other Malaysian media said former Sabah minister Harris Salleh lamented the violence, saying “it would remain a scar forever” on Malaysia’s diplomatic image before the eyes of the world. Harris had earlier called for a peaceful resolution of the Sabah stand-off and proposed that Kuala Lumpur settle the claims of the heirs of the ancient sultanate by buying it out. He proposed that the sum Read More …

10 killed, 4 injured in Sabah firefight

News

Feb 282013

By Tetch TorresINQUIRER.net 1:15 pm | Friday, March 1st, 2013 MANILA, Philippines—At least 10 people died while four others were injured when a firefight broke out between the “royal army” of Sulu and Malaysian forces in Lahad Datu village in Sabah, the daughter of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III said Friday. Among those wounded is a woman, Princess Jaycel Kiram said in press conference in Manila. She said the information was relayed to the royal family by Rajah Muda, brother of the sultan and leader of the group that sailed from Mindanao to Lahad Datu on February 12 to stake a territorial claim on Sabah. The exchange of gunfire began at around 6 a.m. Friday when the Malaysian forces inched closer to the place where the group, which includes about 30 gunmen according to Filipino authorities, has been holed up, Abraham Idjirani, spokesman for the Sultan of Sulu, said at the press conference. The group has no intention to leave the area despite the firefight, the sultan stressed. The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that shots were fired but denied reports there were casualties. Foreign Affairs spokesman Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez told ABS-CBN network that the gunfire had stopped and there were no casualties. “What he (Philippine ambassador to Malaysia) relayed to Secretary del Rosario was that this incident happened earlier, and thank God there were no casualties,” Hernandez said. Scores of followers of Sultan Kiram have been facing off with Malaysian security forces in Lahad Datu village for more than Read More …

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