Fil-Am staffers and students join UC Medical Center strike frontline

 News
May 242013
 
Fil-Am staffers and students join UC Medical Center strike frontline

By Hiyasmin QuijanoINQUIRER.net US Bureau 5:55 am | Saturday, May 25th, 2013 Filipino hospital staffers at strike picket line in front of the University of California Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Los Angeles. Photo by Hiyasmin Quijano LOS ANGELES, California–Filipino-American workers and students joined a two-day strike in front of the University of California Ronald Reagan Medical Center to “get priorities straight.” After ten months of negotiations, UC patient technical workers continue to bargain for enforceable safe staffing standards to protect patient care, a stop to outsourcing frontline care to less-experienced workers, fair wages to afford sending their own children to the University of California and a stop to oversized executive entitlements. Medical center works say hundreds are being laid off, schedules reduced and less-experienced providers being hired. Thousands of UC Medical patient care workers voted 97 percent in favor of the May 21-22 job stoppage. The strikers included respiratory therapists, nursing aides, radiologists, certified nursing assistants, MRI technologists, licensed vocational nurses, surgical technicians, diagnostic sonographers, pathology lab technicians, pharmacy technicians, or technicians and others staff members. UC Medical Centers serve approximately four million people annually. “I’m here for my patient. A lot of us are overworked because we’re also given on-call assignments. So sometimes we are working all week. We also never get released on time because there’s not enough staff to relieve us,” states Jing Ulamgkang. Staffers complain that over-scheduling, causes stress and exhaustion for care providers and delays for patients. “It all boils down to patient safety and Read More …

Kids make art to help rescue other kids from neglect

 News
May 242013
 
Kids make art to help rescue other kids from neglect

1:01 am | Saturday, May 25th, 2013 Children of The Filipino Channel (TFC) create art to support programs for child rescue and rehabilitation in the Philippines. Photo by Bryan Reynoso REDWOOD CITY, California—Art classes attended by children of the employees of The Filipino Channel are producing works that will help raise funds for the rehabilitation of neglected or abused children in the Philippines. The art program, Kids heART Bantay Bata, is hosted by the ABS CBN Foundation International in partnership with Filipino-American artist Paolo Mejia, whose work and advocacy supports emerging artists and designers to raise awareness and support for the foundation’s flagship program, Bantay Bata (Child Watch Philippines). The foundation is the corporate social responsibility arm of ABS-CBN International and The Filipino Channel (TFC). “Our philanthropy starts at our home, at TFC,” says Jo Ann Kyle, managing director for the foundation. “The children are deeply engaged and understand that they paint for a purpose. Knowing that kids as young as four years old create art with the less fortunate in mind gives a more layered and solemn beauty to their raw talent,” Kyle adds. Art for charity   The classes create original art that will be reproduced on cards and made available with minimum donations to the charity. Proceeds will support the multi-awarded initiative that rescues and rehabilitates impoverished, abused, and neglected children in the Philippines. Notecard reproductions will be available at the Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI) parade in New York on June 2, 2013 and online Read More …

Albay governor’s ‘bangka’ good to go

 News
May 242013
 
Albay governor’s ‘bangka’ good to go

By Reynard Magtoto, VERA Files Legazpi City—After assuring Bicolanos that no one will be left behind in Albay’s surge to prosperity, reelected Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda said he is ready to “paddle the boat” to fulfilling his visionem>(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for “true”.)

Militants 'picket' TECO office in Makati, seek early resolution to row

 News
May 212013
 
Militants 'picket' TECO office in Makati, seek early resolution to row

Militant groups on Wednesday picketed the office of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Makati City to call for an early resolution to the row stemming from the fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman in disputed waters last May 9. The militants, who gathered near the RCBC Tower where the MECO office is located, also voiced sympathies to the relatives of the slain fisherman, radio dzBB’s Mao dela Cruz reported. No violent confrontation took place between the militants and police, the report said. During their picket, the militants asked the Philippine and Taiwan governments to resolve their row soonest, and reminded Taiwan that overseas Filipino workers are not their enemy. They also asked the Philippine government to take steps to protect OFWs in Taiwan. Killed in the May 9 incident was fisherman Hung Shih-cheng, 65. His death prompted Taiwan to freeze the hiring of new Filipino workers and to issue a travel alert discouraging travel to the Philippines.  Since the May 9 incident, some Filipinos in Taiwan reported being harassed or injured by Taiwanese angry over the fisherman’s death.  Report: PHL ready to pay NT$1-M to Taiwanese fisherman’s kin The Philippines is ready to pay NT$1 million (P1.38 million) to the family of a Taiwanese fisherman shot dead in an encounter off disputed waters last May 9, the head of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office said late Tuesday. But MECO head Amadeo Perez Jr. told Taiwan’s Central News Agency it is still not clear at this time if the Read More …

Coast Guard finalizes report on USS Guardian grounding

 News
May 212013
 
Coast Guard finalizes report on USS Guardian grounding

The Philippine Coast Guard is now finalizing its report on the grounding of the minesweeper USS Guardian at Tubbataha Reef last Jan. 17 and will soon submit it to Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya. Administrative sanctions for those found liable may be included in the final report of the Coast Guard’s Marine Casualty Investigation Team, radio dzBB’s Carlo Mateo reported Wednesday. Once he goes over the report, Abaya is expected to submit it to President Benigno Aquino III, the dzBB report added. Last April, the Philippine Maritime Casualty Investigation Team (MCIT) received relevant documents on the incident from the US Navy. The USS Guardian ran aground at Tubbataha Reef last Jan. 17, and damaged 2,345.67 square meters of the reef. It was cut and removed from the area last March 30. A news release from the Tubbataha Management Office said the fines for the Jan. 17 grounding may amount to P58.4 million ($1.5 million). On the other hand, the Department of Foreign Affairs said the MCIT’s safety inquiry also aims to identify measures the Philippines and US may adopt to prevent a repeat of the incident. —KG, GMA News

NPA guerrillas release unharmed 6 drivers abducted in north Cotabato

 News
May 212013
 
NPA guerrillas release unharmed 6 drivers abducted in north Cotabato

KIDAPAWAN CITY — The New Peoples’ Army released unharmed on Tuesday in Makilala, North Cotabato the six drivers of rented cars the rebels commandeered and used to raid a security agency in Tagum City, Davao Oriental. Senior Inspector Joyce Birrey, chief of Makilala Police, identified the freed drivers as: Armando Woamil of Davao City, driver of beige Mercedez Benz (LXB 686); Orbil Bacaro of Ma-a, Davao City and driver of red Montero Sports (LGC 129); Reynaldo Pedere of Talomo, Davao City, driver of silver Toyota Grandia (LGY 732); Hashim Moalid of Datu Paglas, Maguindanao, driver of green Hi-Ace Toyota van; Schmidt Apat of Matina, Davao City, driver of black Hyundai Starex (KCP 166); and Danilo Tamayo of General Santos City, driver of gold Toyota Innova (ZCX 871). The drivers told Birrey they were held for one day in a nipa hut in Purok Nangka, Barangay New Bulatucan, about two kilometers away from the national highway. A total of 20 fully-armed NPA rebels were detailed to watch them, the drivers said. Pedere, driver of Toyota Grandia van, said the rebels did not hurt them and provided them with food and water. Also Pedere said that before they were abducted, a woman who introduced herself as a wife of a foreigner contacted him through the internet and hired him to fetch the foreigner who had stayed for a vacation in Barangay New Israel in Makilala town and bring him to the Davao International Airport. The other drivers said they were also hired Read More …

PAGASA: No cyclone near PAR; rain likely over Luzon and Mindanao

 News
May 212013
 
PAGASA: No cyclone near PAR; rain likely over Luzon and Mindanao

Satellite Image at 7:30 a.m. Monday, 20 May 2013. | Weather Central Although there is still no cyclone near the Philippine area of responsibility, residents in parts of northern Luzon and Mindanao may expect rain on Wednesday, state weather forecasters said. PAGASA forecaster Bernie de Leon said the rain will come from a tail-end of a cold front affecting northern Luzon, while the inter-tropical convergence zone is affecting Mindanao. “Sa kasalukuyan wala pa tayong namamataang namumuong sama ng panahon sa Philippine area of responsibility. Subali’t nakaaapekto pa rin ang tail end of cold front sa northern Luzon at ITCZ ang nakakaapekto sa southern Mindanao,” de Leon said in an interview on dzBB radio. In Metro Manila, he said there will be generally good weather but with isolated rain showers and thunderstorms. PAGASA said Metro Manila may expect temperatures of 26 to 34 degrees Celsius while Tuguegarao City may expect temperatures of 24 to 32 degrees Celsius. Angeles and Olongapo Cities may expect temperatures of 25 to 32 degrees Celsius, it added. PAGASA’s 5 a.m. bulletin said: “The regions of Ilocos, Cordillera, Cagayan Valley in [northern Luzon], Davao and Zamboanga Peninsula [in Mindanao] will have cloudy skies with light to moderate rain showers and thunderstorms,” it said. It added Metro Manila and the rest of the country will be “partly cloudy with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms mostly over the western section.” Light to moderate winds from the southeast to south will prevail over Luzon and coming from the east to Read More …

Saudi, PH ink pact on workers

 News
May 212013
 
Saudi, PH ink pact on workers

Philippine Daily Inquirer 5:10 am | Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013 Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz (left) and Saudi Arabian Labor Minister Adel Bin Mohammed Fakeih INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/PHOTO OF MINISTER FAKEIH FROM GCF.ORG.SA MANILA, Philippines—Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz and Saudi Arabian Labor Minister Adel Bin Mohammed Fakeih signed in Jeddah on Sunday an agreement on the recruitment of Filipino domestic workers and the duties and responsibilities of their Saudi employers. The agreement, described by Baldoz and Fakeih in a joint statement as “historic,” came after last year’s pact on the standard employment contract (SEC) to be observed by employers and Filipino household service workers (HSWs) in the Middle East kingdom. The agreement lays down areas of cooperation between the two countries, including the following: a mutually acceptable recruitment and deployment system; recruitment of workers through offices that practice ethical recruitment and are licensed by their respective governments; prohibition to deduct from the salary of the worker any cost attendant to recruitment and deployment; Right of recourse to competent authorities in case of contractual disputes; legal measures against recruitment offices, companies and agencies for any violation of applicable laws, rules and regulations; and resolution of any issue arising from the implementation and enforcement of the agreement.—Jerome Aning

3.9M families went hungry in March – SWS

 News
May 212013
 
3.9M families went hungry in March - SWS

More Filipinos experienced hunger in March, with about 3.9 million Filipino families saying they had nothing to eat at some point during that time, according to a new survey by pollster Social Weather Stations. In its poll conducted from March 19 to 22 and posted on its media partner BusinessWorld, SWS said that the 3.9 million families or 19.2 percent of Filipino families that experienced hunger was higher than 16.3 percent in December. This was despite a decline in self-rated poverty to 52 percent during March, or some 10.6 million families, from 54 percent in December, the SWS noted. It added hunger increased among both the poor and the non-poor, even as it pointed out March’s figures were still below the record 23.8 percent recorded last year. Moderate, severe hunger The survey showed a rise of nearly three points in moderate hunger, or having nothing to eat once or a few times in the last three months, to 15.6 percent (3.2 million families) from 12.7 percent. It added severe hunger, where families claimed to experience hunger often or always, remained at 3.6 percent or 726,000 families. SWS noted overall hunger increased in all regions but fell in Metro Manila by nearly four points to 21.7 percent (615,000 families) from 25.3 percent. However, hunger went up sharply in Mindanao to 29.2 percent (1.4 million families) from 20 percent. It also rose to 14.7 percent (1.3 million families) in the balance of Luzon (Balance Luzon) and went up 15 percent (580,000 families) Read More …

Civil groups taking poll plaints to UN

 News
May 212013
 
Civil groups taking poll plaints to UN

By Jocelyn R. Uy Philippine Daily Inquirer 4:14 am | Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013 MANILA, Philippines—Civil society groups Solidarity Philippines and Kontra Daya on Tuesday said they were bringing to the attention of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) the inadequacies and lapses committed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) during the May 13 balloting. Over Church-run Radio Veritas, the groups’ convenor Fr. Joe Dizon said they were resorting to the move because the Comelec had not been transparent in its conduct of the recently concluded elections, the second time automated elections were held using the controversial precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines. During the interview, Dizon said the complaint would include the premature proclamation of the winning senators as well as the glitches that popped up in the voting machines and the compact flash (CF) cards. “First and foremost, the Comelec erred in entering into a deal with Smartmatic and purchasing the PCOS machines because (Smartmatic) was not the owner of the source code,” Dizon said. The source code is the computer program that runs the PCOS machines. The PCOS technology, including the source code, is owned by Dominion Voting Systems Inc., which had severed its ties with Smartmatic following a legal dispute in the United States. Dizon also stressed that the recent elections should merit the attention of the UN body because the Comelec decided to proclaim the winners of the senatorial race even if only 20 percent of the total votes Read More …

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