Somali pirates seize Panamanian-flagged vessel with 21 OFWs
22 April 2010 – The Philippine Embassy in Nairobi confirmed the hijacking of Panamanian-flagged, Liberian-owned bulk carrier Voc Daisy Wednesday morning.
The vessel has 21 Filipino crew members on board.
The Department of Foreign Affairs Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs said in a press statement that Somali pirates seized Voc Daisy 190 miles southeast of Salalah.
The statement said DFA is coordinating with the vessel’s local manning agency to determine the condition of the Filipino seafarers.
OFWs warned against bogus franchisors
16 April 2010 – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has asked the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to issue an advisory to all Philippine Embassies and Consulates General to warn overseas Filipinos against rampant franchising scams due to numerous complaints on fake franchisors victimizing overseas Filipino workers(OFWs).
The DTI identified the following companies and individual as bogus franchisors: Fran.con Franchise Marketing and Consultancy, Inc., Hamoraon Business Specialist Inc. and Michelle Ann Pacubas-Chan (single proprietor).
For verification of legitimate franchisors, the DTI advises overseas Filipinos to contact the DTI Direct Hotline 751-3330 or the Franchising Associations and other relevant government agencies.
Last March 23, the government agency held a dialogue with the Department of Labor and Employment, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency, Franchising Associations, and a number of complainants to assist and resolve the concerns of OFWs who would like to venture into the franchising business.
Meanwhile, the DFA reminds the public to check the validity of their passports and renew them six months before expiry date to avoid the hassle of getting a replacement in light of increased passport applications especially during the summer season.
A passport is valid for five years, but airlines and countries require passports with validity of six months prior to the expiry date.
Currently, the DFA charges P950 for regular processing (20 working days) and P1,100 for expedited processing (10 working days). For those applying in the DFA’s regional consular offices (RCOs), another four days is added for transport of the passport booklet from Manila to the RCO.
The DFA also reminds passport applicants to avail of the appointment system to ensure quick and comfortable service. Walk-in applicants are discouraged.
The DFA further reiterates that securing an appointment online is free of charge. It is warning the public against unscrupulous individuals charging applicants P200 fee for securing for them online appointments.
Applicants can check the passport requirements and secure an appointment at www.passport.com.ph or by calling hotline (02) 737-1000. They may also call the DFA helplines at telephone numbers (02) 831-8971, (02) 551-4437, (02) 551-4402, (02) 834-4855 and (02) 834-4424.
Sa ngalan ng ina – at ng anak
Bago magtapos ang lahat, gusto kong bigyang pugay kahit kaunti ang babaing nagluwal sa akin at pinagkakautangan ko ng buhay.
Pang-apat ako sa pitong magkakapatid kaya alam kong hindi aksidente ang pagsulpot ko sa magulong mundong ito. Sanay na ang mga magulang ko at alam na nila ang ginagawa nila noon. Hindi pa uso ang family planning noon at ang lahat ay naniniwala pa sa turo ng Simbahan na ang mga tao’y dapat humayo at magpakarami.
Noong una, akala ko ay Hisus ang pangalan ko dahil laging sinasabi ng nanay ko: “Hisus, Hisus, bumaba ka diha kay bangin ka mahulug. Mamiristi kang bata ka!” Pero kung Hisus ang pangalan ko, ganun din ang ngalan ng mga kalaro ko. E sino naman kami para magreklamo?
Nalaman ko lang ang tunay kong pangalan nang pumasok na ako sa eskwela. At kapangalan ko pa pala ang erpat ko na bihira kong makita.
Madalas rin akong mapaaway dahil hindi raw kami “Pinoy” kundi “Bisaya,” sabi ng mga kababata sa Navotas. Isang batang karatista ang nakaaway ko noon; kinarate niya ako at hinambalos ko naman siya ng buntot-page. Ang away ay lumaki at nadamay pati mga kapatid naming mas matatanda. Matutuwa ka kapag mga karatista ang nag-away sa kalsada. Parang sine.
Pero nang magbinata’y nagkita kami sa mga rali at demonstrasyon, at magkapit-bisig pang hinarap namin ang tear gas at batuta ng mga salbaheng pulis. Mabuti na lang at nakapagpraktis na kami noong bata pa.
Nakakatawa dahil naturingang Samarenya ang nanay namin at Boholano ang tatay, kaming magkakapatid e walang alam na salitang Bisaya.
Kilalang matatapang ang mga Waray. Ewan ko, pero parang totoo ito sa kaso ng nanay ko dahil kahit nag-iisa’y pinalaki niya kaming magkakapatid. Ang tatay ko’y nagtatrabaho sa barko bilang makinista kaya laging wala. Katunayan, kung pagsasama-samahin ang mga panahong nagkita kaming mag-ama, hindi pa ito aabot ng isang taon.
Nang lumaon ay tuluyan nang nagkahiwalay ang nanay at tatay. At dito nasubukan ang tatag ng aking ina na sa tingin ko’y hindi yata nakadarama ng sakit. Paminsan-minsan, sa gulang kong walong taon, ay isinasama niya ako sa paglalako ng tinapa sa kung saan-saang sulok ng Quezon City, bagay na nakapagbigay sa akin ng maraming aral na hindi makukuha sa eskwelahan.
Ang reklamo lang namin sa nanay ay siya ang pinakamalakas uminom ng alak sa pamilya. Dalawang boteng San Mig Light lang ang kaya kong itumba samantalang ang nanay ko ay nakakaisang case yata sa isang upuan. Kahuntahan niya ang mga kasing-edad niyang kababaihan sa Barangay Pitong Gatang (pero hindi sa tabi ng ungguyan) na mga astig din sa inuman.
Huwag kayong mag-alala, ikinukwento ko lang ito dahil gusto ko. Wala akong planong gamitin ang karanasan sa “paliligo sa dagat ng basura at pamamasko sa gitna ng kalsada” sa pagtakbo sa eleksyon. Magkaganu’n man, kelangan ko munang magpayaman.
For Ondet and other mothers who died while giving birth
Lourdes Medino whom we endearingly called Ondet had given birth almost yearly before breathing her last during delivery of her fifth child in Sitio Cutay in Anahaway, an hour’s walk to Palo, a town in Leyte. She was bleeding profusely that the local male paltero was at a loss on what to do. She died a few hours later while her baby son almost did not make it.
The memory flashed back several years earlier when I saw Ondet came out of Mama Pile, her mother who was my mother’s cousin by the nth degree, as they were temporary housed in my Lola Bia’s house in the sawang or town center. Lola Bia woke me up, her vacationing grandchild from Manila, to assist her by holding the burning suga while Ondet was coming out. With the suga’s light, I saw tiny Ondet burst out and breath her first while Lola Bia was holding her upside down and spitting on her at the same time reciting a Latin litany, apparently a secret code of the Waray palteras– not knowing the fate that would befell her several years later.
There are many Ondets in the rural areas of the country who had not seen nor gotten the services of midwives or doctors because they do not know how and where to go. She is one out of the 11 mothers who died of childbirth everyday, according to the figures of Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation, Inc. (PLCPD).
Ondet had gotten married at 16 years old to another teenager her age who like her also came from a family of farmers who earn Php 100 a day when they are lucky enough. As other agricultural workers, they are lucky when an owner of a farm close by seek their services during planting or harvesting seasons. They usually eat camote, loaned rice, banaw (Waray term for bagoong) or bulad (dried fish) everyday. Feast for them are cooked rice and steaming hot sapsap boiled with tanglad, tomatoes and camote tops eaten only on special days like fiesta, birthdays or weddings.
As the PLCPD figures put it, Ondet belonged to the 30 percent of the total Filipino population who is pregnant during adolescent period, making her one out of the 3.1 million teenage mothers who give birth annually. Obviously, she and her husband did not know how to space nor limit their children.
Will the approval of Reproductive Health (RH) Bill save other women’s lives?
PLCPD Executive Director Ramon San Pascual assures that the RH Bill that is currently stalled in Congress will give poor Filipino women access to health services where they can have regular monthly check-ups when they get pregnant and have the midwives’ or doctors’ health expertise in every barangay should their due date of delivery comes.
Another service that the RH Bill provides is the access to contraceptives when the woman wants to limit or space her children, he promises.
Sex education, a necessity for teenagers, will also be given for them to learn to respect themselves and other people’s body. The myth that HIV-AIDS is a curable disease will be tackled and corrected here, San Pascual adds.
The Catholic Church meets head-on this RH Bill saying that it is pro-abortion and that its support of the use of contraceptives violates the rights of couples to decide about the number and time when to have children.
The debate between the Catholic hierarchy and the pro-RH Bill advocates rages on and on.
Meanwhile, Ondet’s husband was hacked to death by the same male paltero whose hands Ondet died during a tuba drinking bout. Their five children are now orphaned. I got to see them when I passed by their dilapidated hut on my way to Lola Bia’s lanzones grove.
“Naniudto na kamo?” (Have you had lunch) I asked at two o’clock in the afternoon hoping to start a conversation.
“Waray pa gad,” (Not yet) the children sheepishly chorused, including Ondet’s little boy whom she last gave birth.
While asking for their names and ages, Papa Lauren, Ondet’s father, came limping with some pieces of newly-harvested camote. The hut’s dirt-ground became busy as the two small boys whose heights prevent them from reaching the stove, climbed atop it to make fire. The two smaller girls happily went down the river to wash the reddish-white root crops covered with soil. The eldest boy hurriedly fetched water from the well.
That was seven years ago. Ondet’s two little girls must be approaching teenage years by now. Hope they do not suffer their mother’s fate.
OFWs to vote tomorrow, Saturday
9 April 2010- Overseas Filipino workers may now exercise their right to vote as the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) starts tomorrow, Saturday.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is urging all registered overseas voters to participate in the OAV for the 2010 elections at 93 Philippine Embassies and Consulates General around the world come April 10.
In a press briefing with Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Commissioner Armando Velasco, DFA-OAVS Vice-Chairperson Nestor Padalhin assured that the DFA-OAVS, in partnership with COMELEC Committee on Overseas Absentee Voting, will conduct an honest, orderly and peaceful election this year.
The OAV will start on April 10 at 8:00 AM (designated country time) and will end on May 10 at 6:00 PM (Philippine time). All votes should be received by the end of the voting period, including the ones sent through the mail. Daily voting schedules will be at least eight hours a day, and Embassies and Consulates General may adopt a flexible schedule to accommodate the most number of voters.
“Our Embassies and Consulates General are well-prepared to conduct the overseas absentee voting process. Our personnel have undergone a three-day training in Manila last February to prepare them for their duties in this election. There were also similar trainings in Los Angeles, Madrid, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Hong Kong and Singapore to further equip our personnel in the different Embassies and Consulates General of the knowledge and skills for this electoral exercise,” Undersecretary Seguis added.
The Resident Election Registration Board of the COMELEC certified 589,830 overseas voters for the May 2010 elections.
The overseas voters will have the opportunity to elect the next President, the Vice President, 12 senators and one party-list representative.
There are three modes of voting that will be employed in the OAV exercise for this particular election period: Automated Mode of Voting in Hong Kong and Singapore, Personal Voting, and Postal Voting.
The DFA reminded voters using the Personal and the Automated Modes of Voting to bring their passports or other personal identification documents to facilitate the verification of their identity.
Just like in voting precincts in the Philippines, the Automated Mode of voting will be implemented in Hong Kong and Singapore. Voters will have their names verified against the list of registered voters by the Special Board of Election Inspectors (SBEI).
Voter will be given a ballot, a secrecy folder, and a pen and will be directed to the voting area. The names of the candidates will be listed in alphabetical order on the ballot, where voters will shade and blacken the ovals beside the names of the candidates they will vote for. The voter will then place or feed the ballot into the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine which will read the votes on both sides of the ballot simultaneously.
The voter will return the secrecy folder and the pen to the SBEI, have his or her index finger marked with indelible ink, and then affix his or her thumb mark in the list of voters.
For the Personal Voting, voters will have their names verified against the list of registered voters by the SBEI. They will be given a ballot and a secrecy folder, and directed to the voting area where they will accomplish their ballot. After this, they will return the ballots to the SBEI, where they will affix their right thumb mark on the space provided in the ballot and the space provided in the OAV list.
The SBEI will detach this portion of the ballot and will deposit it in the compartment for spoiled ballots. They will then return the ballot to the voter who will drop it in the compartment for valid ballots.
For those registered for Postal Voting, voters will receive a mailing packet containing their ballot and the ballot envelope. They will accomplish the ballot, affix their right thumb mark at the lower portion, tear off that portion and put it inside the ballot envelope. They will then fold the accomplished ballot, seal it, and put it in the ballot envelope.
Before sending it back by mail to the Embassy or Consulate General which has jurisdiction over them, they have to affix their name and signature on the left-hand corner of the ballot envelope.
Filipino seafarers who are registered overseas absentee voters may personally vote at the Embassy or Consulate General where they are currently docked. If the area where they are docked is implementing the Postal Method, there should be an identified international seaport under its jurisdiction.
Counting of votes will be done at the Embassy or Consulate General where the votes were sent or cast. Counting will start immediately after the close of polling precincts. It will be done in public, continuous and uninterrupted until all the votes have been counted.