Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts

Volume 3,  Number 27              August 10 - 16, 2003            Quezon City, Philippines


 





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News at a glance

Gloria told: Expect no support from OFWs 

Some 96 groups of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) around the world recently declared that they vote President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo out of office in the May 2004 elections. 

The groups, which are affiliated with Migrante International, said Macapagal-Arroyo’s scheduled six-nation trip to the Middle East and some parts of Europe this September is just a front for a pre-election campaign. Millions of OFWs are expected to vote in the election where the incumbent president is expected to run, despite an earlier announcement not to.

Maita Santiago, secretary-general of Migrante International, said their members are fed up with Macapagal-Arroyo's anti-migrant policies. "She can't expect anything from OFWs," she said.

Santiago cited the president’s anti-OFW policies, including: the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration's (OWWA) July 1 suspension of its General Financial Assistant Program; the transfer of P4 billion from the OWWA Medicare Fund to PhilHealth through Malacañang's Executive Order 182; and the ban on the deployment of OFWs in Hong Kong because of the wage cut  and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) scare.

The group also bewailed the Arroyo administration's support of the Unified Contract in Saudi Arabia, which robs the OFWs of the right to run away from abusive employers and prevents them from turning to the Philippine government agencies for assistance, as well as the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration's continued practice of "watchlisting" or "blacklisting" seamen who dare complain against unjust working conditions.

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OFWs in Italy against new voters registration policy

A Filipino migrant organization in Italy is opposed to the new voters’ registration policy issued by the Commission on Elections.

The opposition came from Umangat which is based in Rome following a statement by General Consul Jerome Castro of the Philippine Embassy that Filipinos in Italy should bring a copy of their permesso di soggiorno (permit to stay) and carta di soggiorno to be able to register.

Umangat chair Wennie Flores said the regulation threatens some 70,000 undocumented Filipinos particularly those applying for work regularization in Italy. “This new regulation is discriminatory against Filipino clandestine workers (undocumented)," she said.

In Rome, the registration of voters started Aug. 1. But only less than 50 Filipinos registered, the Philippine embassy in Rome reported.

Bill Saguing, spokesperson of the Komite sa Rehistrasyon ng mga Migrante sa Rome, a Filipino migrant group calling for Filipinos to register and vote in accordance with the Absentee Voting Law, said that the new requirement is a violation of Republic Act (RA) 9189. The law only requires a Filipino voter overseas to submit a copy of a valid Philippine passport.

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Int’l media group backs Filipino media workers

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), whose national office is in Czechoslovakia, last week pledged to donate US$1,000 to Bombo Radyo Tacloban Employees' Union following the closure of the radio station March 12.

Bombo Radyo Tacloban, one of 43 FM and AM radio stations under Bombo Radyo Philippines, was shut down one day after its employees told the management they had formed a union to improve working conditions and salary. Management said the closure was due to financial trouble.

Cases of illegal picketing and union busting are pending.  Union officers told police they have also received death threats. 

The IFJ donation will support the union's legal case.  

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