Editor's Note |
20 years of service to the community
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Time flies.
Exactly 20 years ago this month, The SUN shone for the Filipinos in Hong Kong. It was
the fulfillment of a dream that took shape years earlier, or shortly after I arrived here in 1987 and
realized there was no reliable information channel serving the community.
But turning that dream into reality proved to be difficult. Several people offered to fund
the publication of a news-paper, but everyone wanted a business model different from what we had
in mind.
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Anak Araw |
Pagpapabaya
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Nitong nakaraang buwan ay naging saksi tayo sa nangyari kay Manang Gloria Ortinez,
ang OFW na biktima ng tanim-bala sa Manila airport. Halos buong araw kasi ay naglagi siya sa
opisina ng The SUN, kasama ang mga naghatid sa kanya na sina Susan "Toots" Ople na tagataguyod ng
mga OFW, at ang abogado niyang si Atty Spocky Farolan, kaya nasaksihan namin siya nang malapitan.
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Migrant's Forum |
Nanay Gloria's journey to HK
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President Benigno Simeon Aquino III recently told the media that cases of tanim-bala
were sensationalized, citing figures to prove his point. As an OFW advocate, I respectfully
disagree. Looking at this from a purely numbers perspective could lead one to overlook the deep trauma
that such incidents have caused its innocent victims.
Had he met and spoken to 56-year old OFW Gloria Ortinez, our President would have
learned the following:
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Know Your Rights |
The Mission
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This was the speech delivered by the Mission for Migrant Workers' general manager,
Cynthia Tellez, at the launch of the 10-year Impact Evaluation Report of the Mission's work held on
December 5, 2015 at the Li Hall of St. John's Cathedral.
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With at least one -- and possibly two disqualification cases in the presidential race --
the Supreme Court has assured the nation politics will not dictate its decisions.
See this month's stories...
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Staff and volunteers at the Mission for Migrant Workers had reason to celebrate when
they launched the non-government organization's 10-year Impact Evaluation Report at Li Hall of St
John's Cathedral on Dec. 4. Nearly all, or 97% of migrants who sought assistance said that they were
helped by the Mission, and more than half of them (57%) said they would recommend the NGO to others.
See this month's stories...
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October 2014
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Editor's Note
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It is not easy being at the center of a raging
controversy. More so if it involves charges
of serious dereliction of duty, or worse, corruption.
Thus, it was with extreme caution that we reacted
when we first received an anonymous
letter accusing former Labor Attache Manuel Roldan of a
series of acts that at best amounted to
serious misconduct.
We did mention it to him, once, but only asked
about the allegation that he re-opened
the accreditation for employment agencies serving the Filipino
market in Hong Kong in exchange
for $40,000 per listing.
His answer then was that it was nothing; that he
merely filled the gaps left by expired
licenses or inactive agencies.
We left it at that, until we got wind of the more
disturbing story that he allowed his
driver, Donald Retirado, to form an employment agency using
his younger daughter's name.
That broke the camel's back. After obtaining the
agency's name, we searched easily
available records at the Inland Revenue, and saw its business
registration.
It turned out that the agency's license was not
only in the name of a Retirado, but that it
was registered to operate right at the Consulate's doorstep in
United Centre.
Still, we held our punches. Labatt Dodong was
about to leave, and was already facing
accusation of coddling an agency that forced about two dozen
Filipinas into paying unconscionable
and illegal sums as placement fee.
We opted to send him an email, asking about the
allegations in the anonymous letter, a copy
of which we attached. He ignored us.
But the talks could not be silenced.
Unfortunately for Labatt Dodong, the story came out in
the open at the most inopportune time - while his boss, Labor
Secretary Linda Baldoz was holding
a dialogue with a select group of community leaders.
We were then holding on to a copy of the
anonymous letter and the business registration
record of Retirado's agency, and decided to pass them on to
the Secretary after social worker
Adrielle Panares first took the lid off the controversy.
What followed next was just short of bizarre.
Consul General Bernie Catalla who is not
known to hold punches, revealed that she had formed a fact
finding team to look into the allegation.
It turned out she had sent a memo to Labatt
Dodong asking for a response to the charges,
but was snubbed.
Labatt Dodong kept his silence until the eve of
his departure from Hong Kong when he
came out in a videotaped statement posted online, denying all
the charges against him.
His main defense was that he was not the one
accrediting the agencies, that it was only
POEA that could do that. He said his role was only that of a
verifier, with no power of discretion over
the accreditation process.
He also claimed not to have known about the
long-standing ban on the accreditation of
new agencies.
Using the same argument, he said it was not he
who gave accreditation to Retirado's agency,
but POEA. He did verify the application, but only learned
that it was owned by his driver's
daughter after the accreditation. Because of this, he told
Retirado to refrain from operating the agency.
These claims, to say the least, were
dumbfounding. Having written about the workings of
the Consulate and its attached offices over the years, we knew
that a labor attache wielded power, as
he should, over recruitment agencies. That included the
power to withhold accreditation.
We still remember the time when then Labatt
Bernie Julve announced that he was
suspending the accreditation of more agencies as there were
already more than enough of them in the
market. Indeed, over the years, the practice of allowing more
players into the already overcrowded
market seemed to have abated, if not stopped altogether.
But we gave Labatt Dodong the benefit of the
doubt. We talked to recruitment agencies,
and then trawled through the Consulate's website to check on
the accreditation process.
Lo and behold! On the page devoted to
accreditation, the first item listed is that an
applicant must write a letter to the labor attache, who must
then pore over documents and inspect the
agency's premises before approving the application.
On the same page, a notice in bold, red color
states: "Application suspended as of Nov.
19, 2001".
But even granting labatt's claim that he was a
mere verifier, any worker worth her salt
would know that this is no ministerial task. As with
employment contracts, the labor attache as
verifying authority serves as the all-important gatekeeper.
Without his stamp of approval, the document
will not move on to the final approving authority, which is the
immigration department.
Also, the reason why there is verification is for
the document to be vetted as to ownership,
its capacity to perform the tasks required, even its legality.
For Labatt Dodong to claim not to have known
about Retirado's connection to the
agency whose application he admitted to having verified was
nothing short of incredulous. Even if true,
that would mean at the very least that he was not doing his
job.
Even more incredible was that after knowing of
the illicit registration and accreditation,
Labatt Dodong said he merely advised Retirado not to operate
the agency. There was no mention of
reprimand, or an order that the illegal act must be stopped.
It boggles the mind that this was the best he could
do, given the seriousness of the violation.
This claim, along with the others, leaves no doubt
that there was something seriously
amiss with the way the labor attache did his job. The only
thing left to ask is, why?
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