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.
Details...
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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.
Details...
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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:
Details...
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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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March 2015
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Features Gallery
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Life is a rolling wheel. This is an adage that Rodily
Vilches, a Macau-based domestic
helper who freelances as a model, knows only too well.
Not too long ago, the 32-year-old single mother
struggled to raise her family by making
charcoal and selling the organic fuel in the her hometown of
Guimaras in Western Visayas, along with
coconut juice, ice candy, and fresh vegetables. She had also
been a barangay health worker and
a substitute nursery teacher.
Then in August 2010, Vilches went to Macau to
work as a maid for a Macanese family,
her employers until this day, who, she says, have treated her
like a family member. She endured the
hard work that sapped her energy and the homesickness that
left her sleepless on many nights as
she worried about her 10-year-old son and her father back
home.
"Were it not for the need to support my family and
prepare for my son's future, I would
not have left them," she told The SUN in a text
interview recently.
Years ago, life was easier for Vilches, as she went to
Central Philippines University for
two years, taking up Bachelor of Arts Major in English, then
transferred to University of San
Agustin, where she finished her degree.
Then she got married but the relationship didn't
work out. Separated from her husband,
Vilches is the only breadwinner at home. So, for four years
now she has been bearing with her job as
a domestic worker serving two families -- her employers and
their daughter, who has a family of
her own.
Fate smiled on Vilches in 2013, when she met
professional photographer Richard Kasika
on social media site Facebook and added him as her friend.
Kasika, a British who now lives in
Macau, was at the time looking for a model and asked her to
pose for his shoots. She agreed and, soon
after, more photographers contacted her, convincing her to
pose for them.
Vilches had attracted so much attention that in
September 2013, she was interviewed on
television about her life as a domestic helper. The following
month, her photos were published in
the Halloween Special of CT Magazine, a London-based
fashion monthly. "I have done some
photo shoots in Hong Kong with Chinese photographers and
one of my photos has been published in a
UK online magazine," Vilches proudly declares.
She doesn't keep her modeling work under wraps
from her employer and the family, who
don't mind it as long as it doesn't affect her domestic duties.
She does photo shoots only during her
holidays.
The Filipina has been a freelance model for one year
and seven months in addition to her
work as a helper, but, along with the challenges and
excitement of her new career, she is getting to
realize the negative side of it.
Vilches says her life has not been easy since she
started modeling. She has received lots
of criticism from friends and even relatives. Sometimes
busybodies would hit her below the
belt, driving her to a point where she would think of giving up
her new career. But her love for
this activity and for what she is doing tells her to hang on.
"Besides, there's nothing wrong with being a model
and I'm not doing anything amiss,"
says Vilches, who loves seeing herself happy even just in
photographs. "Behind those smiles are
the problems back home, and modeling helps me forget
everything just for a while."
However, for now she wants to focus on her work as
a helper as she says it is not easy to
leave the family she has been working with for the past half-
decade. "For four years and six months
of working with them, I felt the love as they treated me as
family," Vilches says.
"In modeling, there is no assurance that there are
projects given to you. But, if the
chance comes for me to become a full-time model, that would
be a great opportunity."
Like many other Filipinos working overseas, Vilches
had been through a traumatic
experience stemming from poverty back home. But she looks
at those sacrifices as just part of her life and
serve as an inspiration. Vilches also considers her family as her
inspiration; knowing that everything
she does as not just for herself but for her son, father and
siblings. A softhearted person especially to
her family, she understands their needs and does her best to
provide for them.
She said the sacrifices she had made and the
criticisms she had drawn have made her strong
and brave in facing life's challenges. And to those who can't
accept her new image and the career she
has chosen, her only message is: "Sorry."
She thanks Kasika profusely "for helping me to be a
part of the modeling world" as well as
the other photographers who trusted in her ability and gave
her self-confidence.
To her family, Vilches assured them that although
her appearance may have changed,
"nothing has changed in me."
That's a principle as basic as the wheel of life.
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