5-10 Filipina Maids Fleeing Sponsors Everyday

There are currently around 176 runaway housemaids being housed at the embassy’s Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC) in Kuwait, where an average of 5 to 10 Filipina housemaids are fleeing their sponsors everyday. The OFW cite non-payment of salaries, verbal abuse and sexual harassment as reasons for fleeing. Some of these Filipinas will return home, while others will stay and have their work visas transferred to other sponsors.

Click here to read the KuwaitiTimes.com story.

Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Social Networking Site

MabuhayCity.com is a social networking and forum community for the Overseas Filipino Workers or OFW. This site is owned and operated by Philippine actress and celebrity, Klaudia Koronel (really!) From Middle East, Asia Pacific, North America, Europe and Africa, members share experience about visa and immigration, working and living abroad, job opportunities, nursing education, investment and entrepreneurship, pictures, music and videos, etc. You can even hook up with Facebook and Twitter inside this community.

Click here to go to MabuhayCity.com.

Official Fan Site of Paula Taylor

Her fan site reads:

Most Thai people know of Paula as a VJ for Channel [V], the Canon girl and Lays’ most irresistible lady.

Many people in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong see her as a veteran model, as she struts her stuff in modelling assignments.

Even by the age of twenty, Malaysians recognised her as one of the top endorsers of Giordano and Laurier products.

In The Philippines, her cosmopolitan style may be seen in her campaign ads. for Plains and Prints, or in her looking blooming ad. for Myra-E.

As for the rest of Asia, her reality TV stints in The Amazing Race Asia 2, probably won her instant admiration, due to her sweet demeanour and the sportsmanship she, and her childhood friend Natasha Monks, displayed whilst invariably flaunting their signature Siamese smile.

So, where do you think you first saw Paula? Read on and find out more about her!

Click here to go to her fan site.

Remembering PGMA’S 2001-2008 SONA

Here’s a great article from Filipino Voices capturing the many highlights of Arroyo’s past eight State of the Nationa Addresses. As Flowell Galindez writes, “In her 9th year in her term as the president of the Philippines from replacing the ousted president Joseph Ejercito Estrada and her re-election on 2004 let’s recall and run down details of her 8 State of the Nation Address as we prepare to listen on her last on the 27th of July.”

Click here to read the Filipino Voices article.

Old Manila Walks

The website introduces itself like this: “We’re a bunch of passionate, obsessive and saucy ‘street walkers’(!) determined to walk and talk about one thing: the history, the culture and the heritage plus everything over, under, outside, inside this city of our affections – Manila.”

Old Manila Walks operates on a simple principle: to have you experience the best of historic Manila – one step at a time.

Click here to go to Old Manila Walks.

Guam Will Soon Need More Filipino Healthcare Professionals

The US government will soon transfer 8,930 active duty and 19,140 dependents of Marine and Air Force personnel to Guam, which means Filipino health care workers will be in demand as Guam transforms itself into a major US military base in the Asia-Pacific region. Filipino nurses that have passed the requisite US licensure examinations and Filipino doctors that have US board certifications are qualified to apply, according to the news article in Tribune.net.ph.

The transfer would begin in 2012 while the additional active duty and dependents are expected to be fully relocated by 2014.

One-stop-shop for Philippine Weddings

There’s a (new?) site that’s touted to be the portal for Philippine weddings. Be it the best or most unique venues to say your vows or hold your intimate reception, gowns, photography, cake, flowers or getting help to plan your wedding while you’re away – WeddingInTheSky.com looks like they’re building the directory of service providers for the local, overseas and migrant Filipino (or a foreigner marrying a Filipino/Filipina).

Click here to go to Wedding In The Sky.

More Filipino-Americans Moving to Chino Hills

Filipino-Americans are consistently moving to the relatively new and affluent community of Chino Hills, establishing a large number of members at the local Catholic church and driving the city to become an economic boom for the region. The city is now home to 10,000 Filipino-Americans.

According ContraCostaTimes.com, most Filipino-Americans in the region belong to the middle-class demographics where many Chino Hills residents are economically well-off. Many who began life in cities where the population of Filipino-Americans is high, cities like Filipino Town in Los Angeles, have now begun their exodus outward to cities like Chino Hills. It attracts Fil-Ams because of the reasonable home prices, which results in affordability of a better place to live, plus various cultural services directed towards this demographics. Just take the Philippine independence celebration in the city where more than 3,000 Filipino-Americans graced the festivities at its community park. Much of its Fil-Am residents are second and third generation Filipinos. There are a little less than 5 million Filipino-Americans in the United States, the second largest Asian-American group after Chinese-Americans, with a purchasing power of about $20 billion and a median annual income of $50,000 (early decade census).

New Library and Philippine Study Center by Ortigas Foundation

A year ago the Ortigas Foundation opened its new Library and Philippine Study Center on a handsomely renovated floor of the old Ortigas Building in Pasig. 2006 marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of Ortigas and Company and the Ortigas family members and their corporate partners felt it was important to give back something substantial to the community. For several generations the Ortigases have been the leading real-estate developers of the Mandaluyong-Pasig area. Their holdings once included a large part of what is now Mandaluyong, Pasig, San Juan, Camp Crame and even Marikina.

The new library, with over sixteen thousand books and periodicals about Philippine history and culture, is designed to be both a valuable information center for researchers and a lively community center for everyone interested in Philippine culture. It has display cases for rare books, maps and photographs and comfortable conference rooms for lectures, seminars and other cultural events such as book launches, video and film presentations and small exhibitions. The library is now open to the public from Tuesday through Saturday free of charge.

Click here to go to the Ortigas Foundation Library website.

First Gay Filipino Wins Gender-based Asylum in United States

A gay Filipino has won a gender-based asymlum granted to him last month by a U.S. immigration court judge. Philip Belarmino states in his asylum case that as a young boy, he had been molested several times, and was persecuted for being gay. He did not report the abuse to anyone because he did not want his very conservative parents to know he was gay. His asylum was granted last May 21, 2009. For now, he is officially a refugee and is entitled to stay, live and work in the United States as well as travel except to the Philippines. Belarmino is the first known Filipino to win an asylum case based on sexual orientation.

SM to Build 3 Malls a Year in China

SM retail tycoon and billionaire Henry Sy will be building 3 malls a year in China as an expansion strategy ro rebound from the global recession. SM Prime Holdings Inc. is expected to spend 5.5 billion Pesos in China this year. According to Forbes magazine, Henry Sy is estimated to be worth $2.7 billion. SM Prime expects to open one mall in 2010 and increase the pace to 3 malls a year by 2013. About 20% of the Philippine’s consumer spending is done through SM’S malls and stores, and the company gets 33 cents of every U.S. Dollar spent by families of Filipinos working abroad. SM Prime doesn’t sell retail space, instead preferring long-term recurring rental income and will apply the same principle in China. It will focus on the mainland’s emerging cities because their development and consumers’ profiles closely resemble those at home.

Click here to read the Bloomberg.com article.

Filipino-American Poet in San Francisco International Poetry Festival

Filipino American poets Tony Robles and Sasha Pimentel Chacón will be participating in this year’s San Francisco International Poetry Festival,  Philippine Writers and Artists, Inc. reports.

To read more, click here.

Don’t Price Ourselves Out of the Global Outsourcing Market

This was the cry of Philippine Senator Mar Roxas, considered to be the father of the Philippine BPO industry because of his aggressive policies during his trade secretary days. The average salaries of call center agents have been increasing 10% every year. What used to be a monthly gross salary of about P10,000 per new hire is now P15,000. It is now becoming more expensive to outsource to the Philippines in comparison to other countries around the world. Besides the manpower cost increases, the Philippine is incurring too many holidays, thus driving labor costs higher as call center companies have to pay for extra pay besides night shift differentials. The call center or contact center segment of the BPO industry accounts for 70% of the industry’s revenue and employment and generated P5 billion in revenue this year.

Source of information came from NewsBreak.com.ph.

Meralco using power lines for broadband internet

The Manila Electric Company, more famously known as Meralco, is about to test its power lines as a medium of transmitting broadband internet, creating a new source of business for its 24 million (or so) customers in the Philippines. Broadband over power lines can deliver as much as 200 Mbps in speed to residences, housing developments and small businesses without costly cabling. All the customer needs is an adapter or modem that’s plugged into the electric wall socket. There are limitations that Meralco will challenge during its tests, such as statis interferences and theft of service or “pilferege.” PLDT and its pension fund is now the biggest shareholder of Meralco, with 30.17 percent stake.

Tata Group of India setting up Call Center in Philippines

Tata Group of India is setting up call center operations here, with an initial capacity of 250-300 seats. The group was looking at areas in the Visayas and Mindanao.

OFW and Remittances

The National Statistics Office (NSO) revealed that the number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) rose 14.6% to 2 million last year from 1.7 million in 2007; 94% of these were overseas contract workers (OCW).  Of the OCWs, 32% of them were laborers or unskilled workers. Half of the OFWs originated from Metro Manila and its surrounding provinces. 1 out of 5 OFWs work in Saudi Arabia.

Total remittance sent by OFWs rose 30% to P142 billion from P109 billion. 76% were done through banks and 12% through door-to-door services. OFWs working in Asia sent the biggest cash remittance of P70 million.

Click here to read the Business World Online article.

A Filipino Jazz Musician living in Italy

Faye Miravite is originally from the Philippines but now lives in Florence, Italy for the last 20 years. Faye is a multi-cultural jazz musician who has created a world of jazz that has Italian, Philippine and even Brazilian roots. You hear piano, drums, vocals, guitar, soprano & tenor sax along with contrabass.  The musical connection between Miravite’s music and the people playing her tunes is immense. “La brezza” is Faye’s new album is a very well-polished, very smooth and easy-listening jazz sound.

Click here to know more about Faye at www.fayemiravite.com.

Philippine Diaspora Diplomacy and Filipino American Faith in Action

At his lecture this July 13 at the De La Salle University in the Philippines, Dr. Jay Gonzalez will excerpt from Filipino American Faith in Action: Religion, Immigration, and Civic Engagement and Diaspora Diplomacy: Philippine Migration and its Soft Power Influences. These are two new books out of New York University Press, one of America’s most prestigious academic publishers.

Contra Nye and neoliberalism, Dr. Gonzalez will talk about the remarkable and untapped soft power that international migrants possess and how various actors—from governments, NGOs, business, the church, and international organizations—could tap this valuable resource to enhance global cooperation, development, and understanding. With detailed and intimate illustrations from the experiences of the Philippine diaspora in San Francisco, London, Dubai, Dhaka, and Singapore, Dr. Gonzalez will discuss how this widespread community uses “charm diplomacy” to facilitate the transnational connection of old and new homelands and home bases through the universality of the Christian faiths they practice, the globalized work they perform, and the engaging civic and social networks they establish.

Dr. Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III is Associate Professor of Politics and Director of the Maria Elena Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program at the University of San Francisco. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, he was appointed San Francisco Commisser for Immigrant Rights and Mayor George Christopher Chair in Public Administration at Golden Gate University. In 2005, Professor Gonzalez was awarded a “Special United States Congressional Recognition” by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for his exemplary work on human rights and immigrant concerns.

July 13th 11:20-12:50 PM | De La Salle University | Andrew 903 | 2401 Taft Avenue | Manila, Philippines | Sponsored by the La Salle Institute on Governance | RSVP: ManaGov@dlsu.edu.ph