Wednesday, October 10, 2012
OWWA honors 2012 model OFW Families in NorMin
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Region 10 has awarded this year’s regional winners for the 2012 Search for the Model OFW Family of the Year (MOFYA) in a recognition rites held last September 26 at the Grand Caprice Restaurant, Limketkai Drive here.
The winners are the families of Timoteo Supangan of Sapang Dalaga, Misamis Occidental for the land-based category and Chief Mate Noe Preciado of Calamba, Misamis Occidental for the sea-based category.
The two families will represent Northern Mindanao in the National MOFYA Search with the awarding set on December 6 in Manila.
A special award on Outstanding Achievement in Entrepreneurship was also given to the Preciado family while the Outstanding Achievement in Community Service was awarded to Ernie Neri and family of Malaybalay, Bukidnon.
OFW Supangan worked as a Pest Control Technician in Saudi Arabia and had returned to the Philippines for good due to health reasons.
He and wife Ida have one surviving child who is now working as a staff nurse in King Abdulazziz Hospital in Al Hasa, Saudi Arabia. The couple had invested parts of their earnings to cultivate agricultural lots, planted fruit trees, coconut, falcatta and rubber.
On the other hand, Chief Mate Noe Preciado started working overseas in 1986. He and his wife Amelita have four children.
Their eldest son, Gaylord, worked overseas for five years but stopped after a motorcycle accident. He is currently a pastor of Bible Baptist Temple Church. The Preciado family operates a function room and catering services, commercial spaces for rent, hollow blocks making, sand and gravel business and a farm lot planted to fruit trees, coconuts and other lumber species.
The MOFYA is an annual event of the OWWA which gives honor to OFWs and their families.
It focuses on OFWs and families who exemplified strong family ties, contributed positive outcome in the community where they reside, financially harnessed the gains from the OFWs overseas employment and have educationally supported the members of the family.
The Board of Judges for the MOFYA 2012 in the region was composed of Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Regional Director Johnson Cañete (chairman), OWWA Regional Direcotor Petrona Bergado (co-chairperson), Sister Mary Grace Barcinas (Church Based Organization), Dr. Rosalinda Huerbana (Academe), Fleurdelis Jaro (Private Sector), Mila Pace (Private Sector), Capt. Beunaventura Barete (Seabased Category), and Jose Sibi (Landbased Category),
The criteria for judging was based on the following: wholesome OFW family (50%), civic/ community involvement of OFW and family (20%), success in OFW and/ or family members education or profession (20%) and success in managing family finances (10%). (Neko Jan L. Abaday/OWWA-10/APB/PIA-10)
source: PIA
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Filipinos in UAE to get multi-exit clearance
ABU DHABI // Filipinos in the UAE can now apply for travel clearance that covers more than one exit from the Philippines when they go home on holiday.
The exit clearance will be valid for the life of a worker's contract, although not exceeding two years, removing the need to reapply each time they leave the Philippines.
An exit clearance costs 100 pesos, or about Dh10, and exempts workers from paying the travel tax and terminal fee at the Philippines' international airports.
"We started implementing the scheme full blast on October 1," said Hans Cacdac, the head of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), from Manila.
A pilot for the scheme began in August for Filipino workers in Hong Kong, Brunei and Cambodia. This was expanded to South-East Asia and now covers all countries.
Overseas Filipino workers on holiday in their homeland can secure up to two travel exit clearances at POEA's central office in Manila's Mandaluyong City.
Workers whose contracts allow them frequent home leave do not have to abide by the maximum limit. But they must ensure their memberships with the overseas workers welfare administration (OWWA), PhilHealth and the Home Development Mutual Fund are updated, said Mr Cacdac.
"It will be available in our regional POEA offices within this month," he said. "By next month, we hope to provide it at all of our Philippine overseas labour offices worldwide."
The new exit clearance will be valid only if the overseas worker is returning to the same employer whose name and job site are shown in the clearance and in visa details.
Currently, the overseas employment certificate, which proves a worker has been hired legally, is valid for only 60 days, meaning in practice that Filipinos need a new one each time they return home.
It is available from the Philippine overseas labour office in Abu Dhabi or Dubai, and at Poea offices in the Philippines.
Nasser Munder, the labour attache in Abu Dhabi, said his office had yet to be formally notified of the move.
"It will reduce the long queues at our office but we'd like to know more about the new scheme," Mr Munder said.
The labour office in Abu Dhabi processes 200 applications a day for these certificates, and in June and December that number can double.
The POEA, which promotes and monitors overseas employment, also plans an online system to speed up the exit clearance process.
source: TheNational.ae
Get the latest Jobs For Filipinos Abroad here
The exit clearance will be valid for the life of a worker's contract, although not exceeding two years, removing the need to reapply each time they leave the Philippines.
An exit clearance costs 100 pesos, or about Dh10, and exempts workers from paying the travel tax and terminal fee at the Philippines' international airports.
"We started implementing the scheme full blast on October 1," said Hans Cacdac, the head of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), from Manila.
A pilot for the scheme began in August for Filipino workers in Hong Kong, Brunei and Cambodia. This was expanded to South-East Asia and now covers all countries.
Overseas Filipino workers on holiday in their homeland can secure up to two travel exit clearances at POEA's central office in Manila's Mandaluyong City.
Workers whose contracts allow them frequent home leave do not have to abide by the maximum limit. But they must ensure their memberships with the overseas workers welfare administration (OWWA), PhilHealth and the Home Development Mutual Fund are updated, said Mr Cacdac.
"It will be available in our regional POEA offices within this month," he said. "By next month, we hope to provide it at all of our Philippine overseas labour offices worldwide."
The new exit clearance will be valid only if the overseas worker is returning to the same employer whose name and job site are shown in the clearance and in visa details.
Currently, the overseas employment certificate, which proves a worker has been hired legally, is valid for only 60 days, meaning in practice that Filipinos need a new one each time they return home.
It is available from the Philippine overseas labour office in Abu Dhabi or Dubai, and at Poea offices in the Philippines.
Nasser Munder, the labour attache in Abu Dhabi, said his office had yet to be formally notified of the move.
"It will reduce the long queues at our office but we'd like to know more about the new scheme," Mr Munder said.
The labour office in Abu Dhabi processes 200 applications a day for these certificates, and in June and December that number can double.
The POEA, which promotes and monitors overseas employment, also plans an online system to speed up the exit clearance process.
source: TheNational.ae
Get the latest Jobs For Filipinos Abroad here
Friday, August 24, 2012
Seafarers Deployed as Fishermen File Complaints Against Recruiter, Employer
In their complaint sheet, the seafarers claimed that from January to February 2012, they engaged the services of JMP Polaris Navigation, Inc. which recruits regular seafarers such as messmen, deck cadets and engine cadets with a monthly salary of USD250.00 to USD350.00.
The complainants alleged that the agency’s crewing and operation manager assured them of employment as seafarers in an international vessel but they have to pay the amount of PhP15,000.00 as lagay (bribe) and some miscellaneous fees.
Cacdac said there is total prohibition on charging any fee from seafarers. “Under POEA Rules and Regulations Governing the Recruitment and Employment of Seafarers, manning agencies are prohibited from charging or accepting directly or indirectly any amount of money, goods or services, or any fee or bond for any purpose from the seafarers,” Cacdac said.
Cacdac said the 12 complainants alleged they paid JMP Polaris Navigation, Inc. a total of PhP265,000.00.
The complainants stated that after submitting the required documents and signing their employment contracts, they left the country for Taiwan in separate dates from January to March 2012.
The seafarers alleged that before departure at the airport, an employee of JMP Polaris Navigation Inc. told them that the positions in their respective contracts would be substituted to “fisherman”. Nonetheless, the seafarers, boarded their plane bound for Taiwan to work in fishing vessels owned by Menh Hao Fishery, Co. Ltd and Jui Wun Fishery, Ltd.
The complainants said their employer maltreated them and made them work beyond the normal hours of work without pay. The seafarers also complained of poor accommodation, inadequate food and water, and lack of safety equipment and first-aid supplies.
They left their employers and came back to the Philippines in June 2012. Cacdac said that on the basis of the sworn statements of the complainants, the POEA suspended the license of JMP Polaris navigation, Inc. and suspended Menh Hao fishery, Co. Ltd and Jui Wun Fishery, Ltd. from participating in the overseas employment program pending investigation of the case filed against them.
“We find strong prima facie evidence of a case for violation of the pertinent provisions of POEA Rules and Regulations Governing the Recruitment and Employment of Seafarers and there exists a reasonable ground to believe that the continued deployment of the respondent agency of workers to the respondent employer will lead to further violations of the Rules and exploitation of the job-seeking public’” Cacdac said in his order. Cacdac reminded job applicants that licensed agencies are barred from engaging in any recruitment activities while under preventive suspension.
source: POEA.gov.ph
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
BILL GIVES 20 PERCENT DISCOUNT TO FORMER OFWS
A lawmaker today urged Congress to fast track the approval of a bill giving former Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) 20 percent discount on medicine, transportation, hotels and other business establishments.
House Bill 6323, authored by Rep. Ma. Theresa Bonoan-David (4th District, Manila), however, will cover only those OFWs who have reached 50 years of age.
The bill grants 20% discount to all Filipinos who have worked in a foreign country under employment contracts for a period not less than ten years, including but not limited to, professionals, seamen, entertainers, domestic helpers, regardless of their employment status in the foreign country.
"The Overseas Filipino Workers are our modern heroes whose hard earned dollars are responsible for buoying up our economy to levels that have allowed us to achieve growth as a nation, and industrialization along with modernization as a country," Bonoan-David said.
"It is but timely to express our debt of gratitude to our former OFWs in the form of discounts, medical assistance, enjoyment of benefits granted by the respective social service systems and even housing programs," Bonoan-David added.
The measure defines former OFW as a resident citizen of the Philippines, at least 50 years old, previously certified by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) for overseas employment purposes and has an income of not more than P60,000 per annum subject to review by the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB) every three years.
The former OFW shall be entitled to 20 percent discount from all establishments relative to utilization of transportation services, hotels and similar lodging establishments, restaurants and recreation centers and for the purchase of medicines.
The bill provides that former OFWs shall receive free medical and dental consultations in private or public hospitals and medical insurance from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC);
Likewise, they will be given priority in the livelihood and housing programs of the government.
The measure shall establish the Office of Former Overseas Filipino Workers (OFOFW) under the Office of the Mayor and shall be headed by a Councilor designated by the Sangguniang Bayan and assisted by the Community Development Officer in coordination with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
"The OFOFW shall maintain and regularly update on a quarterly basis the list of former OFWs; shall serve as a general information and liaison center that will facilitate the needs of former OFWs and shall issue uniform individual identification cards which shall be valid anywhere in the country," Bonoan-David said.
source: House of Representatives Philippines
House Bill 6323, authored by Rep. Ma. Theresa Bonoan-David (4th District, Manila), however, will cover only those OFWs who have reached 50 years of age.
The bill grants 20% discount to all Filipinos who have worked in a foreign country under employment contracts for a period not less than ten years, including but not limited to, professionals, seamen, entertainers, domestic helpers, regardless of their employment status in the foreign country.
"The Overseas Filipino Workers are our modern heroes whose hard earned dollars are responsible for buoying up our economy to levels that have allowed us to achieve growth as a nation, and industrialization along with modernization as a country," Bonoan-David said.
"It is but timely to express our debt of gratitude to our former OFWs in the form of discounts, medical assistance, enjoyment of benefits granted by the respective social service systems and even housing programs," Bonoan-David added.
The measure defines former OFW as a resident citizen of the Philippines, at least 50 years old, previously certified by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) for overseas employment purposes and has an income of not more than P60,000 per annum subject to review by the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB) every three years.
The former OFW shall be entitled to 20 percent discount from all establishments relative to utilization of transportation services, hotels and similar lodging establishments, restaurants and recreation centers and for the purchase of medicines.
The bill provides that former OFWs shall receive free medical and dental consultations in private or public hospitals and medical insurance from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC);
Likewise, they will be given priority in the livelihood and housing programs of the government.
The measure shall establish the Office of Former Overseas Filipino Workers (OFOFW) under the Office of the Mayor and shall be headed by a Councilor designated by the Sangguniang Bayan and assisted by the Community Development Officer in coordination with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
"The OFOFW shall maintain and regularly update on a quarterly basis the list of former OFWs; shall serve as a general information and liaison center that will facilitate the needs of former OFWs and shall issue uniform individual identification cards which shall be valid anywhere in the country," Bonoan-David said.
source: House of Representatives Philippines
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