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14 May 2013 – The Department of Foreign Affairs is urging irregular overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Saudi Arabia to heed the advice of the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh and take advantage of the opportunity given by the Saudi Government to correct their residency and labor status.

The guidelines which were announced by the Saudi Ministries of Interior and Labor last May 10 allow irregular workers to correct their status or leave the country without obtaining No Objection Certificates

Irregular OFWs have the following options:

• Workers can return to their original employer upon mutual agreement, or transfer to a new employer even without permission or consent of the original employer. 
• Companies can correct the occupations of their workers during the grace period, free of charge.
• Runaway household workers (“huroob”) can return to their original individual employer or transfer to a new individual employer.  The prospective individual employer may complete the procedure for the transfer of the worker through the Jawazat Offices (Saudi Passport Office).
• Household workers can also transfer to a private sector company through the Saudi Labor Offices.
• Illegal Filipino workers have the option to leave the country (final exit) instead, without the need to obtain No Objection Certificates from their current employers, provided that they do not have criminal charges or records against them. They will also be allowed to return to the country in the future if they are able to obtain valid working visas. 
• Hajj and Umrah (pilgrims) overstayers who arrived in the Kingdom before July 04, 2008 can correct their status as either a household service worker or as private sector company worker.   Overstaying Hajj and Umrah who arrived after that date may leave without penalties.

All penalties and fines accruing to an illegal worker before April 06, 2013 will be waived, except for regular processing charges. 

Private rights claims between a Filipino worker and his/her current employer will be settled through the court, and will not prevent the Filipino worker from transferring to a new employer.

Employers are now clearly obligated to hand over to the worker all his personal documents – such as passports and residency permit (iqama) – upon request. Employers are also obligated to make sure that the residency permit (iqama) of workers are valid. Failure to do so is sufficient grounds for a worker to end their contractual relationship.

The deadline to avail of these concessions is July 03, 2013. After this deadline, the Saudi Government will resume its inspections and arrest and / or apply fines against violators – both employers and employees. 

Specific details of the guidelines are available in both Filipino and English on the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh’s website: www.philembassy-riyadh.org   Affected OFWs may also contact the Saudi Ministry of Labor’s (MOL’s) customer service number, 920 001 173.

Irregular Filipino workers are advised to read the guidelines carefully and make their way to the nearest Passports Office (Jawazat) or Labor Office as follows:

For further inquiries, irregular OFWs may call the following numbers in their respective regions:

The MOL has announced that it will be open from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in addition to regular working hours.  In addition, it has encouraged companies to use its e-services portal.

The Embassy is confirming if the Jawazat Offices will extend their hours, and will inform Filipinos accordingly.

There is no need to coordinate with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) for the transfer to a new employer or verify the new employment contract prior to the transfer.  The priority is for the new employer to transfer the services through the concerned Saudi authority as soon as possible.

Filipinos who need to look for a prospective employer may also wish to check the Ministry of Labor’s www.redyellow.com.sa which has jobs posted with entities that are in the green or excellent zone.  They may also call MOL customer service hotline, 920011884.

Source:

Department of Foreign Affairs

Washington, D.C. – Filipinos and Filipino American commu-nity leaders and supporters joined a nationwide “Call to Action” today to press immediate passage of an immigration reform bill that would provide a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants and protect family reunification provisions.

At a rally on Capitol Hill, which drew thousands of leaders and supporters from religious communities, immigrant rights coalitions and labor organizations, these de-mands were repeated by speakers who fired up the crowd with chants of “Si, Si Puwede” (Yes We Can) and “The Time Is Now.”

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by TED LAGUATAN

Overseas Filipino voters can positively change the quality of Filipino leaders and the quality of Philippine government. In general, overseas voters cannot be bought or coerced. They earn money through honest hard work and hired gun toting goons are not around to intimidate them to vote for certain candidates. As such, given the proper objective information about candidates, they will vote for the best candidates. They are in fact the best voters that money cannot buy.

The US based US Pinoys for Good Governance (USP4GG) chaired by philanthropist Loida Nicolas Lewis  and the Global Filipino Diaspora Council (GFDC), a global organization of community leaders from several countries – are two of the most influential organizations  among Filipinos overseas. USP4GG has effectively lobbied with both the Philippine and US governments for policies, decisions and legislation that have benefited Filipinos everywhere. GFDC is recognized by the Philippine Commission on Filipinos Overseas as a global organization of Filipino community leaders from different countries whose goal is the betterment of life for Filipinos overseas and those in the Philippines.

Loida Nicolas Lewis

The lawyers for both groups, Atty. Rodel Rodis and myself, appeared last March before the Comelec and successfully persuaded the Chairman and other Commissioners to reinstate some 239,000 overseas Filipino voters who were disenfranchised for failing to vote twice. Rodis argued that the failure was not out of apathy but because of circumstances beyond their control. I argued that while Congress gave the power to Comelec to remove voters who failed to consecutively vote twice, it also gave Comelec the power not to remove them. In other words, I pointed out that Comelec is not absolutely mandated to remove voters who failed to vote twice – but in fact is given the discretion to remove or not to remove – and suggested that common sense and wisdom factors compel the Comelec to exercise their discretion to reinstate the disenfranchised voters.

To their credit, Chairman Brilliantes and Commissioner Grace Padaca listened to our reasoning and in a subsequent Commissioners’ en banc meeting, reinstated 239,000 disenfranchised overseas voters. I respectfully urge Comelec to continue exercising its good discretion not to disenfranchise in the future overseas voters who fail to consecutively vote twice. They usually fail to vote not out of apathy but because the ballots did not reach them for some reason or another which is not their fault.

USP4GG and GFDC have drawn up a list of Senatorial candidates whom they have endorsed. The list serves as a voting guide for overseas Filipinos as well as for those in the Philippines. Using the same objective criteria, it’s probably not surprising that the candidates endorsed by both groups are a mirror image of the other except for the addition of Teddy Casino in the GFDC list. Both organizations are non-partisan and selections of the endorsed candidates were based on: competence, integrity and a track record of accomplishing observable good results that benefit people.

The Senatorial candidates endorsed by USP4GG and GFDC are listed below. (Not listed according to priority preference):

1. Loren Legarda 2. Alan Cayetano 3. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. 4. Edgardo “Sonny” Angara 5. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 6. Rosa Hontiveros 7. Bam Aquino 8. Grace Poe 9. Edward Hagedorn 10. Eddie Villanueva 11. Teddy Casino (endorsed by GFDC only)

The Party List endorsed by both USP4GG and GFDC is Akbayan Citizens Action Party.

According to the Philippine Commission on Filipinos overseas, about  11 million  Filipinos live and work abroad in 217 countries. Of these, only about 915,000 Filipinos overseas are registered to vote. Many more would have registered if there had been no condition  in the Overseas Absentee Voting Act (OAVA) which  required them to  sign an affidavit promising to return to the Philippines. If they do not sign the affidavit, they cannot register to vote. On the other hand, if they sign the affidavit, they are compelled to return to the Philippines within three years or face imprisonment.

As such, thousands have refused to register because of this oppressive condition. A typical comment among OFWs: “Sure, it’s important to vote, but  would I give up my right to stay and work abroad to support my family in just to vote. That would be stupid.”

How did such an onerous provision which clearly infringes on a citizen’s right to vote get included in the OAVA? A certain Congressman named Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin insisted for it to be included. My understanding from those who followed the hearings on this legislation is that Locsin repeatedly questioned the patriotism and loyalty of overseas Filipinos for the simple reason that they left the Philippines to live and work abroad. He insisted that this anomalous condition be embedded in the OAVA.

Knowing the chilling effect of this required “promise to return” condition on potential overseas voters, the  US based US Pinoys for Good Governance (USP4GG) – embarked on two courses of action: File a petition to nullify this condition  in the Philippine Supreme Court – and also get the Philippine legislature to amend the OAVA to get rid of the offensive “promise to return”  condition. In both actions, the USP4GG prevailed. The Supreme Court decided in the case of “Nicolas et al v Comelec” that the condition does not apply to Filipinos who have dual citizenships. And just a few months ago, the Congress of the Philippines amended the OAVA where the draconian condition was removed and the word “absentee” was also removed from the title of the law: “We are not absent when it comes to helping the Philippines.” OAVA has now become Overseas Voting Act. (OVA).

President Aquino should sign this into law anytime now. While it’s too late for this new law to have any effects on the elections next week, it certainly will have an impact on the 2016 elections. With the removal of the offensive Locsin condition, more overseas Filipinos will register to vote.

Another reason why many overseas Filipinos are not able to register is because registrations have to be done at Philippine Consulates or Embassies. So many live and work in far flung areas such as in the Alaskan fisheries processing plants, distant oil fields in the Middle East, isolated towns in the US or else work in ships that are constantly at sea.

Even for many of those who have registered, some still cannot vote sometimes as the ballots for voting have not reached them because they have either changed addresses or else work as crewmen.

In order to maximize the number of overseas Filipinos registering and voting, there is little disagreement as to the need to make online registration and voting online. Hopefully, by next year, online registration and voting will already be installed.

While the present number of registered overseas Filipino voters is not yet overwhelming, their numbers will eventually increase due to the changed legislation removing the “promise to return” condition and online registration. Moreover,  in a very real sense,  their ability  to generate more votes eventually will be more obvious  when they  become more aware that they can influence their Philippine relatives to whom they send financial aid – to vote for certain candidates.  As such,  aside from the billions of dollars and other currencies overseas Filipinos send to the Philippines – which has improved and sustained the economic life of the country – they will also eventually positively change the quality of government leaders and government in the Philippines – for the good of all.

For OFWs like myself,  to see a better Philippines where thousands of talented bright Filipino children can develop to their full potentials as human beings instead of digging through dirty smelly garbage cans for scraps of food just to survive – is a dream that I hope will someday come true.

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Source:

Ted Laguatan , http://globalnation.inquirer.net , May 09, 2013

07 May 2013 – After more than two weeks of voting, the Philippine Embassy in Rome reached the 500^-voter turnout mark with Philippine Ambassador to Italy Virgilio A. Reyes’ casting his vote on May 03, immediately after the Commission on Elections approved his request to be allowed to vote in Rome despite being previously registered as an overseas voter in Pretoria, South Africa.

The Ambassador, along with members of the Filipino community who failed to receive their electoral mails, received blank ballots which they immediately accomplished and submitted to the Embassy’s Special Ballot Reception and Custody Group (SBRCG) and Special Board of Election Inspectors (SBEI).

The Embassy received 105 accomplished ballots on May 03, bringing the total to 592.

Source:

Department of Foreign Affairs