Kin of overseas Filipinos on death row weep in a press conference with their group Migrante. Photo by Jo. A Santos/Bulatlat

Three Filipinos were saved from certain death after the Chinese government postponed their execution on drug trafficking charges but more needs to be done by the Philippine government.

Yes, more and much more. According to Migrante International, an alliance of overseas Filipino workers, 125 other Filipinos face the death penalty in a number of countries and many of them have not been given the attention by the Philippine government.

The US Embassy along Roxas Blvd. in Manila. (Photo credit: PLM website)

The United States Embassy in Manila today announced a new consular fee schedule which will be effective starting July 13, 2010.

The new fee schedule includes substantial increases in certain visa application fees and consular services to US and non-US citizens.

The embassy said the new fee schedule is based on an order from the US Department of State.

The Department of Foreign Affairs announced today that three Filipinos were quarantined at a Hong Kong hotel, the same hotel where a swine flu-infected Mexican checked in recently.

I hope our thousands of Filipino workers there take extra precautions.

Here is the full press release from the DFA:

The Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong reported that there are three Filipino guests at the Metropark Hotel in Wanchai who were covered by the seven-day quarantine operations imposed by Hong Kong health authorities.

Hong Kong’s Department of Health imposed, as a temporary emergency measure, a seven-day quarantine on its reported first case of H1N1 human swine flu at Metropark Hotel on 01 May. The H1N1 patient is a Mexican male who checked in at the hotel but later brought to the Ruttonjee Hospital after experiencing coughs, sore throat and other flu-like symptoms. The quarantine will last until Friday, 08 May 2009.

Some say there’s overreaction but what’s the take of domestic helpers in Hong Kong themselves regarding the Chip Tsao incident?

Here’s a sampler — a press release of the largest Filipino organization in Hong Kong regarding the apology from the controversial columnist:

While we recognize the public apology of Mr. Chip Tsao, he must stop defending his article as a satire and that he was just misunderstood. We will press on with our protest.

This was the statement of the United Filipinos in Hong Kong (UNIFIL-MIGRANTE-HK) as it announced that the protest against racism slated this Sunday, April 5, will push through. The protest, being organized by various Filipino migrant groups in Hong Kong, is linked to the article “The War At Home” written by Chip Tsao and was published in both the printed edition and online site of HK magazine.

“Mr. Tsao’s apology is recognized but we are appalled of his continued defense of the piece as a satire. It was targeted towards a whole nation and a particular sector that made it nothing but a racial slur,” said Dolores Balladares, chairperson of UNIFIL.

More than 200 leaders of faith-based groups, unions and labor rights advocates, Filipino-American organizations and academics have written the US Congress to protest human rights abuses in the Philippines and the misuse of US foreign military assistance.

Among the signatories to the letter, which was sent to every member of the US Congress, were:

After hearing from plenty of voices, let’s now hear it from OFWs themselves how they view the “Harry and Paul” incident.

Published here in full is the official Migrante International press release issued some minutes ago:

Sexual abuses, exploitation of Filipino domestic helpers could intensify because of BBC show’s racist depiction of Filipina maid

Migrante International, the largest global alliance of Filipino migrants and the families, warned that more Filipino domestic helpers could become targets of sexual exploitation and abuses because of the racist depiction of a Filipina domestic helper as a sex object in an episode of a BBC comedy show “Harry & Paul.”

“There is nothing funny about this the show’s depiction of Filipina maids as mindless playthings. Portraying them as kowtowing to the sexual needs of their employers subjects our compatriots to even greater danger of abuse,” explained Connie Bragas-Regalado, chairperson of Migrante International.

Had the British comedians poked fun instead on President Arroyo, nobody would have cared or — I suspect — Filipinos themselves would have given them ringing applause.

But the “Harry and Paul” show dissed our decent, hardworking domestic helpers. The BBC must apologize to all Filipinos, especially the thousands who the Brits have recruited as domestic helpers and caregivers.

By ANTHONY IAN CRUZ
Malaya
March 31, 2008

PRO-DEMOCRACY groups in Hong Kong yesterday warned investors that “corruption and murders taint their investments in the Philippines” and made true their vow to shame President Arroyo, calling her a “plunderer” and a “murderer” right outside the Conrad Hotel, venue of the 11th Credit Suisse Asia Investment Conference which she attended.

The HK Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP) said local police attempted to place its members some 100 meters away from Conrad Hotel, but the residents successfully staged their protest right in front of the venue.

Jackie Hung, the group’s convenor, reminded investors “the experience of ZTE whose deal for a national broadband network in the Philippines has been recently exposed to be tainted with corruption.”

“Will you really entrust your money to thieves in high office?” Hung asked.

By ANTHONY IAN CRUZ
Malaya
March 29, 2008

A FILIPINA has put herself in South Korea’s history books for being the first foreign-born citizen to run for a seat in the country’s National Assembly.

Ambassador Luis Cruz reported that Judith A. Hernandez is the first candidate without Korean lineage to run for the Philippine equivalent of a congressional seat.”

Hernandez is running under the Republic of Korea Party in the general elections slated on April 9.

Originally from Cavite, Hernandez arrived in South Korea in the mid-90s and married a Korean national.

By ANTHONY IAN CRUZ
Malaya
March 28, 2008

OVERSEAS Filipino workers’ advocate Migrante International on Thursday assailed the “obvious lack of coordination” between the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration after the agencies put out conflicting reports on the actual number of OFWs stranded in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia who are set for repatriation soon.

Migrante chair Connie Bragas Regalado said DFA undersecretary Esteban Conejos announced that 27 out of 117 stranded OFWs will be deported soon while OWWA administrator Marianito Roque claimed 84 out of 145 distressed OFWs were coming home soon.

Regalado said both the DFA and OWWA should release a complete list of the stranded OFWs, especially the ones reportedly scheduled for deportation. She said accounts of “chaos and emotional trauma” experienced by the said OFWs have reached Migrante’s offices in Manila, Riyadh and Jeddah.

By REGINA BENGCO
Malaya
March 28, 2008

PRESIDENT Arroyo is leaving for Hong Kong on Sunday to attend the Asian Investment Conference and meet with the Filipino community.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Arroyo and her delegation will be back on Tuesday.

Bunye said the President will meet the Filipino community Sunday evening to tell them about the country’s economic growth and about the hedging facilities put up by the government to protect their earnings from the currency fluctuations.

She will also ask them to invest their earnings in tourism, agriculture and real property.

By ANTHONY IAN CRUZ
Malaya
March 26, 2008

MIGRANTE International on Tuesday claimed the Philippine diplomatic mission to Japan is ill-equipped to handle OFW welfare issues, including the recent murder of Cristina Mahusay Lopez-Nagano and her seven-month old son Naomasa Nagano.

Cristina’s husband Masayushi Nagano is now in police custody after surrendering and admitting to killing his wife and infant son last March 17.

Migrante chair Connie Bragas Regalado said “more than the repatriation of their remains, it is incumbent on the DFA and the Arroyo government to ensure justice is served and that similarly tragic events do not befall other Filipinas in Japan.”

Regalado said abuse and domestic violence against Filipinas in Japan is a “long-standing problem. It is abhorrent that until now, the DFA still has no concrete measures in place that will provide immediate relief to Filipina victims of abuse.”