politics + tech + advocacy
By ANTHONY IAN CRUZ Malaya March 10, 2008 THE mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos has obtained expressions of support from the offices of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who is leading the Democratic presidential nomination and Republican presidential nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain. “The offices that we have visited showed a great concern on the […]
MoreBy ANTHONY IAN CRUZ Malaya March 3, 3008 TEN months after the abduction of her son Jonas, Edith Burgos began a seven-city speaking tour in the US on Saturday to bring to Americans and Filipino-Americans her plight and those of other victims of human rights abuses under the Arroyo administration. Burgos, widow of Malaya founding […]
MoreBy ANTHONY IAN CRUZ Malaya February 29, 2008 ILLINOIS Sen. Barack Obama, the frontrunner in the 2008 Democratic presidential race, on Monday paid tribute to the 22nd anniversary of the 1986 People Power uprising and batted for the passage of the long-delayed “equity bill” for Filipino veterans. In a statement, Obama said that “twenty-two years […]
MoreBy ANTHONY IAN CRUZ Malaya February 26, 2008 THE Gabriela Women’s Party in Hong Kong (GWP-HK) group on Sunday distributed “WANTED” posters to compel Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo to return to the Philippines and face corruption charges over the $329-million NBN-ZTE broadband deal. The group distributed the posters at an interfaith rally held by OFW […]
MoreBy ANTHONY IAN CRUZ Unpublished February 25, 2008 Filipinos abroad are also all set to hold rallies “for truth and accountability” starting Sunday in Hong Kong and later in the week in key US, Canada and Middle East cities. At Hong Kong’s Chater Road, the Gloria Step Down Movement (GSM-HK) said “several thousands” of Filipino […]
MoreI am reprinting in full an “open letter” by the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON) on the raging crisis of the Arroyo presidency. NAFCON recently figured as the prime mover of protests against the racist slur on Filipinos in an episode of popular soap Desperate Housewives. It describes itself as “a national multi-issue alliance […]
MoreTo its own credit, the Arroyo administration has been successful in agitating Filipinos to rebel against its brazen corruption and cover up. With President Arroyo refusing the face the media and the public, as well as the Ombudsman, to answer questions on her role in the ZTE-NBN scandal, more Filipinos are now ready to take […]
MoreA few minutes ago, Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci announced the independence of Kosovo which was immediately approved by their parliament. In so doing, Kosovo has become the newest independent state in the world. Reuters reports on the event: Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on Sunday, ending a long chapter in the bloody breakup of […]
MoreBy JOCELYN D. MONTEMAYOR and ANTHONY IAN CRUZ Malaya February 13, 2008 PRESIDENT Arroyo ordered the “relaxing” of requirements for the direct hiring of white-collar workers for overseas jobs to ensure the faster processing of their papers, employment and eventual departure. Arroyo, during the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)-Cabinet Group meeting in Malacañang, ordered […]
MoreI have to agree with Erwin Oliva who, writing for the Inquirer.net, says that videos have become a new way for Filipinos to express themselves Blogging is here, but video blogging is pushing the bounds even more. Nowadays, YouTube videos and videos solicited from the public have complemented standard news reports of professional outfits such […]
MoreBy ANTHONY IAN CRUZ Malaya February 7, 2008 SIXTY-five OFW groups representing more than 130,000 Filipinos toiling in Hong Kong as domestics and professionals have formed a coalition calling on the government to rescind a memorandum requiring foreign employers to pay $8,000 in fees to directly hire Filipino workers. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration requires […]
MoreBy ANTHONY IAN CRUZ Malaya February 5, 2008 ONE of the biggest overseas Filipino organizations in Hong Kong on Monday urged Philippine embassies and consulates worldwide to follow the lead of the Philippine mission in Singapore which last week suspended the implementation of a controversial memorandum requiring foreign employers to pay $8,000 in fees for […]
MoreBy ANTHONY IAN CRUZ Malaya February 4, 2008 MIGRANTE International will start street protests today to press for the scrapping of a controversial rule requiring foreign employers to pay $8,000 in fees to directly hire Filipino workers. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration issued Memorandum No. 4 issued last December 18 requiring foreign employers seeking to […]
MoreBy ANTHONY IAN CRUZ Malaya February 2, 2008 US SECRETARY of State Condoleezza Rice will testify on February 13 before the US Congress on whether the Philippines has complied with human rights preconditions tied to this year’s military aid to the country, said a group of Filipino-Americans and Americans lobbying for sanctions against the Arroyo […]
MoreThe decision of Labor Secretary Arturo Brion to personally oversee “direct hiring” contracts between Filipinos and foreign employers, and the accompanying Memorandum Order No. 4 has whipped up a storm of protests from OFWs, including Filipino professionals. All told, the labor department wants to get $8,000 in fees from a foreign employer who seeks to […]
MoreBy ANTHONY IAN CRUZ Malaya January 31, 2008 THE Philippine embassy in Beijing on Wednesday reported the arrest of nine Filipinas by Chinese authorities from Dec. 24, 2007 through Jan. 15, 2008 for suspected drug smuggling. It said Asia-wide drug syndicates are apparently using Filipinas as drug couriers to sneak in dangerous and prohibited drugs […]
MoreBy ANTHONY IAN CRUZ Malaya January 30, 2008 THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday urged the public to immediately report to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration or the Department of Labor any recruitment agency offering jobs for domestic helpers in Egypt as these jobs are non-existent. Citing a report by the Philippine embassy in […]
MoreBy ANTHONY IAN CRUZ Malaya January 29, 2008 FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo has called on the world community to adopt a “creative approach” to cash in on burgeoning overseas migrant remittances that now stand at triple the amount all countries allot for official development assistance. In a speech before the West-Islamic Dialogue Session on […]
MoreBy ANTHONY IAN CRUZ Malaya January 28, 2008 Loida Nicolas Lewis, based in New York, regularly visits Manila every two months to visit the La Salle-assisted Lewis College in Sorsogon. She hops to China often to oversee operations of TLC Beatrice’s retail stores in five Chinese provinces. Lewis is the Filipino-American industrialist -philanthropist and widow […]
MoreThe New York Times today published a story on the Avalon 10 and the Sentosa 27++ nurses who are being legally persecuted in the US by their employers. Written by Joseph Berger, the story is titled “Filipino Nurses, Healers in Trouble”. More information about the nurses’ cases can be found here.
MoreBy ANTHONY IAN CRUZ Malaya January 18, 2008 FILIPINO-American voters in this year’s US presidential elections face various forms of discrimination which may prevent many from casting a vote for the successor to President George W. Bush. The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), a 34-year-old civil rights organization, identified five obstacles to […]
MoreBy ANTHONY IAN CRUZ January 16, 2008 A Filipina spa supervisor critically injured in a violent attack on the only five-star hotel in Kabul where she worked has died while undergoing treatment, said the Department of Foreign Affairs. DFA spokesperson Claro Cristobal said that the name of the victim will be withheld until her family […]
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