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PGMA launches reintegration program for returning OFWs |
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TRECE MARTIRES CITY, Cavite, Dec. 20 -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has convened the first plenary session of the Philippine Reintegration Program, the Arroyo administration's program and thrust designed to address the needs of returning overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and their families. The President said she has ordered the Overseas Workers and Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to recruit 25 family welfare officers who shall serve as the link between OFW families and the government service providers. These officers will be designated in OFW-rich provinces and cities, namely Pangasinan, Ilocos Sur, Pampanga, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Cavite, National Capital Region, Iloilo, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro City and Davao City. By organizing OFW families, a mechanism for the systematic delivery of services and assistance to the OFWs can be established. |
The President also noted that families and dependents organized as cooperatives or rural workers associations can be the proper vehicles for delivering social services required by them. They could form a mutual support group that could facilitate access to services and assistance. According to the President, under the reintegration program, the government, through the OWWA, would assist the OFWs and their families in coping with their situation and provide social counseling services. She noted that some parish churches under the Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrant and Itinerant People offer psychological services to returning OFWs and their dependents. The government, the President said, would establish a systematic re-entry debriefing and encourage forward planning among OFWs. |
She added that the government could incorporate in the pre-departure orientation a discussion of reintegration program, enhance on-site briefings and institute on-return debriefings. The Philippine Reintegration Program seeks to inculcate in the minds of OFW families and dependents the need for forward planning to prepare for the permanent return of their OFWs and the value of savings and investments to maximize the gains from their remittances. The program also aims to reduce the propensity for consumer durables and the need to be organized on the part of the OFW families so that they could have access to existing services and support from both government organizations and non-government organization sectors. (MNS). |
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MANILA, Dec. 22 -- The Lualhati Foundation Inc., a charitable organization identified with the First Couple that has accepted an P8 million donation from Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez, is folding up. Edgardo Manda, former president of the foundation, said that because of the controversy surrounding Jimenez's contribution, it would be difficult for the group to solicit donations from other donors. "Donors will now be discouraged to contribute, and without donations, there is no point in continuing with the foundation," Manda said. Manda was the foundation president in 1999 when Jimenez, then a close associate of jailed former President Joseph Estrada, donated the P8 million in three checks, all payable to cash. Manda is now general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), the post to which he was appointed when Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo became President in 2001. Manda was replaced as Lualhati Foundation president by Jose Fortunato Ledesma, one of his fellow original incorporators of the foundation in 1993. |
Manda noted that there had been previous talks in the foundation to shut down the organization before the P8 million contribution of Jimenez was acknowledged by Malacanang early this week. "It's been planned for quite a while and this controversy has simply fast-tracked the process," Manda said. Manda recalled that the foundation was set up by members of the Makati Rotary Club to which First Gentleman Mike Arroyo belongs. "Mike was member of our Rotary Club and by extension as his wife, President Arroyo was also considered a Rotarian," Manda said. Manda, however, pointed out that neither President Arroyo nor Mike are members or officers of the foundation. In a prepared statement, Manda said: "The President has nothing to do with the Lualhati Foundation Inc." Manda also said that Arroyo did not solicit funds on behalf of the foundation. |
"How can the First Gentleman use the foundation to solicit funds when the First Couple was never a part of it," Manda said. Manda also said that the foundation has "no link" with the Ginuntaan at Makabayang Alay (GMA) Foundation, which supposedly received another P5 million donation from Jimenez. Manda denied published reports that the foundation did not submit financial statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from 1993 to 1999, as required by law. "Of course, there are reportorial requirements with the SEC and we filed our reports," Manda said. Manda also pointed out that the Lualhati Foundation likewise submitted its financial statements to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) as required of any registered group. (MNS) |
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MANILA, Dec. 24 -- Malacanang said that the government is continuously fine-tuning its contingency plan for the Middle East amidst reports that the United States and Great Britain would launch a military offensive against Iraq in January. Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye said that Ambassador Roy Cimatu, head of the Middle East Preparedness Team (MEPT), would be leaving for the Middle East early January to personally monitor events there. "We are continuously reviewing our contingency measures. Of course, our number one objective would be to protect our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)," Bunye said. Bunye said that the policy that has been adopted is for the relocation, and not evacuation, of Filipinos away from the conflict zone, but still within the Middle East. He also assured the nation that the country's oil supply would not be
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affected by the outbreak of a new conflict in the Middle East since the Department of Energy (DOE) had been making arrangements with other non-traditional oil suppliers. In her speech at the golden anniversary celebration of the National Press Club of the Philippines at the Holiday Inn in Manila last Dec. 17, the President spelled out specific measures that would assure the safety and security of OFWs in the event of the outbreak of a new Gulf war. The President said that the evacuation of the Filipinos in Iraq would be done "upon the signal of the United Nations agencies in Iraq or upon receipt of reliable intelligence information." For OFWs in Kuwait, the President said, she has ordered two contingency plans. The first is for the estimated 90 per cent of some 60,000 OFWs who may opt to stay even in the outbreak of |
war, and the other for the remaining 10 per cent who may want to be evacuated. She said the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait has already submitted a detailed cost for the two contingency plans and these will be supported when the time comes. Cimatu said that some 100 Filipinos now in Iraq would have to be moved to Jordan by land a week before the start of any hostility. Most of these Filipinos are working with the Philippine embassy in Baghdad and in various United Nations agencies. Some are Filipinas married to Iraqis. (MNS) |
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