The Nigeria-Lebanon conundrum

I am not sure if the POEA is baiting the Nigeria- and Lebanon-based OFWs and would be OFWs with all these misleading press releases.

It seems like the issue of travel and work ban to both Nigeria and Lebanon are entertwined. They always go together, suspiciously mentioned together in every press releases made by either POEA, DOLE, DFA. And throw in the office of VP de Castro.

Last Monday, June 15, POEA’s Manalili issued a misleading statement about the Nigeria ban having been lifted. But as we read through the contents, it was just the opposite. The ban will not be lifted – at all… And all this talk about giving exception to Nigeria OFWs who have more than 10 years residency is nothing but — talk. It’s the POEA personnel themselves who will be the first to admit they have no idea about the so-called 10 year residency exception.

This statement was first uttered by VP de Castro in first week of April, and has since been rehashed to perfection by DOLE’s Roque and now, POEA’s Manalili.

Her reckless statement about the Nigeria ban having been lifted showed her lack of understandign and knowledge about the Nigeria OFWs’ issues and concerns. Maybe she was not given copy of the recommendation made by Gen. Roy Cimatu, after he visited Nigeria last March 2009.

But the important part of the June 15 press release is not about Nigeria. It was about Lebanon, and how Malacanang and VP de Castro has given their endorsement for the lifting of the ban. Hooray to Lebanon-bound OFWs.

Made me wonder why Ms. Manalili will choose to open her press release with an misleading  statement about the lifting of Nigeria ban, when what she really wanted to announce was about Lebanon.

Her brief mention of Nigeria triggered a flurry of emails among Nigeria OFWs. Some inquiries were made to DOLE and POEA. No answer.

Today, as i scanned the online news again, i almst dropped from my ergonomic chair when I read Ms. Manalili’s usual “unusual” statements.

She said that the OFW ban in Lebanon not yet over.

POEA Administrator Jennifer Manalili issued the statement on Wednesday following news reports that that a Lebanese panel is scheduled to come to the Philippines to finalize a proposed memorandum of agreement (MOA) that seeks to provide protection to Filipino workers…..

…“I’m clueless how these reports came about,” Manalili told GMANews.TV in a phone interview.

Wow. I am beginning to imagine that Ms Manalili is loking like Alicia Silverstone…. Get my drift?

She reacted to Lebanon issue when all is certain that the Lebanon ban will be lifted soon. But this time, she never bothered to make mention about Nigeria. Did not even clarify that misleading news title about Nigeria ban.

tsk. tsk. tsk.

We in Nigeria have come to accept the fact that neither POEA, DOLE, DFA or de Castro are in any position to decide the lifting of the travel and work ban.

Not that i am religious, but i join the rest of Nigeria-based OFWs in praying that Pres. Arroyo will finally order the lifting of the travel and work ban.

Na-wow.

 

Timeless, ageless, priceless Visayan Songs

i was browsing youtube for advance guitar tutorials when i stumbled into another search showing a South Korean High school choir singing “Rosas Pandan”.

It reminded of my own experience in a NAMCYA competition, Elementary level. Our contest piece was “Sitsiritsit Alibangbang”. Our school’s first to join the NAMCYA held in Ozamiz City. We didn’t qualify.

Sitsiritsit Alibangbang
Altho not a Visayan song, i just included it here, for memory’ sake.

From UP SCS:

And from the Loboc Children’s Choir (during rehearsal):

 And before i knew it (ahem!), i was searching for grand Visayan folk songs that are usually interpreted by choral groups.

Rosas Pandan

Dedicated to a pretty Visayan girl who loves to go to fiestas. A world-famous choral piece – because a lot of foreign choral groups have sung this song. Obviously influenced by Filipino members in the group.

Aside from the previously mentioned South Korean singers, here are some ‘nice’ foreign interpretation of Rosas Pandan:

This group has Filipinos in it. just for fun, you can hear the ‘tzi’-gi-dong clearly.

the San Francisco State Univerity Chamber Singers (with Pinoys also):

JP Stevens High School (US):

A Hawaiian HS Honor Choir:

Of course, the Philippines’ pride:

Loboc Children’s Choir:

The Philippine Madrigal Singers:

The University of the Visayas Chorale:

An here is the link to an amateur “x-rated” version of Rosas Pandan. Uh-oh, not for the faint-hearted..

Usahay

The Voice of Cebu

The University of the Visayas Chorale

Matud Nila

The University of the Visayas Chorale

Paradista

I used to hear this song from Cebu-based radio (DYHP). Then i saw this song performed by the Mountain View College – Bukidnon Traveling Chorale. They performed it in Cotabato City, inside the PIA office. It was a great song-and-dance choreo. Just too bad i couldn’t find it in YT performed by any Philippine  choral groups.

But i did find a gem of a video. A performance by the Kanto boys “all-strings” band. The best cover i can find in YT.

Well, that was one long video posts.

I’m not finished yet – oh.

Re-introducing some famous Visayan Solo artists:

Pilita Corrales

Susan Fuentes

Luz Loreto

Sheryn Regis

————-

Sa sunod, about Max Surban and Yoyoy Villame (RIP)

 

Unlocking an iPhone that’s locked after firmware upgrade

My friend, Randy, bought a year-old, open-line iPhone from Hong Kong.

He was using it with a Globe SIM card in the Philippines.

One night, Randy was synching his iPhone with his iTunes when he was prompted that a new firmware upgrade is available. So Randy eagerly let iTunes to update his iPhones firmware fro 1.1.4 to 2.2.0.

Big Mistake.

After the reboot, he was shocked to see a message like this:

 Even more shocked when he realized that his iPhone has “locked” and could only access the emrgency numbers.

So we called our phone unlocking expert, Roland, for assistance.

 Roland sent us to iClarified website where the instruction how to unlock the iphone is found.

After downloading all the necessary files, we proceeded to follow the instructions.  But the same message at the top is shown, and the “Restore” window does not appear as indicated in the instructions. Randy insisted that there was no SIM card in the iPhone.

I tried the QuickPwn and followed the procedure, but still no success.

Randy was about to decide to buy a 19$ software from the internet to unlock his iPhone. And i could not really get the “Restore” window to show.

The next day, Randy finally “remembered” the Globe SIM card was still inside the iPhone. Whew!

After removing the SIM card, we opened iTunes again. A new error showed in iTunes.

 

 Unable to see the “Restore” option, i decided to jump to the QuickPwn again and follow the “press Home-Power-Home button” isntruction.

This time around, the Jailbreak succeeded. 

Well, suffice it to say, the instructions from iClarified.com did work.

And Randy got his iPhone back, minus all the applications and media files in it.

So, again, if you want to try to unlock your iPhone by yourself, just go to the this website and “follow” the instructions.

And please, make sure you remove the SIM card.

http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=1881

Good luck..

 

“Nothing new” in the Philippines

Today, i finished my tasks early. And this being Friday, orders were slackening.

So i thought i should check the online Philippine newspapers just to keep abreast of what is going on in my native land.

But first, just an ‘offline’ news.

Amb. Roy Cimatu is finally coming to Nigeria on March 5 to meet with various Nigerian government ministers, and then meet with Filipino associations in Abuja and Lagos, to assess the situation in Nigeria, in the light of the OFWs’ petition for the lifting of the total work and travel ban to Nigeria.

Now on to the ‘online’ news.

Here are today’s highlights from Phil. Daily Inquirer online :

Gov’t inaction blamed for RP corruption, says a US State Department report.

“the report described the culture of corruption in government agencies and the judiciary as among the reasons why violations of basic human rights persist in the country.”

And Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno responded to the report saying there is “nothing new” to the report.

In other words, my friend, nothing really changed in the Philippines. Not even in the Judiciary. Despite the appointment of the likes CJ Davide, CJ Panganiban, and CJ Puno.

And nothing really changed in Philippine politics. So we should not expect any changes after the 2010 election. Because the electorate themselves haven’t changed. Money talks.

–

NPA SCOFFS AT AFP OFFENSIVES, says Inquirer’s Southern Luzon report.

Which reminded me of recent events in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government grudgingly accepted a Norway-mediated truce between the Sinhala government and the separatist Tamil Tigers.

During the ceasefire, Tamil guerrillas intensified their campaign to expand their territory and attack government posts. So finally, Sri Lankan government said “Enough”. They official ly ended the ceasefire and vowed to defeat the Tamil Tigers.

And so they did. The way the Sri Lankan army analyze the situation and put the result to battlefield tactics, they were unstoppable.  Very impressive battlefield tactics. Im sure that they also made ‘intelligent’  intelligence assessments and analyses.

Unlike our AFP and PNP and their Commander-in-Chief. All talk and nothing more.

Despite superiority in numbers and armaments, the AFP could not even reduce the threat of the NPA, MILF and Abu Sayyaf. All it can do is to co-habit with the enemy. And all the government can do to save face for failing to finish the enemies of the state is to hide behind the skirt of ‘peace talks’ that are designed to fail from the start.

—-
End killings, CHR chief dares cops

You ever wondered why the Commission on Human Rights is only obssessed about the killings allegedly perpetrated by the goverment security apparatus?

It is because the CHR was created to protect the citizens from th excesses of the government, considering the nation’s experience with Martial Law, and the institutionalizing of ’summary execution’ by the AFP and PNP (c’mon, admit it). Part of this chorus against the military and police’s salvaging is the Catholic Church.

My take is that, is there anybody, as in ANY BODY, who can equally condemn and bring to justice those people outside the law (like MNLF, MILF, Abu Sayyaf) who commit barbaric acts of kidnappings, beheadings, and massacres of innocent civilians.

When military/police kills civilians or criminals, either by legitimate firefight or ‘otherwise’, everyone cries foul. When outlaws and rebels massacres civilians, only the victims relatives are crying for justice..

This is the irony of it all.

—-

Wanted: Anti-poverty workers for DSWD

This is a misleading banner, i think. But if i am wrong, then DSWD should browse the Marvel comics or Heroes.com websites for volunteers.

In relation to this, an Australian volunteer for the government’s program on streetkids said that the government’s operations to rescue street children in Manila are ineffective, indiscriminate, involuntary, done for the wrong reasons, and seen by the supposed beneficiaries as arrests.

Scerri noted that government solutions are not long-term. “They do not address the reasons why the children are in the streets in the first place,” she said.

Well, the streetkids problem in the Philippines is just the same, or even pales in comparison, to the Austrlian aborigine problem on absence of gainful employment, alcoholism, dependence on govt doleouts and aborigenes child sexual abuse.

Nevertheless, we thank Ms. Scerri for being honest with his appraisal of the program.

Like this post’s title today, nothing will change. Unless the Filipinos will change — come 2010.