Musings of Don Kishote….

With regard to the news about 5,000 Indians illegally staying in the Philippines, I don’t know if the BI agents have problems with their eyes that they cannot spot where these Indians are..

Unlike other countries, our immigration is not strict in imposing our immigration laws. That is why there are thousands of TNTs in our country, some of whom, have married to our citizens or have established business without any permit.

Due to our government’s emphasis on tourism, other nationalities have turned the TNT tide on us when it comes to the issue of illegal stay.

Why only Indians? What about the Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Sri Lankans and Lebanese? Can the BI provide figures just how many of these nationalities are also unaccounted for?

I remember one time I met a Vietnamese selling soap and perfumes (ala Bombay). The guy could hardly speak English and is obviously an illegal. So how do we report this kind of aliens?

Our problem is that immigration enforcement is centralized. Only BI and its agents has the right to check a foreigner’s paper. And BI offices/agents are not present in all provinces — but foreigners are.

If an alien has become a TNT but did not commit a crime, he can go on with his illegal stay without being checked. Because our local PNPs in LGUs are not trained to handle expatriate status.

So in the case when an alien applies for business permit and presents Immigration papers, there is no coordination/validation from BI to establish authenticity of documents. And neither it is the business of DTI or LGU to check the validity of the permits. Thus, even if the permit has expired, the alien continues to do business and extend his stay, unless the alien has committed a crime to attract police.

Maybe BI should establish a public nationwide hotline for people to call anonymously to report any suspected illegal alien/s in their locality. BI should also conduct information campaign about the hotline and about immigration laws.

BI should also coordinated with LGUs and the PNP, so that local law enforcement personnel and officials would know how to handle basic immigration case, particularly doing business, and updating of alien immigration status, and how to detect and process illegal aliens.

This way, all foreigners, other than tourists, will be properly accounted for, and this will give notice to all foreign visitors to think twice before doing anything illegal in our country.

I just would like to share some news from the travails of Sarah Villegas, an OFW who was a victim of illegal recruitment who ended up distressed in Singapore (no jobs).

We posted her appeal to some forums, and we are thankful to kind people who passed her appeal among friends. There were lawyers who volunteered to take her case, pro-bono.

We also caused the publication of Sarah’s letter to the Inquirer’s Global Nation website, under Mailbag.

According to Sarah, as a result of that posting, she received a call from the POEA adminsitrator inquiring about here case, since they receive a letter from the office of Sen. Chiz Escudero regarding Sarah’s case. They (Sarah & co.) were also invited to his office to discuss their case.

Sarah said that she also received e-mails from the offices of Sen. Noynoy Aquino and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada indicating their support on her plight.

Also, other victims of the said illegal recruiter were encouraged to file their own cases with POEA. But during a conciliation meeting sometime in May 13, 2008, a POEA conciliation officer named Rose Andres and a certain Miss Claudette, representative of NRS Recrutiment Agecy, allegedly told the new complainants that NRS agency will file a LIBEL case against Ms. Villegas.

Her lawyer assured Sarah that the libel suit will not prosper, and is just a plain harassment.

We thank everyone who responded to help Ms. Villegas, and consequently provided moral support to other victims to file their claims also.

We will monitor this case, if we see something positive will come out of this collective action, such as: criminal prosecution of the illegal recruiter, return of their advance fees plus interest, blacklisting/delisting of all the dummy agencies of the illegal recruiter, administrative action against erring POEA employees who will be found to have connived with illegal recuiters.

OFWs, Unite!

——————-

My Letter of Appeal for Support
( Sana Inyong Dinggin at tulungang lutasin )

PLEASE HELP ME: A CALL FOR JUSTICE
(The Voice of a young Filipino who suffered a great and traumatic experience as OFW in Hong Kong)

By: SARAH N. VILLEGAS
Matti, Digos City
Province of Davao del Sur
Contact Number: 09289507404
Email add: sararoejade@yahoo.com.ph

I spent almost P 200, 000.00 in my humble desire to work in Hong Kong. It was very painful to be away from my family. Yet, I gamble because I want to save my family from too much poverty. It was too late to know that a simple dream became a worst nightmare. I almost died to fight for a cause. I didn’t loss hope even until now that I am here… in God’s divine mercy… back in the Philippines with my family.

I am Sarah N. Villegas, married, 35 years old and a native of the province of Davao del Sur. I am just a simple housewife … tried my luck to hopefully take the advantage of going abroad as an OFW.

I know you will agree with me that hundreds if not thousands of Filipinos working abroad or planning to work abroad who encountered serious problems. Admittedly, I am one of them. But my case is different. I have a serious case. Please consider the following facts:

A powerful placement agency like NRS PLACEMENT INC, LOVE MANPOWER AGENCY still deploying OFW’s in different countries who have juicy connections with POEA, still operating their business even behind a lot of charges filed in different courts.

The said agency is having a special arrangement of the employers abroad to earn huge amount of income and bargaining transactions in the expense of a poor Filipino. There are even complainants who only settled for P 10, 000 to P 20, 000.00 from over P 200, 000.00 placement fee including other expenses spent in their application just to avoid lengthy court litigations.

It is a fact that NRS PLACEMENT INC. and LOVE MANPOWER AGENCY is opening different branches like and even establishing new placement agency, name BLS agency just to continue their operations. But I cannot understand why all these agencies are still protected by the POEA.

The POEA aware that most of the recruitment agencies are refusing to give a receipt in every payments has been made by applicants.

Other Conflicts

1. Philippine Government Agencies in Hong Kong like the Philippine Consulate are not really there to serve and solve problems of the OFW’s. The truth is they are conniving with the agencies. I am a witness of different transactions.

2. Most of the victims of injustice and / or illegal recruitment were displaced. Some were arrested, maltreated and sexually abused. Others were lucky and blessed because they knew where to go. In my case, I went to a catholic center where I was given the moral support of the religious community.

Important Consideration

I was instructed by HongKong magistrate court to be a prosecution witness because the evidence collected by Hongkong Police is sufficient to sue my employer.

I reported to the media when I was still in Hong Kong where it created a big story. The impact was great because the Philippine Consulate got panic.

I have all the facts, documents and lead to establish a strong case.

The problem is the case is no longer working for almost a year now.

I decided to go back home after 6 months of initial battle in Hongkong because my situation was very difficult. I was not allowed by Hongkong Government to have a job because I am a prosecution witness.

Manifestations

My family is in great pain. We could hardly survive because we need to pay our debts.
We need to save other OFW’s who are still in Hong Kong and those who went home with broken dreams particularly the victims of this agency.

There is need for those people involved in this case to be brought to court and be accountable.
The case must be given an utmost attention.

Please help me. It is my prayer that with your support we will be able to solve my problem especially that I am so much affected, not only of my personal convictions but also with my concern with other Filipinos who need your PRECIOUS attention.

Maraming Salamat po!

Sa inyo gumagalang,

SARAH N. VILLEGAS
NLRC CASE NO.

Man United 1 Chelsea 1 - United win 6-5 on penalties after extra-time.

Africa and half of Europe held their breath last night during the finals of the UEFA Champions League held in Moscow. It was an-all English football club finals between Manchester United and perrenial rival Chelsea.

Just like in our country during a Manny Pacquiao fight, i am sure that UK and Africa experienced a no-crime night last night.

 

It is just too bad that our DSTV subscription was finished last Sunday and we were not able to pay in time to watch last night’s  game. So i have to stay online until 12 midnight reading the blow-by-blow accounts of the match.

Being a filipino, i grew up with basketball. But because i am vertically-challenged, i have to find other sports that suits my height. And so i played table-tennis (ping-pong), darts, billiards, and golf. As a spectator, i love baseball, volleyball and lawn tennis also.

I really have no idea about soccer/football. Even in university intramurals, soccer is the only game i never bother to watch.

When i arrived in Nigeria, the first things that intrigue my sight is the dominating products sold in the stalls — football jerseys, pennants, banners and stickers. I learned later Africa is a football-crazy continent. And football is the dominant sports here.

So, to be able to adjust to the culture, i have to learn about football — the teams, the names, histories, and of course, African national teams. So by my second month, i could talk football like a native.

Our client in Nigeria is managed by 4 brothers as directors of the company. One is a fan of Liverpool, two are Man U, the other is Chelsea. And all of them are fanatics, really. One time, one of the brothers came to me and asked me who my team was.  i said, ahhm, Chelsea. And the guy just thundered his disapproval. He told me he lost respect for me and he went on to lecture me why i made a bad choice. He said i would be better off with Man U.

After that faux-pas, i decided to select other neutral teams. So i adopted Arsenal for English Premiership, and Real Madrid for UEFA. I even bought pennants to display in my door at the staff house and in my office desk.
———–

I have read among Filipinos sports pundits that too much basketball is counterproductive to Filipinos because we are naturally short people. They opined that we will have better success in soccer/football  and baseball, and attain the same status internationally in these sports as with South Korea and Japan.

Maybe so. In Asian football circuit, we stand a chance. But if it comes to FIFA tournaments, we will still be disadvantaged. Because, the truth is, football is also a tall-man’s game. The disadvantage in in height is well-pronounced during running game and crucial headers from a corner kicks. In fact, a goalie must be tall to have a greater reach for bar and post-targeted goals.

But the footballing world is replete with superstar short (by european standard) football players who made their marks on the international scene. We can mention Pele, Maradona and Tevez.

But height is not really a big stumbling block to make it to international scene in soccer-football. Man U, has a Korean player. I think i saw other Koreans and Cinese players in other English teams also.

————

You see, there is too much emphasis, and money invested, in basketball. And yet our basketball quality continues to decline each year as our national teams struggled (and lost more often than not) in various international competitions.

Too much fixation in basketball. We have PBA and PBL. Then they have the short-lived MBA. The LGUs initiated their inter-city nationwide tournament called National Basketball Conference (NBC). Aside from that, there is the Visayas-Mindanao LGU tournaments (MVBA) also.

We should consider introducing vigorously soccer, baseball and volleyball down to grassroots level and set up local, provincial, regional and national tournament all-year round. We should make our Filipino athletes as multi-sports athletes. Schools should emphasize on promoting

 

Why can’t they make a schedule that during HS and Collegiate basketball season break, the players can move to volleyball or track and field tournaments?.

I remember watching High School musical in DSTV. During football season break, the football varsity players moved to basketball tournament. I assume some of them will also play for the baseball varsity.

So far, aside from basketball, only volleyball women has as much attention as basketball. Only because we loved the sight of the tight uniforms that players wear, and because they got a solid sponsor (Nestea), and, these girls do not play basketball.

Other games

Other games are played based on social status. That is, you have a well-funded golf tournament from Juniors to Senior amateurs. On the other hand, you have the ’tambay’ sports like billiards and boxing, which has given us more international honors than basketball.

Summer Open Lawn Tennis tournament for juniors used to be sponsored by Milo. I think. Alas, lawn tennis is an ‘elitista’ game nowadays. Very few (i know one) promising young players who are not well-off or well-connected get to see international action because they can’t get sponsorship. One of the most promising lawn tennis junior player i knew, who hails from Cagayan de Oro, almost did not make it to one Asian tournament. I heard his mother and coach were frantically looking and begging for sponsors. When the lad finally got sponsors, he did not disappoint them by eventually winning the said tournament. If only our sports association will acknowledge this young man’s skills, he could be a regular campaigner in international circuit. And who knows, he can be budding Mamiit later on.

Chess is also an under-rated sports in our country. But it is one of those sports, aside from boxing and billiards, which gives us tremendous international honors, from the elder Eugene Torre to the young wizard, Wesley So. And we should continue to promote chess tournament in all levels - from elementary to collegiate, in-school and out-of-school. I believe it is easy to promote Chess since it does not require big venues and logistics.

All of these sports, considering their growing popularity, should be given a rotation schedule of tournaments nationwide so that players from other disciplines can also participate. Of course, we need to provide players with financial incentives, other than medals.

Football United

I don’t know what happened to the summer Coke Go-for-Goal tournament for high school football teams. That is one tournament that LGUs, POCs and DECS should support and promote. Maybe they can make a national regular tournament out of it.

For example, an inter-High School footbal team tournament, playing for 6-months (24-26 weeks, played every Saturday or Sunday) qualifying games. These games will be played in home and away football grounds. With the schools group in geographical locations. Then the semi-finals will be played either in Vigan, Manila, Bacolod, Cebu or Davao. The finals (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th places) will be timed in summer. Venue can be any from those previously mentioned places. Since we have government-owned (or controlled) radio, TV and print media, these can be utilized to provide live broadcast of the games. Aside from the sponsors’s advert.

Commercial Soccer

Soccer is very popular in Ilo-ilo. As it is also in Ozamiz City and Davao City. I think Ilonggos have their own regular soccer tournament involving homegrown football clubs.

There is a website which covers footballing in the Philippines.

http://www.pinoysoccer.com/

There is an ongoing 4-team Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup 2008 - Group B qualifiers tournament being held in Barotac, Iloilo.
http://pinoysoccer.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=1310

Photo is that of RP vs Bhutan action during the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup at Barotac Nuevo Sports Plaza in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo, May 17, 2008. Philippines won the match (3-0) but lost on goal difference to Tajikistan who won against Brunei (4-0), and did not qualify for the Asian Challenge Cup finals set July 30 to August 10 in Hyderabad, India. (Photo by Victor Kintanar for Pinoysoccer.com)

And in case you are not aware, we do have a national soccer team called Team Azkals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines_national_football_team

These days, soccer tournament is mostly corporate tournaments. Like this 1st Mizuno Futsal Corporate Cup.

 

READINGS:

http://www.skysports.com/football/match_commentary/0,19764,11065_2995193,00.html?reloaded
http://www.bleacherreport.com/articles/24641-Manchester-United-vs-Chelsea-1-1-AET-6-5-on-penalties-210508
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/football/urowin.xml

Futsal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
FIFA.com - Futsal - Mission and Goals

Pinoy Soccer:

http://pinoysoccer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQgUZXBT3uY
http://blogs.pinoysoccer.com/

Team Azkals:

http://philippinefootball.org/
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines_national_football_team
http://pinoysoccer.com/gallery2/main.php