Confucius says, “When anger rises, think of the consequences.” Filipinos around the world sympathize with the family of Hung Shih-cheng, a 65-year old Taiwanese fisherman killed in the high seas when officers of the Philippine Coast Guard aboard a maritime patrol ship fired at the fishing vessel where the old man was. Whatever the outcome...
I grew up in a big family with five brothers and a sister. From my childhood days at our old house along Visayas Avenue, Project 6 in Quezon City to where I currently live with my only daughter and a bunch of dogs, my mother and six siblings have always been around. Until recently, that...
When my father was chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, he welcomed occasions to meet and discuss issues with top officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs. His keen mind and natural curiosity about events across the world invigorated such discussions and led to a rich harvest of bilateral treaties and agreements during his...
When news reports regarding the crackdown on illegal or overstaying foreign workers by Saudi authorities came out last week, I did my best as an OFW advocate to verify what was going on and its implications on the hundreds of thousands of Filipino workers based in the Kingdom. Online chatter on Facebook was immediate and...
NGO welcomes Saudi King’s intervention to suspend crackdown; calls on PH gov’t to augment embassy personnel and resources for Saudi Arabia The Blas F. Ople Policy Center, a non-government organization that assists distressed overseas Filipino workers, lauded the decision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to order...
In his popular blog, a humor writer that goes by the pseudonym, “Professional Heckler”, prominently features this quote: “The problem with election jokes is they get elected.” Heckler’s blog can be found at www.professionalheckler.wordpress.com and he has been roasting Filipino politicians and celebrities diligently and without an iota of fear for quite a few years...
Who among us have yet to encounter a Filipino without relatives, friends, and co-workers in Saudi Arabia? Our office driver, Loloy, has a brother working in Saudi Arabia. I have friends with close relatives in Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom is home to the biggest number of expatriate Filipino workers and this has been so since...
A lot of tears have been shed, and stories written about sixteen-year old, Kristel Tejada, a freshman college student who took her own life after failing to pay her tuition. Many have questioned and criticized the administration of University of the Philippines Manila for their alleged callous handling of Kristel’s request to be able to...
My dog, Almond, is white and light brown, like a parfait of graham crackers and vanilla ice cream. He is short and stout and long, with a tail that thumps when in wag mode. He sleeps in my bed and drinks coffee with me in the morning. I talk about him all the time –...
News Release Blas F. Ople Policy Center March 10, 2013 NGO seeks ILO’s help in ensuring fair and humane treatment of Filipino workers in Sabah A non-government organization that specializes on labor and migration issues urged the International Labor Organization to closely monitor and help verify reports of abuses in the handling of Filipino migrant...
By Susan V. Ople This is my ode to the Philippine Ambassador to Iraq Reynaldo “Boy” Parungao who recently died of cancer and its myriad complications. He was known in labor circles as a true-blue, original Ople boy: good-natured, jolly, and loyal to his boss, then labor secretary Blas Ople. I was still a kid...
I was in the process of picking up a Daniel Pink book from a display stand inside the National Bookstore when a fashionable young woman spoke to me, and asked if I was into self-help books. It took me several minutes to answer back. I muttered that I like different kinds of books. Or...
