Ople Center backs calls of OFWs in Barcelona for consulate to remain open
OFW and labor advocate Susan Ople urged the Department of Foreign Affairs to reconsider its decision to shut down the Philippine Consulate in Barcelona, Spain in view of the large number of Filipinos under its jurisdiction. The president of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center, a non-profit organization that specializes on migration issues, noted that Filipinos in Barcelona have organized a Facebook account with over 4,000 members to ventilate their misgivings over the DFA’s order to shut down the consulate as part of its rationalization plan. “We support the appeals of Filipinos in Barcelona for a reconsideration of government’s decision to close down the Philippine Consulate which services more than 20,000 OFWs. The consulate was opened in...
Cruising for Stories
Dubai — I thought it would be a breeze to write while on a cruise. After all, the cruise ship itself is named “Costa Favolosa” and our itinerary included port visits to Dubai, Oman, and Abu Dhabi. Seven days at sea – how difficult would it be to open my laptop to write? Very. A keyboard was the last thing I wanted to see, touch, and tap while on deck, with sea wind as my shawl, and looking yonder where the sky meets water with little boats bobbing up and down like dolphins. The cruise is an annual tradition of the Nacionalista Party led by Senator and Mrs. Manny Villar. Onboard and offshore, the entire cruise was an instantaneous crash course for many of us about life in the Emirates. There are more than 300 Filipinos working onboard Costa...
God was in the room
Nanay Edith Langamin forwarded a text she got from Atty. Ira Pozon of the Office of the Vice-President to my mobile phone. It said that the Vice-President would like to meet with her regarding the case of her son, Jonard, who is on Saudi Arabia’s death row. The meeting was to be held Wednesday, January 4 at the Coconut Palace. “Ma’am Toots, pakisamahan po ako,” Nanay Edith said. The Blas F. Ople Center, a nonprofit organization, which I head, has been helping Nanay Edith follow-up on her son’s case since April 2011. At that time, news reporter Jeff Canoy was doing a documentary on the lives of OFWs. Jeff’’s able researcher, Cherrie Ongtengco, fetched Nanay Edith at her home in Caloocan City for that eventful morning meeting. It was 10.30...
Common sense, in absentia
Over the holidays, I have accumulated vignettes from overseas Filipino workers on vacation from their countries of work. Having been exposed to more stable governance, reliable services, and compatible systems, these Filipino expatriates would lament the lack of common sense in our own red tape-infested, messy and disjointed procedures and policies. Fernan Santos, a regular chatter at the online chatroom of the daily Bantay OFW radio program over DZXL told me that he was actually called a “criminal” by a Bureau of Immigration agent at our international airport because he had a namesake on the NBI’s list of fugitives. After showing his own NBI clearance, employment contract and other papers proving that he was and had always been an overseas worker,...
Goodbye, 2011!
Like clothes on fire, we just couldn’t wait to shed 2011 fast enough. That was the year of major quakes, unbelievable tsunamis, fast-rising floods and rainfalls so voluminous that the earth could no longer absorb every drop. That was the year when the peso grew stronger diminishing the buying capacity of every dollar remitted from abroad. That was also the year when President Aquino better defined himself as a leader who means business when running after those who in his mind and heart have long betrayed the public’s trust. 2011 was the year when the Liberal Party as the administration party showed real muscle even when public opinion stood divided as to how it was flexed. December 2011 was the year when Christmas became a sad and mute witness to...
Susan “Toots” Ople
My friends call me Toots. Am the youngest of seven siblings. Our family hails from the coastal town of Hagonoy, Bulacan and we are proud of our roots. My daughter's name is Estelle and she's a brilliant debater/person. I love dogs! And I enjoy writing in the dead of the night.
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