At around 8 o’clock this morning, Fort and I went to the NAIA Terminal 1 to witness the joyous and tearful reunion between the 23 crew members of hijacked MT Stolt Strength and their wives. Mario Antonio, head of the OWWA’s repatriation assistance division, deftly handled the homecoming arrangements.
The Blas F. Ople Policy Center [...]
MT Stolt Strength crew — home at last!
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Press Release: CYM International, RJJ Lacaba Financing Company in hot water over recruitment scam
News Release
Blas F. Ople Policy Center
April 29, 2009
CYM International, RJJ Lacaba financing company in hot water over recruitment
scammsn
A licensed recruitment agency and a private lending company must now appear
before the Senate and House of Representative and face a class suit from a local
NGO after it swindled 137 bus drivers out of their money and fervent [...]
Swine Flu and our OFWs
Just as we were starting to see streaks of light and life in a moribund global economy, Mexico was zapped with swine flu and now the world is feeling the shakes from a possible pandemic.
The implications of a swine flu pandemic on our own little corner of the world are enormous.
Right now, international travel is [...]
Power-tripping Cops
I believe that Ted Failon is innocent. His daughter is adamant about this, the household help swear by it, too.
Why then can’t the Quezon City police respect the privacy and right to grieve of the bereaved family? What justice was there to obstruct when the criminal investigation had yet to start? And why arrest [...]
Our Press Release on the 137 Filipino Bus Drivers Stranded in Dubai
News Release
Blas F. Ople Policy Center
April 12, 2009
Filipino community rallies around 137 stranded bus drivers in Dubai; Ople Center seeks immediate probe and suspension of licensed agency involved in their recruitment
In keeping with the spirit of Lent, the “bayanihan” spirit was alive and well in Dubai as Filipinos pitch in canned goods, water, toiletries, and [...]
Goodbye, Jocap
My dear friend,
What were you thinking?
Riding that chopper late in the afternoon
To fulfill a role played so many times before
To set the stage for your boss, the President
Routine, it may have seemed
Another event, another speech, a different audience
But there’s nothing routine about going down
In flames, deep in a jungle, where no one heard you fall
I [...]
Our press release on HK writer Chip Tsao’s racial slur vs Filipinos
News Release
Blas F. Ople Policy Center
March 29, 2009
Ople Center denounces HK journalist for using Filipino maid as “pawn” in Spratly controversy
Former labor undersecretary Susan Ople called on the Philippine Consulate particularly its Office of the Labor Attache to look into the work conditions of “Luisa”, a household worker employed by Hong Kong journalist Chip Tsao [...]
Ople Center’s Press Release re Trafficking of Filipino women to Malaysia
News Release
Blas F. Ople Policy Center
March 25, 2009
Ople Center seeks end to trafficking of Filipino women to Malaysia
The Blas F. Ople Policy Center, a non-government organization engaged in the fight against human trafficking and illegal recruitment, urged the Philippine government to take serious steps in addressing the illegal recruitment and trafficking of Filipino women to [...]
Conditional Cash Transfers for Children of Displaced OFWs
The Blas F. Ople Policy Center issued a press release today proposing a program on conditional cash transfers to help children of displaced OFWs stay in school. The cash transfers will be contingent on the following conditions: 1) enrollment this coming schoolyear; and, 2) monthly medical check-ups for children enrolled in this program.
The text [...]
Beware of an e-mail scam that uses my Mother’s name!
Thanks to a good friend, Atty. Angelo Jimenez, I got wind of an e-mail chain that uses the name of my mom, Mrs. Susana V. Ople. This is akin to the typical Nigerian scam, but with a twist! It refers to a Senate link and has a yahoo address under my mother’s name. I assure [...]
