POE AND ESCUDERO LEADING THE SURVEY BY PULSE ASIA

Via GMA NEWS

"Senator Grace Poe continued to lead in Pulse Asia's presidential preference surveys.

In a survey commissioned by a private group and initially released to The Manila Times, independent candidate Poe got 39 percent. The results were published on Tuesday.

Opposition leader Vice President Jejomar Binay received 24 percent while administration standard bearer Mar Roxas got 21 percent. On the other hand, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago had 11 percent.

The  survey conducted from October 18 to 29 asked 3,400 respondents all over the country who they would vote for President if ever the elections were held today.

The October survey results had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 percent and was conducted days after the filing of certificates of candidacy of those seeking elective posts in 2016.

Poe’s running mate, Senator Francis Escudero topped the vice presidential preference survey with 43 percent.

Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. came next with 21 percent, followed by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano with 11 percent.

The administration bet, Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo got 7 percent while Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV received 6 percent."

See more here via GMA News. Watch the video below.

©2015 Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards

Pres. Aquino Do Not Heart OFWs?

I can forget that during his first SONA or State of the Nation Address, there were not a single sentence that mentioned about his plans or support for OFWs. Nevermind that he was supposed to be voted by around 55% of overseas voters. I don't feel betrayed, I didn't vote for him. 

Second, he cut the budget for education. This means, there will be not enough funds for public universities that means, they will raise their fees, that will eventually be the reason that most students can't pursue college or university education. I question his priorities here. I don't know why he didn't the point. Education unlocks the door of opportunities. Education is the most basic benefit he can give to the younger generations, because they are our countries future. 

And the latest, he cut the budget for DFA and OFW social services by a whopping 40%. From the law requirement of P100M fund, the Arroyo administration provided only 50M, and now, Aquino wants to make it 27M. Now you can see that the government really doesn't care for OFW's. Now it is beginning to be seen that for all these years, we are nothing but lame heroes kuno that are being milked with our money remittances.

If you can join this page by liking it, we will truly be happy. This will serve as a petition to the government not to cut the budget for OFWs because it means, legal assistance, lawyer fees, repatrition, and other aids for OFWs will greatly be jeopardize.

Below is an excerpt from Susan Ople's blog, an OFW advocate explaining the impact of this budget cut to the OFWs.

Deep cuts in DFA Budget dashes OFWs’ hopes for change | Susan "Toots" Ople

"So in cutting down (or chopping off!) more than half of the DFA’s budget including that to be used for legal and other forms of assistance to Filipinos overseas, the consequences may be the following:

1. The task of repatriating trafficked victims and other distressed OFWs shall now fall on: 1) individual politicians from senators to mayors; 2) OWWA which are made up of contributions of workers who left the country legally; 3) the very individuals and agencies that conspired to victimize these workers thus diminishing the crime and reducing the entire matter into a bargaining situation.

I would have added the NGOs except one can really count on one’s fingers the number of NGOs that could afford to repatriate workers even from neighboring countries like Malaysia and Singapore.

No. 1 weakens institutional governance because it would lead to the politicizing of welfare assistance to OFWs in distress; it will also cause enormous lag time in providing onsite assistance – time that could mean the death or survival of an OFW.

2. RA 10022 or the amendments to the Migrant Workers’ Act states that the DFA can now use its legal assistance fund to file cases against abusive and exploitative employers and agencies outside the country. The Ople Center and other NGOs were happy to know this because the filing of such cases would greatly boost our anti-trafficking efforts. But with only Php 27-M for an entire year, how can the DFA even hope to pursue such cases? And what about the 3,000 Filipinos in jail, some of who have been detained more than their penalty calls for? If the current legal assistance fund is insufficient in looking after the legal rights of our OFWs, what more just a quarter of that amount? For an entire year!

3. Our foreign posts serve as the refuge of trafficked and maltreated workers. In Dubai alone, the welfare center is overflowing with at least 200 stranded workers at a single given time. A video taken of appalling conditions in Saudi Arabia for workers awaiting repatriation stresses the need for more funds, not less particularly for posts with a high concentration of Filipino workers. If we cannot afford change, then how can we see it? In this case, the OFW sector is not asking even for more funds — though it has every right to do so. But at the very least – a status quo. For now. Especially for a sector that brings in billions in dollar remittances that makes for a positive credit rating from international credit rating agencies. Why cut social services for OFWs?

Unless — the unjustified cuts are but another symptom of internal conflicts driven by magnified, puffed-up bureaucratic and political hurts. Read:factionalism. This may be a valid observation because of how deep the cuts are. Too deep to be superficial; too ruthless to be developmental. The cuts were made to hurt, and hurt bad – except that the wounds are being inflicted several times over on the bodies of the innocents.

We do want to hope again. The yearning is there, it is unmistakable, and while we are watchful, it is a watchfulness for both the bad, and most especially for the good. Honestly, I would prefer the inconvenience of a noisy wang-wang to the heart-wrenching wail of an OFW unable to come home despite numerous beatings from her employer. NFA – no funds available. So what else is new?

This latest move of chopping off millions meant to protect the rights and welfare of our OFWs is simply unjustifiable. When a child leaves home, a parent does what is humanly possible, despite the distance, to make sure that he or she is alright. The Assistance to Nationals Fund and the Legal Assistance Fund of the Department of Foreign Affairs is the budgetary equivalent of that.

With such drastic budgetary cuts, this administration might as well have cut lives short.

“Kayo ang boss ko!” Prove it to millions of OFWs and their families here at home, Mr. President. This is in your power to change. Do not cut the budget for the DFA’s assistance to nationals and legal assistance fund."

Read the rest of the entry here

©2010 THOUGHTSKOTO

Madame President, Did You Read the PEBA 2009 Entries?

"In private high schools, we finance half of the students.

We have provided college and post-graduate education for over 600,000 scholars.

One of them, Mylene Amerol-Macumbal, finished Accounting at MSU-IIT, then she went to law school, and placed second in the

last bar exams, the first Muslim woman bar topnotcher. Congratulations!"

Okay, that's my school, MSU-IIT or Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, its a 60% Christian and 40% Muslim university, but one of the best school in the country. I am proud that's where I graduated. I was one among those scholars to pay P10 per semester so long that I maintained my GPA of not more than 2.0.

But let us examine some of your praises and reports about OFW's and the rest of the Filipino's abroad.

"Sa hirap at ginhawa, pinapatatag ang ating bansa ng ating Overseas Filipinos.

Iyong padala nilang $16 billion noong isang taon ay record. Itong taon, mas
mataas pa.

I know that this is not a sacrifice joyfully borne. This is work where it can be
found — in faraway places, among strangers with different cultures. It is
lonely work, it is hard work. "

(posible po bang nabasa niyo o ng speech writer niyo some of the stories ng mga PEBA Nominees?)

Kaya nagsisikap tayong lumikha dito sa atin ng mga trabahong maganda ang
sahod, so that overseas work will just be a career choice, not the only option
for a hard-working Filipino.

(Yan po ang conclusion ng entry ng isang nominee from Qatar)

Meanwhile, we should make their sacrifices worthwhile. Dapat gumawa tayo
ng mas epektibong proteksyon at pagpapalawak ng halaga ng kanilang
pinagsikapang sweldo. That means stronger consumer protection for OFWs
investing in property and products back home.

Para sa kanila, pinapakilos natin ang Investors Protection Task Force.

Hindi ako nag-aatubiling bisitahin ang ating taong bayan at kanilang mga
host sa buong mundo – mula Hapon hanggang Brazil, mula Europa at Middle
East hanggang sa American Midwest, nakikinig sa kanilang mga problema at
pangangailangan, inaalam kung paano sila matulungan ng ating pamahalaan
– by working out better policies on migrant labor, or by saving lives and
restoring liberty.

Pagpunta ko sa Saudi, pinatawad ni Haring Abdullah ang pitong daang OFW
na nasa preso. Pinuno nila ang isang buong eroplano at umuwi kasama ko.

(There are still very many, Madam, di lang po sa kulungan. Some are suffering from injustices, some are confined in houses of hardhearted employers.)

Mula sa ating State Visit sa Espanya, it has become our biggest European
donor. At si Haring Juan Carlos ay nakikipag-usap sa ibang mga bansa para sa ating mga namomroblemang OFW. Ganoon di si Sheikh Khalifa, ang Prime Minister ng Bahrain. Pagpunta ko sa Kuwait, Emir Al-Sabah commuted death sentences.

We thank all our leaders, all world leaders who shown compassion
with our workers.

Our vigorous international engagement has helped bring in foreign investment. Net foreign direct investments multiplied 15 times during our administration.

Kasama ng ating mga Together with our OFWs, they more than doubled our foreign exchange reserves. Pinalakas ang ating piso at naiwasan ang lubhang pagtaas ng presyo. They upgraded our credit because while the reserves of our peers have shrunk this past year, ours reserves grew by $3 billion.

(I have one thing to confess. I voted for you the last election, and even asked the rest of my siblings to do the same. Since then, we are honestly disappointed. But we believe in being submissive to the rule of the land, and to those in authority, so I am still hoping you planted something good so my kid will see something good as well.

I am honestly hoping and praying that the one who will seat Malacanang after you is a good Filipino LEADER, if there is still one, out there.)

complete text here

©2009 THOUGHTSKOTO