LBS at PEBA "ANG PASKO AT BAGONG TAON SA ABROAD"

Please join and share!

Photo Contest Mechanics

A. Eligibility

a. This contest is open to all Filipinos, 18 years old and above, who are currently living and working overseas.

b. Amateur and professional photographers may send in their entries.

c. PEBA BOT’s and volunteers are NOT allowed to join the contest.

d. Entrants must “Like” both the LBS and PEBA fanpages on Facebook in order to be eligible to enter this contest.

B. Submission

a. Entrants should “Like” both the LBS and PEBA fan pages on Facebook.

b. Entries must be submitted to: photos@pinoyblogawards.com

c. The subject title of the email should be “LBS at PEBA: CONTEST SUBMISSION.”

d. The body of the email should contain the following:
• FULL NAME AND AGE
• CONTACT DETAILS
• PROFESSION and CURRENT LOCATION
• TITLE OF THE PHOTO
• CAPTION FOR THE PHOTO

e. Image resolution should not be lower than 800x600 pixels (landscape) or 600x800 (portrait). The file must be 100kB or higher.

f. Photos must NOT be altered, edited, or digitally manipulated or enhanced.

g. Two (2) submissions will be allowed per entrant.

h. All valid and accepted entries will be posted on the LBS and PEBA Facebook Fanpages. Entrants with accepted entries will appear on both FB Pages.

i. PEBA, Inc. and LBS Recruitment Agency reserve the right to reject entries that contain nudity, advocate violence, and do not conform to the rules and regulations of the contest.

j. PEBA and LBS will have some rights with the winning photo entries that may be used in the company website and/or other materials directly related to PEBA, Inc. and LBS. Copyrights of the photo remain to the photographer.

k. All entries must be submitted on or before 11:59 PM of January 20, 2013.

C. Selection of Winners

a. Winning entries will be determined based on contest theme and content and originality and on the number of “likes,” “shares,” and as per PEBA and LBS Panel of Judges.

b. Winners will be announced on February 10, 2013 via the following:
i. LBS Facebook fanpage
ii. PEBA Facebook fanpage
iii. PEBA Website

c. Winners will be notified through email.

D. Criteria for Judging

Judging criteria is as follows
40% Theme Relevance
20% Originality/Uniqueness
20% Sharing Point (1 share/reshare by individual person equals 1 point. The highest number of shares gets the highest percentage)
20% Like Point (1 like by a valid account with activities and friends equals 1 point. The highest number of likes gets the highest percentage)


E. Prizes
a. Prizes are as follows:
i. Best Photo - P5,000 cash
ii. 2nd Best Photo – P3,000
iii. 3rd Best Photo – P2,000
iv. Most Shared Photo – P2,000
v. Most Liked Photo – P2,000

b. Prizes should be claimed sixty (60) days upon notice. Failure to claim will result in forfeiture of the prize.

c. If the winner is not in the country or is unavailable, a family member or representative may claim their prize for him/her after email correspondence with PEBA and LBS officers. Representative must present the following:
i. one (1) valid ID of the representative and

d. Prizes will be sent via express money padala or through representatives of the winner

For more information, log on to www.pinoyblogawards.com or the LBS Recruitment Solutions Corporation and PEBA and LBS Facebook fanpages. You may also contact us through email at www.lbsrecruitment.com.ph and contact@pinoyblogawards.com .

©2012 Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards

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Project Salmos and Operation: Let's Bring Mang Fred Home!

Let’s Bring Mang Fred Home!

ABSCBN TV PATROL Here

ABSCBN NEWs HERE

Alfredo Salmos, 52, an overseas Filipino worker in Jeddah Saudi Arabia is appealing for help after he was accidentally electrocuted about two years ago in his work. According to Salmos, he was sucked into a 14,000 volts breaker that he was trying to shut down.

PEBA Worldwide launched a Project Salmos to appeal for global support and monetary donations with the consolidated efforts of the different organizations in bringing home our brother, our kabayan, ALFREDO ‘Mang Fred’ SALMOS. 

PEBA's Kenji along with ABS-CBN Correspondent Frank Resma, and Marlene of Lakambini Group, Roy and Aaron of Elite Guardians, and Patnubay Riyadh and the owner of La Parilla Restaurant in a roundtable meeting to help Mang Alfredo Salmos. 

PEBA has been engage in several project before, Project Twitch, Project Nealshai, and now we are starting Project Salmos. There are many, oh so many good people working behind the scene for Mang Alfred.

We are activating our contacts from 56 countries and territories and asking to solicit donation and engage causes to help this Kabayan. If you wish to be a part of PEBA's Global effort to help, please message us using the FB message above.

We will consolidate all donations into one account, preferably in a foundation. We hope you will share and reach out to others and hope to touch their heart as well. 

Support the

Operation: Bring Him Home

For donations and details, 

Send donation or gift via PAYPAL

using the email

pebawards@gmail.com

or 

please contact or email

contact@pinoyblogawards.com

Additional video here


©2012 Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards

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Pres. Aquino's Cut in Legal Assistance and OFW Social Services Fund

SUPPORT THIS ONLINE PETITION NOT TO CUT OVERSEAS BUDGET FOR SOCIAL SERVICES OR THE DFA's LEGAL ASSISTANCE FUND or LAF. JUST CLICK 'LIKE'

I like

Don't Cut the Budget for Social Services for OFWs

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

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©2010 Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards

Family First for PEBA 2010 - Pink Tarha Girls

Below is the full text from the Pink Tarha Girls, your lifestyle Kikay guide in Saudi Arabia, especially in the capital city of Riyadh. No. 2 winner of the 2009 International Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards, the Pink Tarha's "Ang Tunay na Katas ng Saudi" narrates the stories of four daughters of former OFW's in Saudi, and what they felt now that they themselves are all OFW's. It was a witty, heartwarming and inspiring post that was nominated twice as No. 1, and twice as No. 2 best blog. Pink Tarha Girls believe that "real men, read pink!" :)

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Man's basic instinct is survival. We bet that the Overseas Filipino Worker's basic instinct is survival... of their family.

Time and again, we shout out loud in this blog that we are products of people who ventured into the great desert circa 90s. Without thempeople whose basic instinct was to support us, feed us, send us to school, and give us a good present and an even better future, we will not be here. These are the people whose love for us weighs more than their needs and wants. These are the people we respect highly and love with all our hearts and souls. These are our parents. Without them, there will be no Pink Tarha. No us.

Most Overseas Filipino Workers we know are parents. Whether they are mothers or fathers, we know that the main reason they are working abroad is their children. But of course, there is no perfect way to go about this. Being away from your husband/wife and children puts theab in a normal family life. As much as possible, to be a family and to raise a family means being close literally and figuratively. But we'd like to think that an OFW family is not abnormal. Just different.

Defying the distance.

This difference can somehow translate to difficulty. It is difficult to lead this kind of family life. We recognize that there are more factors affecting an OFW family. The physical distance measured in miles is nothing compared to the emotional and psychological distance created by the absence of OFW parents in their children's lives, and vice-versa. This distance, this absence destroyed many OFW families over the years. But it shouldn't be a trend. It shouldn't be THE trend. While the statistics are staggering, we'd like to believe that there are still many families out there who are working hard to keep theirs intact. That there are many fathers and mothers out there who are not just working hard literally but are also working hard to remain loyal and faithful to their roles in their homes - as husbands, wives, and parents (and of course, children who respect and understand their parents too). We'd like to believe that there are still many (like us) who think and feel thatthe family is still the most important thing in the world.

This year, the Philippine Expats/OFW Blog Award puts the spotlight on the FAMILY, the basic unit of the society.

In honor of the Filipino families all over the world, of Filipino families sharing their meals together, of Filipino families separated by migration and diaspora, of Filipino families surviving amid the trials of the times... the PEBA 2010 highlights the FAMILY, the HOME. PEBA 2010 opens its third season with the theme "Strengthening the OFW Families: Stronger Homes for A Stronger Nation."

PEBA has witnessed in real life the suffering and loneliness of the OFWs and their families and believes that strengthening the OFW families, strengthens the homes and the nation! Thus, this season’s theme of “Strengthening the OFW Families: Stronger Homes for a Stronger Nation” does not just momentarily fit the hour but is a timeless subject that cannot be bound by shackles so long as there are OFWs out there.

What can we do as bloggers? The PEBA 2010 Season opens with not just the OFWs and Pinoy expatriates writing about the OFW families but will be joining forces with local bloggers who, in one way or the other, have been influenced by an OFW in their lifetime. The support of the local bloggers who are sympathetic to the OFW cause will have that exponential effect of reaching even to the grassroots level.

PEBA calls on the bloggers to write and post about topics on strengthening the OFW families despite their being miles away from each other. Topics about communication, family gatherings, parent-child coaching and counseling, assistance and support in children’s homework and projects, conference meetings with family members, online contact with families, pointers on cheap communication, etc. PEBA calls on the bloggers to write about what they are doing to strengthen their families despite the distance and their absence from home. PEBA calls on the bloggers to share insights, ideas, pointers and how to express love for their spouses and children.

PEBA will not just be an organization that will give annual awards for exemplary blogs but it will proactively act on issues that will make difference in people's lives, especially the young children, and the OFW's and their families. [Read more...]

This year, PEBA gears up for this bigger, brighter and meaningful mission and the Pink Tarha encourages every OFW blogger and supporter to join PEBA 2010!

We really like the theme emphasizing families because we love ours. For us, whatever we do, wherever we may be in our lives right now... we always go back to our roots. We always go back to the basic unit of our lives... our families."Other things may change us, but we start and end withfamily."

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©2010 Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards

"Stronger Homes for a Stronger Nation" - PEBA 2010 Theme

One of the best leader that influenced my life so much was a man named Gordon Bitner Hinckley. He said in several occasions that "the strength of a nation lies within the walls of its homes." I believe that with all my heart.

As we contemplate the PEBA theme for this season, I presented three different topics to 10 of the members of PEBA. I asked them to reply to me privately or in a thread. 7 out of 10 chose this theme.

" Strengthening the OFW Families: Stronger Homes for a Stronger Nation"

The theme construction was suggested by a woman-blogger who actively supports KABLOGS and PEBA as a volunteer.

Someone in the group warned us of the sensitivity of the topic. But we have to make a stand. We can't wait and watch at the sidelines while we know as OFW's, and we read as bloggers the terrible typhoon that is hitting the lives of fathers, mothers, and childrens related to OFW's. I am literally in tears for months of research about OFW families. I can linked you to hundreds or more post, news, forum topic and discussions about the broken marriages and destroyed families but so little, if there's any, solutions posed. The government who hailed the OFW as heroes for saving the economy doesn't even have a concrete program.

So today, we at PEBA is asking our representatives and senators and the new government to present a solid and lasting programs to save OFW marriages, to save the Filipino children's future. Some say this is a private and personal moral choices to make, yes, but it has also a national consequences. If this wont stop, the rising generations will be a product of broken families that are either addicted to alcohol or drugs, or do not want to go to school, or become a menace in the society. The rippling effect is unthinkable, the future is then bleak and could be a dismal failure. It all starts at the family. That's why if we have to strengthen a nation, we should begin from our home.

PEBA President NJ Abad of the Desert Aquaforce states if eloquently when he says in his formal opening entry of the 2010 season at the PEBA website

"PEBA’s 2010 Theme: An Out of the Ordinary Call

PEBA has witnessed the real life suffering and loneliness of the OFWs and their families and believes that strengthening the OFW families, strengthens the homes and the nation! Thus, this season’s theme of “Strengthening the OFW Families: Stronger Homes for a Stronger Nation” does not just momentarily fit the issue of hour but is a timeless subject that cannot be bound by shackles so long as there are OFWs out there.

Scores of blogs and articles have been written about the subject in the past but it seems that the government authorities remain clueless of solutions and action plans to abate the increasing number of broken families.

We cannot wait and just rely on our government to come to rescue of the OFWs families in crisis. As Pinoy Expats and OFW bloggers, we have the moral obligation to help and encourage one another in our own little ways. What we blog and write about may encourage a fellow OFW or a fellow blogger to save his marriage from falling apart… it may help one to keep the family intact.

What can we do as bloggers? The PEBA 2010 Season opens with not just the OFWs and Pinoy expatriates writing about the OFW families but will be joining forces with local bloggers who, in one way or the other, have been influenced by OFWs in their lifetime. The support of the local bloggers who are sympathetic to the OFWs cause will have that exponential effect of reaching and educating up to the grassroots level.

PEBA calls on the bloggers to write and post about topics on strengthening the OFW families, and their being miles away from each other. Topics may include family communication, family gatherings, parent-child coaching and counseling, assistance and support in children’s homework and projects, conference meetings with family members, online contact with families, pointers on cheap communication, etc. PEBA calls on the bloggers to write about what they are doing to strengthen their families despite the distance and their absence from home. PEBA calls on the bloggers to share insights, ideas, pointers and how to express love for their spouses and children.

PEBA will not just be an organization that will give annual awards for exemplary blogs but it will proactively act on issues that will make difference in people's lives, especially the young children, and the OFW's and their families."

"PEBA’s Call to our New Government Leaders and Private Sectors"

"OFWs are happy on the government’s appreciation of the billions of dollars that are remitted into the Philippine economy. Such acknowledgment must be placed in more concrete terms by giving more benefits and perks for the OFWs. Furthermore, PEBA calls on the new leaders to take a reality check on the OFWs and their families. PEBA calls on the government to take care and support the OFWs and their families by putting leaders – secretaries, labor attaches, consuls, and embassy officials who understand and are sympathetic to the plight of the migrant workers. Appoint new leaders who are mindful of the struggles and harsh realities in the life of OFWs and their families - leaders who have vision for the OFWs and their families.

To the private sectors that have benefitted from the sweat and blood of the OFWs remittances, PEBA calls on you to create and promote advocacy programs and projects and to fund social activities and values education workshops that will help strengthen the OFWs families."

We encouraged all our blogger friends and supporters to join in this season, and our previous winners to post about the topic in their respective homes/blogs. Together, let us create a collective voice that may the leaders of our lands will hear or read. Together let us make a difference to someone's lives that may save a marriage, a family, and the children's future.

©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