filipino globe

6
filipino globe news
July 2007
news
filipino globe July 2007 7
Lucena girl, 14, gets right royal stamp of approval
Iloilo
ANGBANSA
Sometime last year, a high school
student from Lucena City wrote
Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth
Alexandra Mary Windsor) of the
United Kingdom and told her of her
stamp collection that portrays Her
Royal Highness.
A few weeks later, to her surprise,
Queen Elizabeth II answered her
letter.
“The Queen even sent me photos
of herself inside the Windsor
Palace,” said Alyasah Xeniah Alcala,
14, a second year high school student
at the Sacred Heart College in
Lucena City.
After completing her Queen
Elizabeth II stamp collection, she
sent it to Royal 2006 Royale, a
national stamp collection exhibit
in Canada, where it won the Youth
Grand Award.
Last month, the same collection
won a Vermeil Medal in the
Rochester National Philtelic
Exhibition held at the Monreal
Community College in New York.
Last week, Alcala’s stamp
collection titled “Her Majesty, Queen
Elizabeth II” was proclaimed the
2007 AAPE Youth Champion of
Champions in the National Topical
Stamp Exhibition at the Sheraton
Grand Hotel in Irving, Texas.
The exhibit was sponsored by the
American Association of Philatelix
Exhibitors.
The winners of the AAPE
Youth Grand Awards from various
stamp shows in the United States
and Canada competed in the
youth Champion of Champions
competition.
The young Alcala is a member of
the Quezon Philatelic Club.
Lebanon-bound OFWs
intercepted in Mactan
The Metro Iloilo Water District
has finally completed a
P3 million potable water project
that will benefit hundreds of
relocated residents in barangay
Sooc, Arevalo district.
The utility signed an
agreement with the Iloilo
City government on the
implementation of the
counterpart project.
The city government has
shelled out P2 million for
the project while the MIWD
shouldered the remaining
amount.
Iloilo City mayor Jerry Treñas
said nearby residents of
barangay Sooc can also avail
of the project provided they
apply for water connection.
Treñas assured the city will
again push the puting up of
pipe water connections at the
Gawad Kalinga site, also in
barangay Sooc.
Malolos
Today’s toxic environment
coupled with the high-fat, highsugar
diets that are so common
among most people combine to
make it very difficult to achieve
optimal health, slow aging and
prevent chronic illness.
In many ways, conventional
medicine has failed to fully
address the problems we face in
today’s world.
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Group trying to defy ban on travel to the war-torn country
Several Filipinos bound for Lebanon
have been stopped at the Mactan Cebu
International Airport amid indications
of human trafficking to the war-torn
country, an overseas employment official
said.
Evilia Durato, Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration in Central
Visayas regional director, said
there had been two separate incidents
wherein groups of Filipinos bound for
Lebanon were stopped at the MCIA.
In May, a group of 14 Filipinos
claiming to have found employment
in Lebanon were barred from boarding
their planes after airport officials
learned of their destination.
On July 2, a group of eight Filipinos
were also prevented from boarding
their Qatar Air Lines flight when
airline officials learned that the group
were to be employed as domestic
helpers in Lebanon.
The Philippine government earlier
issued a travel ban to Lebanon due to
the ongoing conflict there.
Durato said the government should
investigate the increasing traffic to
Lebanon despite the travel ban, especially
since the Philippine embassy
in Beirut and Lebanese labor attache
Annie Israel had raised reports about
the alleged smuggling of Filipinos
into the country.
Some of these Filipinos, embassy
officials said, exited the country
through the MCIA.
Durato said she did not know how
these groups acquired plane tickets to
Lebanon.
“Insofar as those two cases are concerned,
perhaps there are really irresponsible
persons involved in this
kind of trade,” Durato said.
“We should look into this because
this involves a lot of workers, and
we should also see how these people
manage to sneak out despite the presence
of authorities at the airport.”
Geronimo Rosas, Bureau of Immigration
regional director, said he has
created a team to investigate the allegation
raised by the Lebanese labor
attache.
Rosas said he ordered his investigations
to retrieve the flight manifests
of all flights leaving the MCIA since
January.
Rosas earlier denied that immigration
officials at the airport were involved
in human trafficking.
Lebanon remains a no-go zone for Filipinos because of the conflict.
BY THE NUMBERS
Filipinos barred from leaving in May after
officials discovered their destination
14
Anyone suspected of being engaged
in the activity would immediately be
charged in court.
Angel Espiritu, Department of Foreign
Affairs regional director, said his
office had yet to receive any official
reports from the Philippine embassy
in Beirut about human trafficking.
“But we’ve heard the news. I can’t
really comment on that because I
don’t really know what’s happening,”
Espiritu said.
“We issue passports here and when
they arrive in the airport, immigration
officials take over.”
Reynaldo Jacalan, an officer of the
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration,
said Filipinos who wanted to
work in a country where travel was
banned such as Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan
could simply fly to neighboring
country and enter Lebanon
from there.
Jacalan said the OWWA would have
no record of the employment details
of these workers.
Despite the arrival of the rainy
season, an impending water
crisis looms as water levels
continue to drop to critical point
at the Angat Dam reservoir,
officials said.
Rodolfo German, manager of
the Angat River Hydro Electric
Power Plant of the National
Power Corp that manages the
Angat Dam said: “We need at
least one typhoon to hit the
Angat Dam in order for water
levels to climb again.”
German said water levels
at the giant reservoir dropped
to 179.51 meters last week.
This means the critical level of
180 meters has already been
breached.
He added that they will still
need a miracle despite the
forecast of Pagasa that three
typhoons will hit the country this
month and another three next
month, bringing rainfall enough
to create water reserves.
Oras
The municipality of Oras,
Eastern Samar recently
received new classrooms,
courtesy of Philip Morris
Manufacturing Corp and
the Philippine Army 546
Engineering Construction
Brigade.
Geraldine Banadora, a
teacher at the Oras National
High School in Barangay San
Roque (also known as Calauit)
said the new building cost
some P490,000.
The building, along with
some 50 plastic chairs
and some furniture, was
turned over to local school
authorities. Philip Morris was
represented by Amy Eisma,
community relations officer.
Oras mayor Neil Alvarez,
said the students will make
sure that the classrooms
will last longer so that more
Orasnons could use the new
facility.
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