14 filipino globe news November 2006 Honolulu, Tokyo beef up OFW imports Steady growth in elderly population prompts increased efforts to tap Filipino healthcare workers RAUL ACEDRE in Manila Hawaii and Japan are increasingly turning to Filipino professionals to provide health care for their ageing populations. Senator Suzanne Chun-Oakland said the state’s elderly population is growing beyond the scope of the local healthcare system, making it necessary to import caregivers. “The ageing society is a great concern for us. We have to import people as caregivers,” Oakland said. “We need to get more nurses from the Philippines because the workforce is really a problem at present,” Oakland said. She said Filipino nurses in Hawaii are performing “very well”. Eighty-eight per cent work in adult care, while the remainder work in childcare centers. She said of the US$1.3 billion allocated for health care in Hawaii, about US$800 million goes to the aged and disabled. Elderly people in the state have reached 320,000, needing various kinds of care. The number is still growing, she said. In Japan, a foreign ministry official has singled out Filipino health workers to provide care for its elderly citizens. Tamohiko Taniguchi said Japan is reviewing its policy in light of its growing need for health workers even as he noted the rising number of Filipinos are already working in the country. advertorial INVEST IN WHAT REALLY MATTERS Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. Whenever my mind is confronted with the topic of death, I always remember how short life is. It prompts us to ask questions like: What is the purpose of life? What gives meaning to life? Bakit ba ako nabubuhay? Ano nga ba ang tunay na mahalaga sa buhay? Si Alexander the Great ay isang tanyag na tao sa kasaysayan ng mundo. Ngunit nang siya ay nakaratay at malapit nang mamatay, ipinagbilin niya sa kanyang mga tauhan na kapag siya’y namatay, gusto niyang nakabukas ang kanyang mga palad. Sabi niya: “I want everyone to see that even if I have conquered the world, my hands are empty, for in my death, I cannot take anything with me.” For some reason, death has a way of putting things into perspective. Sa isang iglap, you realize the things that really matter and the things that are important. It reminds us that we do not hold the future and the only time that we have control of is what is given to us now. Ika nga ni Hellen Keller (1880-1968): “I will not just live my life. I will not just spend my life. I will invest my life.” Kaya Be Committed. Be committed to the right things in life. Be committed to invest in the things that really matter, moment by moment, day by day. 1. Be committed to your dreams. Sa ating pagiging expat Pinoy ay binigyan tayo ng oportunidad na iuwi ang ating mga pangarap kaya’t kailangan ay panghawakan mabuti ang ating mga biyaya nang hindi ito mapunta sa wala. Ugaliing mag-ipon sa lalong madaling panahon Malaking kaibahan ang mag-umpisang mag-ipon habang ikaw ay 25 years old pa lang at kung mag-ipon nang ika’y 35 years old na. Ugaliing mag-ipon ng regular. Palagi nating sinasabi sa ating programa na kailangan i-develop ang HABIT OF SAVING. Handle your finances well. Handle your life well. Be committed to invest in the things that really matter. 2. Be committed to your loved ones. Sabi nga nila, nobody on his deathbed will say”I wish I’d spent more time at work”, but instead will say “I wish I’d spent more time with my family”. Kaya sa ating pagiging expat Pinoy, huwag po nating makalimutang magbigay-panahon sa ating mga mahal sa buhay. Kahit tayo po ay malayo sa kanila physically, huwag nating hayaang malayo ang ating mga puso sa kanila. Mag-invest ng oras. Sumulat. Kye Diamante Tumawag. Magtext. Mag-email. Magtanim na sa paniniwala na sa tamang panahon ay aani ka. Love begets love. Life is too short. We have to seize the opportunity to continuously express our love to the people that matter to us. Kaya’t ngayong Nobyembre ay namimigay ng libreng tawag ang BPI sa bawat pagremit mo ng at least HK$1,500 through BPI Remittance Centre (HK) Ltd. Mag-remit na at tumawag sa inyong mga mahal sa buhay. Be committed to invest in the things that really matter. 3. Be committed to God. Tandaan na sa gitna ng paghihirap at kalungkutan na ating pinagdadaanan bilang mga expat Pinoy ay may Diyos na nagbibigay ng kalakasan at saya sa ating mga puso. Oswald Chambers said that “Man cannot find true essential joy anywhere but in his relationship to God.” It is God who will give us the strength to go on. In the end, it is God who gives meaning to our lives. Kaya’t huwag makalimot magbigay-panahon sa Kaniya. Kaya’t huwag makalimot lumapit sa Kaniya. He knows what we go through and He loves us. Be committed to invest in the things that really matter. Be Committed. BPInoy. Nagpapasalamat kami sa AsiaTelecom na sumusuporta sa programang Gawaing Expat. Ang AsiaTelecom ang magbibigay ng libreng call cards sa lahat ng magreremit sa BPI Remittance Centre ngayong Nobyembre. Subukan ang tapat na serbisyo ng AsiaTelecom. Ang “Be the new Pinoy, BPInoy!” series ay handog ng BPI Remittance Centre. Ito ay mapapakinggan sa AM 1044 Metroplus at mababasa sa Filipino Globe, Hong Kong News at Kayumanggi Magazine. BPI contact number 2527 2289. Japan’s growing elderly population has prompted a rethink of its policies. POEA confident of starting hiring for Japan caregivers RAUL ACEDRE in Manila POEA administrator Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz said a memorandum of understanding on the recruitment of caregivers and nurses for Japan is yet to be finalised, so the hiring process cannot start immediately. Tokyo is expected to receive 400 to 500 Filipino nurses and caregivers annually beginning next year. “Almost all issues relating to the selection and deployment of our workers, and the selection and qualification of Japanese employers have been resolved,” Baldoz said. She said the POEA should soon be able to announce the start of the hiring process. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and then Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi signed the agreement in Helsinki recently. Candidates selected by the POEA will undergo a Japanese language course for six months in Japan before they receive on-the-job training. The training will last three years for nurses and four years for caregivers. Within that period, they will be required to pass a qualification exam in order to be allowed to work in Japan. The agreement provides for government-to-government hiring and excludes private entities, including recruitment agencies. “We tried to negotiate for the participation of the private sector, but Japan stood firm on its position considering that this is the first such program and they want to make sure that there will be no problems in its implementation,” Baldoz said. Under the agreement, placement fees, air fares and tuition fees for the language training course will be borne by employers.
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