Overseas

16
filipino globe news
November 2006
Bataclan comes
to seamen’s
aid in Sweden
storm disaster
RAUL ACEDRE in Manila
Filipino workers will continue to be in demand in Canada, which is suffering from a shortage of skilled labor.
Canada, Spain still top markets
Joblessness in developed countries ‘should not affect OFW prospects’
JOE MURILLOS in Vancouver
Most of the Philippines’ overseas
labor markets still offer solid employment
opportunities for Filipino
workers despite rising joblessness
in developed countries.
Senator Edgardo Angara said
Canada and Spain, two countries
mentioned in an International Labor
Organization report as having
a growing number of unemployed
youths, remain a viable destination
for skilled Filipino workers.
“Canada is short on skilled manpower.
The skills of Filipino workers
can very well fit
into the Canadian job
market because Filipinos
are creative, hardworking
and trustworthy,”
he said.
“An aggressive marketing
effort will place
scores of Filipino workers
there.”
Angara
He said resources-rich
Alberta is enjoying an unprecedented
boom, which could open job opportunities
for Filipino engineers,
geologists and technicians.
Job openings in North America
and Europe may compensate
for the loss of Filipino
markets in troubled
Lebanon and other parts
of the Middle East.
Angara said Spain is
one European market
Filipinos can well serve.
“The job openings are
not limited to agriculture
because Spain needs
workers in the service industry as
well,” he said.
Angara said while he believes that
there is nothing better than developing
the domestic job market, he still
Filipino Globe Picture
sees the necessity of marketing the
skills of Filipino workers overseas
because the money sent in by these
workers has been the life support
system of the country.
OFWs remit at least US$12 billion
a year, which is roughly onefourth
the country’s gross domestic
product.
“This just demonstrates how big
and vital their contribution is to the
national economy,” he said.
“OFWs are our top-earning exports.”
(With additional reporting from
PNA)
Pinoy jailed in Brunei, DH gets reprieve over bullets
An overseas Filipino worker
has been jailed for six months
in Brunei after being caught by
airport police with a live bullet in
his wallet, the Philippine embassy
said.
The Filipino, whose name was
not released, was due to take a
vacation in the Philippines after
completing a two-year contract.
He was given a lighter sentence
on a lesser charge of “negligent
possession of ammunition”
after the Philippine embassy
made representations with the
government,” Ambassador
Virginia Benavidez said in a
report to the Manila head office.
The Filipino would have served
from five to 15 years had the
charge not been changed.
Meanwhile, a domestic helper
also caught in Brunei airport with
a bullet, escaped imprisonment
after an appeal by the Philippine
embassy.
She was enroute to Dubai when
she was stopped and arrested by
airport police shortly before she
was to board her flight.
She told consular officials the
bullet had been given to her by
a faith healer as a lucky charm
when she was having difficulty
getting pregnant.
After giving birth a few months
later, she kept the amulet in her
wallet and thought nothing of it.
She said she had forgottem
about it until her arrest.
She has been released and
allowed to travel to Dubai to take
up employment.
Benavidez also reported that the
embassy helped in repatriating
the body of a Filipino tourist who
drowned when she fell off a boat.
RAUL ACEDRE
Former Hong Kong consul general
Victoria Bataclan jumped to the
assistance of Filipino survivors in
the sinking of a freighter during a
storm in the Baltic Sea.
Bataclan, the Philippine
ambassador to Sweden, travelled to
the south of the country to secure
the safety of the nine Filipino
survivors from m/v Finnbirch, a
roll-on, roll-off vessel owned by a
Danish company.
A 10th Filipino crewmember died
in the disaster, Bataclan said.
The survivors, part of a
14-man crew
that included
four Swedes,
have now
returned to the
Philippines.
They are
Gilbert Salido,
Benedicto
Agngarayngay,
Manuel
Bataclan
Barcelona, Gerry Dupo, Rolando
Esguerra, Leo Jose Talipe, Wilfredo
Ramos, Jose Noel Saquilayan and
Ephraim Torre.
The lone Filipino fatality, Danilo
Paras, 52, died after being brought
to a hospital suffering from severe
hypothermia.
The vessel was enroute from
Helsinki, Finland to the Danish
port of Aarhus when it was lashed
by big waves and sank off the
Swedish coast.
Rescuers plucked all 10 Filipinos
to safety, but Paras, the last to be
found, had been suffering from
extreme loss of body heat and died
a short time later in hospital.
The Philippine embassy in
Sweden had been in constant touch
with the shipowner, Lindhom
Shipping, since the sinking, the
latest in a string of marine disasters
involving Filipinos.
Bataclan was accompanied by
Consul Flerida Anne Mayo, also a
former consulate official in Hong
Kong. They coordinated with the
Swedish authorities for the return
of Paras’ body to the Philippines.
Meanwhile, 136 Filipinos have
returned home from Malaysia as
part of of a regular repatriation
program to reunite migrant workers
with their families.
“Together with our partners in the
international community, we are
committed to further strengthening
measures that will ensure the
welfare of our nationals wherever
they may be,” Foreign Affairs
Secretary Albero Romulo said.
“We continue to work closely on
this program with the Malaysian
government,” he said.