SAYS LABOR GROUP
INQUIRER.net
Posted date: August 16, 2009
MANILA, Philippines—Worried over the growing number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) infected with HIV, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) wants government agencies to build up efforts to heighten awareness of the disease among foreign-bound laborers.
"There is no question that once exposed to foreign cultures, OFWs, especially sailors, tend to put their guard down. As a result, they risk contracting HIV, mainly through unsafe sex practices," said TUCP secretary general and former Senator Ernesto Herrera said in a statement.
"This is why OFWs now account for one-third of all our HIV and full-blown AIDS cases," said Herrera, former chairman of the Senate committee on labor, employment, and human resources development.
Herrera urged the Department of Health (DoH), the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) to devote more resources to preventive education campaigns targeted at foreign-bound as well as returning migrant laborers.
As of June 2009, the DoH’s National AIDS Registry listed a total of 3,951 HIV cases, of which 815 have already developed into full-blown AIDS. Of the 815 AIDS patients, 314 have already died.
OFWs accounted for 1,254 of all cases, or 32 percent of those in the registry, including 264 full-blown AIDS cases.
Herrera, meanwhile, urged the Senate and House committees on health "to find out whether the Philippines is not being left out in the scramble for HIV/AIDS treatment."
"Our lawmakers should ascertain whether every Filipino in the DoH’s AIDS Registry is covered by adequate treatment, and whether every patient who needs antiretroviral drugs has ready access to the medication," Herrera said.
A UN official recently expressed concern over the increasing number of HIV/AIDS cases in the Philippines.
Renaud Meyer, director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Philippines, said the fact that the country reported 85 new cases in one month is troublesome.
"We are not doing good in controlling HIV. Instead of reversing and halting it, we see increasing cases," he said, adding that the world body is allocating $1.5 million to help the Philippines fight the disease.
The DoH said that 362 people were newly infected in the first semester of this year, with 85 cases in May and 40 cases in June.
Some five million Asians are living with HIV, many of them in Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, according to UNAIDS, the United Nations’ multi-agency program on HIV/AIDS.
UNAIDS said it expects a million Asians to be treated with antiretroviral drugs between now and 2011. At present, UNAIDS said some 565,000 Asians are already receiving the drugs.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
MoneyGram-Philippines-based M. Lhuillier roll out dollar payout service
Khaleej Times - 06/08/2009
(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) Money transfer company MoneyGram International said it is expecting more overseas Filipino workers to avail of its US dollar payouts service which it launched with Philippines-based M. Lhuillier Financial Services Inc.
The service launched last April, made Lhuillier, which operates more than 1,200 outlets nationwide, the first Moneygram agent to offer the service in the Philippines.
Through the service, Filipinos working abroad can send money home from the UAE from any of the MoneyGram outlets like Al Rostamani International Exchange, Al Fardan Exchange and Al Ahalia Exchange. Their beneficiaries will receive cash in US dollars.
"Our strategic alliance will help MoneyGram continue to provide competitive pricing for our customers in the Philippines, and reach out to a wider customer base across the Philippines though M. Lhuillier's extensive network," said Richard Meredith, regional director for MoneyGram Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Philippine central bank expects remittances from overseas Filipino workers to stay flat in 2009 at around last year's level of $16.4 billion. The Philippines is one of the world's leading sources for skilled and unskilled workers with up to 9 million people, about 10 per cent of the population, living and working in 140 countries.
By Rocel Felix
(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) Money transfer company MoneyGram International said it is expecting more overseas Filipino workers to avail of its US dollar payouts service which it launched with Philippines-based M. Lhuillier Financial Services Inc.
The service launched last April, made Lhuillier, which operates more than 1,200 outlets nationwide, the first Moneygram agent to offer the service in the Philippines.
Through the service, Filipinos working abroad can send money home from the UAE from any of the MoneyGram outlets like Al Rostamani International Exchange, Al Fardan Exchange and Al Ahalia Exchange. Their beneficiaries will receive cash in US dollars.
"Our strategic alliance will help MoneyGram continue to provide competitive pricing for our customers in the Philippines, and reach out to a wider customer base across the Philippines though M. Lhuillier's extensive network," said Richard Meredith, regional director for MoneyGram Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Philippine central bank expects remittances from overseas Filipino workers to stay flat in 2009 at around last year's level of $16.4 billion. The Philippines is one of the world's leading sources for skilled and unskilled workers with up to 9 million people, about 10 per cent of the population, living and working in 140 countries.
By Rocel Felix
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
‘Don’t marry Filipinas for human organs’
ALIENS TOLD
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 12:42:00 08/10/2009
MANILA, Philippines—Foreigners who offer marriage to Filipino women in exchange for their kidneys or other human organs risk running afoul of Philippine criminal laws, Cotabato Representative Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza warned in a statement.
"Foreigners cannot procure kidneys from Filipino women in return for marriage. They will definitely be held to account for violating Philippine statutes against the trafficking in persons or their human organs, and/or our laws banning mail-order brides," Taliño-Mendoza said.
Taliño-Mendoza made the statement not long after a Saudi Arabian man married a Filipino woman to mask his buying her kidney, in a bid to dodge the Philippines' rigorous new rules against human organ trafficking,
Philippine authorities prevented the man’s transplant.
The Saudi man sought a kidney transplant at a Philippine government-run hospital, listing his new wife as his voluntary donor.
Suspicious Philippine authorities ruled that the transplant was not a valid donation, but an effective human organ sale, considering the couple had married only recently and did not speak a common language.
Last week, Taliño-Mendoza urged the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) to run after human organ smugglers preying on impoverished women in her province.
In the Cotabato town of M’lang alone, human organ traffickers have already illicitly acquired kidneys from at least a dozen women, each lured with P200,000, according to Taliño-Mendoza.
"This is one of the most repulsive forms of exploitation of women," she added.
On Saturday, Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, a member of the IACAT, responded to Taliño-Mendoza's call and vowed to pin down foreigners and their local intermediaries engaged in the illegal human organ trade.
According to the World Health Organization, the Philippines has emerged as the No. 5 global hotspot for human organ trafficking. The criminal trade involves mostly kidneys, since humans can survive with only one kidney.
The Philippines’ Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 penalizes the buying and selling of human organs. Those found guilty of engaging in the unlawful trade face 20 years in prison plus a fine of up to P2 million.
Meanwhile, the Philippines’ Anti-Mail-Order Bride Law forbids persons or entities from matching Filipino women for marriage to foreigners either on a mail-order basis or via personal introduction for a fee. Offenders face from six to eight years in prison plus a fine of up to P20,000.
Congress passed the law in 1990, after dozens of Filipino women lured by mail-order bride advertisements were found forced into prostitution overseas. Others ended up as battered wives or enslaved domestic laborers.
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 12:42:00 08/10/2009
MANILA, Philippines—Foreigners who offer marriage to Filipino women in exchange for their kidneys or other human organs risk running afoul of Philippine criminal laws, Cotabato Representative Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza warned in a statement.
"Foreigners cannot procure kidneys from Filipino women in return for marriage. They will definitely be held to account for violating Philippine statutes against the trafficking in persons or their human organs, and/or our laws banning mail-order brides," Taliño-Mendoza said.
Taliño-Mendoza made the statement not long after a Saudi Arabian man married a Filipino woman to mask his buying her kidney, in a bid to dodge the Philippines' rigorous new rules against human organ trafficking,
Philippine authorities prevented the man’s transplant.
The Saudi man sought a kidney transplant at a Philippine government-run hospital, listing his new wife as his voluntary donor.
Suspicious Philippine authorities ruled that the transplant was not a valid donation, but an effective human organ sale, considering the couple had married only recently and did not speak a common language.
Last week, Taliño-Mendoza urged the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) to run after human organ smugglers preying on impoverished women in her province.
In the Cotabato town of M’lang alone, human organ traffickers have already illicitly acquired kidneys from at least a dozen women, each lured with P200,000, according to Taliño-Mendoza.
"This is one of the most repulsive forms of exploitation of women," she added.
On Saturday, Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, a member of the IACAT, responded to Taliño-Mendoza's call and vowed to pin down foreigners and their local intermediaries engaged in the illegal human organ trade.
According to the World Health Organization, the Philippines has emerged as the No. 5 global hotspot for human organ trafficking. The criminal trade involves mostly kidneys, since humans can survive with only one kidney.
The Philippines’ Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 penalizes the buying and selling of human organs. Those found guilty of engaging in the unlawful trade face 20 years in prison plus a fine of up to P2 million.
Meanwhile, the Philippines’ Anti-Mail-Order Bride Law forbids persons or entities from matching Filipino women for marriage to foreigners either on a mail-order basis or via personal introduction for a fee. Offenders face from six to eight years in prison plus a fine of up to P20,000.
Congress passed the law in 1990, after dozens of Filipino women lured by mail-order bride advertisements were found forced into prostitution overseas. Others ended up as battered wives or enslaved domestic laborers.
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