A Call to All The Filipinos in Philippines and Abroad: Scrap The PhilHealth Circular No. 022

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The Migrante Middle East petition said, “The hike in OFWs health insurance premium will not only bleed us (OFWs and dependents) dry, it also sucks out our blood leading ‘to death due to deprivation of free and affordable social services’. The government through various agencies is killing us so softly by imposing additional fees in pretense of better social services.”

The Migrante Middle East is appealing to all fellow OFWs around the world, their dependents, friends and OFWs advocates to join their campaign by signing the petition and help pass it on to others and urge them to "Scrap Philippine Health Circular No. 022 – this is about the increase of PhilHealth annual premium contribution from P900 to P2,400 which will effect on July 1, 2012.

I searched out the names of the Board of Directors of PhilHealth and to know also if the said PhilHealth Circular No. 022 is approved by all the board of directors but unfortunately out of 14 members only one has affixed his signature to PhilHealth Circular No. 022 in the named of Dr. Eduardo P. Banzon and the other name who also signed her signature was not in the list or not in the list of Executive Officers. The PhilHealth Board of Directors are as follows:

1. Board Chair: Hon. Enrique T. Ona, M.D.
2. CSC Chairman: Hon. Francisco T. Duque III, M.D., MSc
3. DILG Secretary: Hon. Jesse M. Robredo
4. DSWD Secretary: Hon. Corazon J. Soliman
5. DOLE Secretary: Hon. Rosalinda D. Baldoz
6. Health Care Providers Sector: Hon. Juan M. Flavier, M.D.
7. Labor Sector: Hon. Alexander A. Ayco, M.D.
8. Employers Sector/President and Chief Executive Officer: Hon. Dr. Eduardo P. Banzon
9. Self Employed Sector: Hon. Francisco Vicente F. Lopez M.D.
10. SSS President & CEO: Hon. Emilio S. De Quiros, Jr.
11. GSIS President & General Manager: Hon. Robert G. Vergara
12. NAPC-BS Vice Chairman: Hon. Florencia P. Cabatingan
13. Filipino Overseas Workers: Hon. Jane M.N. Sta. Ana
14. Corporate Secretary: Atty. Genesis M. Adarlo

Obviously, the PhilHealth Circular No. 022 was created by two people in named of Dr. Eduardo P. Banzon and MA. TERESA A. QUIAGIT and approved by them without the approval of other Board Members and other Executive Officers of PhilHealth. It was created on December 15, 2011. The said circular is not only addressed to the 11 million+ OFWs around the world but also to all the Filipinos in Philippines. To read the said Circular No. 022 visit the link PhilHealth Circular No. 022.

The said PhilHealth Circular No. 022 is believed by Filipinos in Philippines including the 11 million+ OFWs as against the REPUBLIC ACT No. 10022 – AN ACT AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8042, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE MIGRANT WORKERS AND OVERSEAS FILIPINOS ACT OF 1995, AS AMENDED, FURTHER IMPROVING THE STANDARD OF PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF THE WELFARE OF MIGRANT WORKERS, THEIR FAMILIES AND OVERSEAS FILIPINOS IN DISTRESS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 

Under the RULE XVII: MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS – Section 4. Government Fees, Administrative Costs and Taxes. All fees for services being charged by any government agency on migrant workers prevailing at the time of the effectivity of this Rule shall not be increased. This RA No. 10022 was officially approved and signed by the former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on March 08, 2010.

The Migrante Middle East said “We are targeting 1-M signatures by July 2012, the supposed start of imposing PhilHealth premium of P2,400 from the current P900. With our position paper, we will send the signatures to President Noynoy Aquino and to the PhilHealth Board members, members of the Senate and House of Representatives.”

As of this writing there are already 502 Filipinos have joined the petition and yet still very far to 1-M target-ted signatures – so if you are Filipinos living in Philippines and Abroad you are hereby invited to join the said petition – go to this link No to PhilHealth Premium Increase Scrap Circular No. 022. And if possible share this call to your family, relatives, friends and friends of friends around the world!

To read my previous article visit Pruelpo Shares: The Largest Protest in History: No to SOPA and PIPA 

Overseas Filipino Workers: What Keep You Going

Image by Official U.S. Navy Imagery via Flickr

From the time I arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines already had produced four presidents – from former presidents Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the newly elected President Benigno Aquino III, still I am in this foreign lands strongly fighting for survival for my extended family and to my beloved country. My youth and strength are already deteriorating. I often feel some joint  pains. And yet, still, I am here undecided to go home with other million Filipinos.

In our country Philippines, we find ourselves contesting against the erratic working conditions and insufficient jobs to accommodate us. Most of us wanted to raise and promote our living standards but we do not possess the necessary resources to climb up the ladder of success.

Every year our country produces thousands of graduates and the labor market could not accommodate them. So there are no options but to look jobs out of the country and it is through working overseas that they can get a solution to the problem. Thousands are leaving our homeland everyday to find their luck in foreign lands.

There are also other reasons such as:

1. For those who want to escape personal and family problems,  living abroad could be a safe haven.
2. For those who want to let go of dark memories or broken love affairs, it could be an asylum.
3. Others were just induced by summons of some friends.
4. And still others were simply deluded for the sake of adventure.

Despite homesickness, which is our greatest enemy, still we Filipinos could well adjust to different races, cultures and standards of living. In addition, our love is intensified. For Filipinos who by nature love doings things for others, domestic chores like cooking, cleaning, gardening and baby-sitting are some of our several expertises.

Philippines is considered as one of the top Asian countries  in terms of exporting workers. In Saudi Arabia alone, there are approximately 1.3 millions Filipino registered workers such as doctors, nurses, skilled technicians, janitors and laborers, hotel staffs, accountants, engineers, housemaids, drivers, teachers and trainers, barbers, medical technicians, computer operators, tailors and many more. They are commonly working in hospitals, establishments, construction firms, industrial companies, private and government offices, supermarkets and malls, hotels and restaurants with courage, dedications and commitments.

It has been noted that working abroad is a confederate for some of us who are fortunate enough to have good jobs and goodly employers. Through our earnings we could build a house and able to send our children to good schools. But in some cases, the fulfillment of being an OFW is overshadowed by the curse of lingering temptation and adultery, especially in the case of OFW’s who left their spouses in the Philippines.

Working abroad is not a fortune for those workers who are being fed insufficiently, overworked, abused, maltreated and working as a sword-point or those who work as shock absorbers or punching bag by heartless employers. It must be concluded that not only those who have courage, determination and resistance should go out of the country, for life overseas is so rugged that it becomes a survival of the fittest, that those who can bear shall stay, but those who can’t should leave.

But despite all these, we, Overseas Foreign Workers are patiently working hard because we want a brighter future for our extended families and children and to help improve the ailing economy of our country through the billions of dollar remittances that we send home.

I am begging for our officials and other feuding politicians in our country to see and consider our greatest sacrifices in foreign lands. It is not enough for us Overseas Foreign Workers to be called as the Modern Day Heroes. They should stop bickering and unite to help cure the country’s debilitating social diseases. They should show vision, unity, determination and motivation to give the people good governance and work hard to achieve peace and order in the country for more investors to invest business. That means  more jobs for the Filipinos and better chance to eradicate corruption for good.

 

 

26,752,000 Filipinos FB Users are Recipients for Facebook Ban

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Philippines have 26,752,000 Facebook users and still increasing everyday. Philippines garnered the number 8 position in the ranking of all Facebook statistics by country. The number one Facebook user is America. And out of 26,752,000 - 39% belong to Filipinos ages from 18-24 years old and 24% belong to Filipinos ages from 25-34 years old. And out of 26,752,000 Facebook users 48% of them are male users and 52% are female users. These recorded numbers of Facebook users are only from Philippines. There are still more than 10,000,000 Filipinos Facebook users who are presently living in foreign lands including myself. If Mark Zuckerberg is really decided to kick out these Filipino Facebook users from using Facebook, first he has to think twice before finalizing his decision as it is improper to punish everyone for the crime done by one or by some!

Whether it is True or not, the allegedly an online statement of Mark Suckerberg - the CEO of Facebook, which was released on November 16, 2011 at 9PM Pacific Time Zone has generated favorable traffics, views and hundreds of comments at Facebook site and on other blog sites across the Internet. His allegedly statement directly warned the Filipino Facebook users of Philippines to be banned from using Facebook - if they continue uploading pornography (photos, videos and other types) and sharing spam to the site!

Yesterday, the whole day, I used my time on net surfing to look for the original source of the said official statement of Mark Suckerberg. I had used all the possible search engines I knew but I was in vain. No-one of the search engines has guided me to the original source of Mark's statement. All of the published articles regarding the statement were all copied from a copied piece. I even penetrated Yahoo but they were all the same from a copied source. This morning, I visited Facebook hoping to see the original and official statement of Mark Suckerberg but there was no recorded official statement of his found there.

I quoted the allegedly statement of Mark Zuckerberg that says, "The porn attacks originated in the Philippines and are being published by Filipinos all over Facebook, our experts here at Facebook are doing everything they can to stop it from spreading any further (outside the Philippines) and to eliminate the porn and spam threat completely which have been causing other Facebook users ‘a hard time’. Filipinos should also be vigilant and report any spam links and pornographic materials. 41% of Facebook members around the world are aged 12-17 years old, we cannot them be exposed to this kinds of things through Facebook. If this continues and more spam keep being posted, we will have no choice but to ban Philippine users from using Facebook. We at Facebook will not tolerate outlandish behavior and indecency.'' Even if this is true or not - Mark has pointed out all the Filipinos in general.

According to some of Facebook platform policies, I quoted some that said, "You agree that you will not promote, or provide content referencing, facilitating, containing or using, the following:

• Content that is hateful, threatening, defamatory, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.

However, Mark Zuckerberg's statement is admirable. He shows how he really cares the minor ones and other Facebook users because Pornography is not really for general viewing!

For more details regarding Mark Zuckerberg statements and others you may visit the following links:

• Omgitsangeldei
• Facebookhelpcommunity
• Paulgeniousboy