December 2012 Issue

PHILIPPINES Connecting Global News & Views For The Community

UK & Europe Edition

INSIDE

HELLO

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Business & Finance • Scan the QR Code below Celebrity, Showbiz & and enjoy the Online Mobile Experience Entertainment • EAT BULAGA! in London, UK • Environment • Events Diary • Global News • HP News • Don’t have a QR Scanner?

Immigration • International News • Download at: www.hello-philippines.com/qrcode Nature • OFNews • Sports

December 2012

Volume 3 - Number 22

www.hello-philippines.com

475 dead, thousands homeless in Typhoon Jason Gutierrez, AFP

NEARLY 200,000 people were homeless and 475 confirmed dead after the Philippines’ worst typhoon this year, officials said, as the government appealed for international help.

Typhoon Bopha ploughed across Mindanao island on Tuesday, December 4, flattening whole towns in its path as hurricane-force winds brought torrential rain that triggered a deadly combination of floods and landslides.

Erinea Cantilla and her family of six walked barefoot for two days in a vain search of food and shelter through a muddy wasteland near the mountainous town of New Bataan after the deluge destroyed their house and banana and cocoa farm.

“Everything we had is gone. The only ones left are dead people,” Cantilla told AFP as her husband, three children and a granddaughter reached the outskirts of the town, which itself had been nearly totally obliterated.

The army said it was looking for at least 377 missing people while seeking help for more than 179,000 others who sheltered in schools, gyms and other buildings after losing everything.

Officials said many victims were poor migrants who flocked to landslide-prone sites like New Bataan

©AFP/Graphic

©AFP/Getty Images

Residents brave heavy rains next to a tilted electric post in Tagum.

and the nearby town of Monkayo to farm the lower slopes of mountains or work at unregulated mines in the gold rush area.

Of the dead, 258 were found on the east coast of Mindanao while 191 were recovered in and around New Bataan and Monkayo, said Major-General Ariel Bernardo, head of an army division involved in the search.

The civil defence office in Manila said 17 people were killed elsewhere in Mindanao along with nine in the central Visayan islands.

“We still have more than 377 missing and our challenge now is really to try to get to them,” he told AFP. Shell-shocked survivors scrabbled

through the rubble of their homes to find anything that could be recovered, as relatives searched for missing family members among mud-caked bodies laid out in rows on tarpaulins.

Civil defence chief Benito Ramos refused to give up hope for the missing.

“There is no time limit – as long as it takes,” he told reporters when asked how long the search and rescue effort would take.

One man was rescued after being trapped for two days under rocks and debris after flash floods swept away his entire family.

Covered in mud and teary-eyed, Carlos Agang recounted how a small community of banana and coconut

farmers was devastated as Bopha unleashed a wall of water.

“It’s a miracle that I survived, but I might as well be dead,” he said.

President Benigno Aquino has sent food and other supplies by ship to 150,000 people on Mindanao’s east coast where three towns remain cut off by landslides and wrecked bridges, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said the government had sought help from the Swiss-based International Organisation for Migration to build temporary shelters to ease the pressure on evacuation camps.

“The priority is to build bunkhouses

so that there will be shelter for them,” she said on ABS-CBN television.

The United States and Japansaid they had offered emergency assistance.

Geologist Mahar Lagmay, head of a government project to map out all flood-prone areas of the country, said that while most people in the affected communities were aware of the danger, they did not know where to go for safety.

“Year after year, whenever there is heavy rain that comes to that place, there are landslides and many people die in those mountainous areas,” he said.

Workers were struggling to reach villages due to destroyed roads and wrecked bridges, but finding corpses was not a problem due to the overpowering stench everywhere, said Francisco Macalipay, a soldier involved in the rescue.

“Just let your nose lead you to them,” he told AFP. “In a week’s time I’m sure the smell of death would force the survivors to flee the town.” ■ (©AFP – New Bataan, Philippines – December 5, 2012)

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2

HELLO PHILIPPINES

www.hello-philippines.com

Eat Bulaga! in London, United Kingdom

December 2012 – No. 22 • UK & Europe Edition

“Maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat na sumoporta sa Eat Bulaga! In London, UK!!!”

EAT BULAGA! celebrated its 33rd year on Philippine television. Eat Bulaga! is translated as (Eat – Lunchtime) and (Bulaga! – Surprise!), “lunchtime surprise” currently holds the record of being the longest-running noontime variety program on air in the history of local television in the Philippines. The show has entertained successfully for three generations Filipino families all over the world with its own brand of dancing, singing, comedy, audience participation segments such as Pinoy Henyo (a very popular guessing game) and reality TV where the show goes out live to the public in the Philippines, play game and give prizes (which in some cases is life changing).

Eat Bulaga! aired by GMA Network since 1995 have recently expanded the show in Indonesia. July 16, 2012 SCTV network in Indonesia premiered the first episode of Eat Bulaga! Indonesia.

Eat Bulaga! became the first Philippine show, variety show in particular, to be franchised by another country.

(Wikipedia) The very first and largest indoor Filipino show ever staged in Europe was witnessed by more than 4,500 Filipinos on Saturday 17th November 2012 at the ExCeL London ICC Auditorium. Eat Bulaga! Dabarkads artists included Joey de Leon, Jimmy Santos, Allan K, Anjo Yllanan, Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola, Julia Clarete, Keempee de Leon, Paolo Ballesteros, Pauleen Luna,

Ruby Rodriguez, Ryan Agoncillo and EB Babes. A piece of the Philippines came to London for one night as reflected in a young boys question to his dad during the show “is it really like this in the Philippines?”, obviously excited by performances, production and lighting, sound, staging, 3 big screens and excited audiences, it must have been a Peter Pan moment for him. The dad proudly answers “Yes! It is”.

During the seven days following the Eat Bulaga! Show in London, some of the attendees uploaded clips of the show unto YouTube resulting in over 57,000 hits, this is a testament to the success of

the show and a credit to the Producers – Hello Philippines newspaper and OSN. The audience came prepared with banners both handmade and printed, the Pinoy London Olympic and Paralympic Volunteers (PLOV) also came out in full force proudly sporting their attires along with Mr and Miss Philippines UK, Mr and Miss Bikini Open, Mrs Philippines, Miss Glamour UK, Munting Prinsesa and Prinsipe, Little Miss and Mr Philippines (credit to all of them) and all of the Filipino Associations and Filipino Sports Committee and Teams that came out in full support.

Senator Tito Sotto and Vic Sotto unfortunately was absent from the show due to political and other commitments.

Will there be more shows like this? I think yes! With Filipino Plus TV featuring GMA and TV5 (two TV stations) on one Set Top Box available throughout Europe for Filipinos to enjoy a wider variety of shows is encouraging.

The show was brought to London, United Kingdom Produced and Organised by Hello Philippines and OSN, can we look forward to a similar show in the future? I think yes! ■

WE, Hello Philippines newspaper and OSN would like to extend our sincerest and heartfelt gratitude to everyone that supported the Eat Bulaga! Live Show in London, United Kingdom on Saturday, November 17, 2012 which was held at ExCeL London ICC Auditorium.

We have received a tremendous amount of positive and encouraging feedback. We are deeply and sincerely grateful for all of your kindest support which has been a truly humbling experience.

The success of the EAT BULAGA! Live Show in London, UK was truly made possible by the support of all our Kababayans, Filipino Communities, Filipino Associations in UK and Europe and Pinoy London Olympic and Paralympic Volunteers (PLOV) and all individual volunteers.

Thank you to the Philippine Embassy London and Philippine Department of Tourism London for gracing the occasion.

Mabuhay and God Bless from all of us at Hello Philippines newspaper.

The recorded EAT BULAGA! Live Show in London, UK 2012 is scheduled to be aired second weekend in December 2012. For information on receiving your own Filipino Plus TV Package please contact Hello Philippines TV Connect on: 020 3174 1894.

Eat Bulaga! Dabarkads stage successful show in London; Jose and Wally bring the house down Allan Diones, PEP LONDON, U.K. – ISANG malaking tagumpay ang pagtatanghal ng Eat Bulaga!, ang “EB Dabarkads in London,” na ginanap dito nung Sabado ng gabi, November 17, 2012 (Linggo ng madaling-araw sa Pilipinas), sa ICC Auditorium ng ExCeL London.

Ito ang kauna-unahang live show ng EB tropa sa Europa.

Dumagsa ang mga kababayan nating Pinoy para panoorin ang masayang show ng Dabarkads.

Karamihan sa kanila ay nanggaling pa sa malalayong English countryside na ilang oras ang biyahe mula sa Central London.

Five thousand ang seating capacity ng ICC Auditorium ng ExCeL London at laking-tuwa ng Dabarkads nang makita nilang punung-puno ang venue.

Ang ExCeL London ay maihahalintulad sa SMX Convention Center ng Mall of Asia, ngunit mas malaki nga lang ito. Sama-sama sa iisang modern complex ang napakaraming hall venues na perfect lalo na sa live performances.

Past 6 p.m. nagsimula ang show.

Ang lakas ng hiyawan ng audience nang tumugtog ang “James Bond theme” habang sumasayaw ang EB Babes, sabay pasok ni Jimmy Santos bilang kunyaring Agent 007.

Naaliw ang audience sa rap number ni “Jimmy Bond.”

Muling nagtilian ang fans ang opening line niya na, “Are you ready for the bloody action?!”

Tuwang-tuwa ang mga kababayan

natin nang sunud-sunod na umentra ang very energetic Dabarkads na sina Joey de Leon, Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola, Allan K, Anjo Yllana, Keempee de Leon, Ryan Agoncillo, Paolo Ballesteros, Ruby Rodriguez, Julia Clarete, at Pauleen Luna.

Hindi nakasama sa trip na ito ang magkapatid na Tito at Vic Sotto.

Nagtawanan ang fans sa birong hirit ni Joey na si Tito Sen ay may session sa Senado, habang si Bossing ay may “sex-sion” kaya hindi nakarating ng London.

JOSE & WALLY. Bentang-benta sa crowd ang “Anak” sketch nina Jose at Wally, na habang inaawit ni Jose ang nasabing Freddie Aguilar hit ay iniinterpret ito ni Wally in a naughty way.

Napakaraming fans nina Jose at Wally sa U.K. Nakatuwaang i-playtime ng dalawa ang isang Pinay sa audience na may asawang foreigner.

“So wise. He will save you from poverty!” sabi ni Wally sa Pinay, na tawa lang nang tawa sa pambubuska ng dalawa.

Todo ang tawa ng mga Pinoy sa mga kalokohan nina Jose at Wally, lalo na sa mahahalay na portion.

CHA-CHA. Sina Pauleen, Paolo, Ruby, at Jimmy ay humataw ng “Cha-Cha Dabarkads” – ang dance craze na pinauso ng 2012 Little Miss Philippines na si Ryzza Mae Dizon.

Tapos ay kumuha sila ng tigdadalawang audience members na nakipag-cha-cha showdown sa kanila sa stage.

Ang cute ni Paolo na bigay na bigay sa pag-cha-cha ala Ryzza, complete

with nakangangang bibig habang sumasayaw at kumekembot.

Si Pauleen ay napakaseksi naman sa kanyang black tight-fitting outfit na labas ang pusod at parang bra lang ang black na pang-itaas.

Si Ryan ang naging showdown master, na ang nanalo ay ang pares na kinuha ni Ruby.

RYAN & JUDAY. Ni-request ni Ruby na mag-“Gangnam Style” dance si Ryan, na pinagbigyan naman ni Ryan.

Bigay na bigay ito sa pagsayaw alaKorean sensation na si Psy. Tapos ay nakangiting sabi ni Ryan na may sumama sa kanya rito sa London dahil malamig.

Grabe ang lakas ng hiyawan nang tawagin sa stage ang misis niyang si Judy Ann Santos.

Nag-request ng “kiss” si Joey mula sa mag-asawa. Tilian naman ang fans nang mag-kiss nga sa lips ang dalawa.

Si Juday ang nagpaliwanag na hindi pa tapos ang shooting ni Bossing Vic ng filmfest movie nila na Si Agimat Si Enteng at Si Ako kaya hindi ito nakasama.

Siya raw ay tapos na ang shoot kaya naka-join siya sa dabarkads dito sa London.

Ang ganda at ang payat ni Juday sa suot niyang simpleng blue dress.

Nag-duet sila ni Ryan at nag-kiss ulit ang mag-asawa after their song number.

JOEY’S BRAND OF COMEDY. Klik ang mga pilyong hirit ni Joey, tulad ng sabi niya kay Ruby na mayaman ito dahil marami itong pounds. (Pound sterling ang currency ng UK.) Aniya, ang malulusog na dibdib pa

lang ni Ruby ay 22 pounds each na.

Ang mali-maling EB Babe na si Ann Boleche, aka Hopia, na hinamon ni Joey na magpa-picture sa Eiffel Tower dito sa London, ay sinabihan daw niya na: “Pag-aralan mong mag-tube!”

(Tube ang tawag sa underground train dito.)

Ang sagot daw ni Hopia: “Marumi ang tube ko, e!”

Nabuhay nang husto ang audience sa “Pinoy Henyo” segment na sinalihan ng tatlo nating kababayang taga-U.K. Ang nanalong female nurse ay nagdrive pa raw nang apat na oras para lang makarating ng venue.

Nag-uwi ang lucky game participants ng limited edition EB shirt, jacket, at coffee table book.

MISS UNIVERSE. “Machong Jagger” ang song-and-dance number nina Jose at Wally, na mash-up ng “Moves Like Jagger” at “Macho Guapito.”

Nagkagulo ang fans nang bumaba sa audience ang mga bida ng comedy flick na D’Kilabots Pogi Brothers…

Weh?!.

Kasunod nito ang Visayan skit at “Miss Universe” sketch ni Allan K. Tumawag ng isang lalaking foreigner sa audience si Allan.

“Come to mama. I will breastfeed you!” sabi niya.

Nang malaman niyang Indian national at may asawa na ang nakuha niya sa may VIP section, dinayalogan ito ni Allan ng: “Indian? No UK visa?

And you’re married? Go down!”

Havey na havey pa rin ang Bisaya jokes ni Allan at ang kanyang kuwelang

beauty-pageant sketch.

Isang Francis M. number naman ang binanatan nina Julia, Keempee, Wally, at Jose, na pawang nakasuot ng FMCC shirts habang umaawit ng ilang hit songs ni Kiko.

May mini-video tribute sa dating dabarkad, na kahit wala na ay lagi pa ring bahagi ng shows ng Eat Bulaga! sa iba’t ibang bansa.

Nagsama-sama ang buong tropa sa entablado for the closing number.

Kasama nilang umakyat si Juday, na nakasuot ng shirt na “Forever Eat Bulaga.”

Sa ending ng show ay pinabunot ni Joey si Allan ng isang masuwerteng audience member na mananalo ng isang round-trip ticket to Manila.

Natapos ang EB Dabarkads in London na masaya at may ngiti sa labi ang mga kababayan nating pinatawa at pinaligaya ng dabarkads.

Masayang-masaya si Mrs. Corazon Santos, founder/chairman ng Universal Infinity Limited (Hello Philippines), ang event partner/ sponsor/event organizer ng show.

Ang katuwang na event partner nito ay ang OSN, ang exclusive distributor ng GMA Pinoy TV at GMA Life TV dito sa Europa.

Sobrang na-touch si Mrs. Santos sa natanggap niyang mga papuri at positive feedback tungkol sa show ng EB Dabarkads in London, kaya inimbita niya ang mga ito – sa pamamagitan ng lady boss ng TAPE, Inc. na si Ms. Malou Choa-Fagar – na bumalik sa bahaging ‘yon ng mundo at pasayahin naman ang mga kapatid nating Pinoy sa Ireland. ■

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28/11/2012 10:48

4

HELLO PHILIPPINES

Business & Finance

www.hello-philippines.com

December 2012 – No. 22 • UK & Europe Edition ©AFP/File, Jay Directo

Economy grows 7.1% in third quarter Mynardo Macaraig, AFP THE Philippines said the economy grew 7.1 percent year on year in the three months to September, making it the best performer in Southeast Asia and putting it on track to beat its annual forecast.

Officials said reforms initiated by President Benigno Aquino had led to improved fiscal management, transparent public spending and a better overall business environment that all helped to fuel growth.

“This was made possible due to sustained confidence in the leadership of President Aquino and his administration, which has consistently equated good governance with good economics,”

Aquino spokesman Edwin Lacierda said on Wednesday, November 28.

Aquino, who was elected in 2010, has instituted anti-corruption reforms while seeking to boost revenues and improve government spending.

As a result, the Philippines, once an economic laggard, posted higher growth in the third quarter than Indonesia, the region’s biggest economy, which grew 6.2 percent, Lacierda said.

It also beat Malaysia’s 5.2 percent, Vietnam’s 4.7 percent and Thailand’s 3.0 percent growth, he told reporters.

The July-September performance also helped push growth in the first nine months of the year to 6.5

percent, Lacierda added.

Government economists said full-year growth would likely surpass their original forecast of 5.0-6.0 percent and could even hit near 7.0 percent.

HSBC Bank economist Trinh Nguyen credited “timely policy actions” of the central bank and the government to deal with falling demand from China and Europe as well as the “resilient” nature of the Philippine economy.

“There is no denying it, the Philippines is having a fantastic year despite strong global headwinds,” she said in a report.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the latest indicators showed that the country faced “very fruitful times

ahead” with low inflation and interest rates and increased confidence in government reforms.

He added that this would improve the country’s credit rating further.

Both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s raised the Philippines’ credit ratings to within one rung of investment grade in recent months.

However Socio-economic Planning

Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said there were still external threats such as the “looming fiscal cliff” in the United States and the long-running eurozone debt crisis.

He also said the government was closely watching the strengthening peso, which could hurt exporters’ competitiveness. ■ (©AFP – Manila, Philippines – November 28, 2012)

Banks in tie-up talks to become top lender

LENDER Bank of the Philippine Islands said Wednesday, November 21, it was in talks to acquire local rival Philippine National Bank to create potentially the country’s largest financial institution.

Trading in the two firms was suspended Wednesday as they disclosed that BPI’s majority shareholders were in negotiations to buy PNB, majority-owned by Lucio Tan, the country’s second-richest man.

“We confirm discussions with the

Lucio Tan Group and will make the appropriate disclosures in accordance with the (exchange) disclosure rules,” BPI said.

PNB shares soared 11.69 percent to 84.10 pesos in Tuesday trade, while BPI ended 3.21 percent higher at 88.45 pesos.

BPI is part of the Ayala conglomerate that is the largest property player in Makati, the Philippine capital’s main business district.

PNB also disclosed: “We confirm that there have been discussions

between the Lucio Tan Group and the Ayala Group. We will make the appropriate disclosures within the day once we obtain the necessary board approvals.”

The Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper, quoting unnamed banking sources, said the two sides were in advanced talks.

BPI is now the country’s thirdlargest lender, with assets of 842.6 billion pesos ($20.48 billion) by the end of 2011, while PNB’s assets amounted to 316.3 billion pesos.

©AFP/File, Jay Directo

Lender Bank of the Philippine Islands is in talks to acquire local rival Philippine National Bank.

The largest Philippine bank, Banco de Oro with end-2011 assets of 1.1 trillion pesos, is controlled by

the family of shopping mall magnate Henry Sy, the country’s richest man. ■ (©AFP – November 21, 2012)

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HELLO PHILIPPINES

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

www.hello-philippines.com

December 2012 – No. 22 • UK & Europe Edition

Philippine names ambassador to China amid sea row ©AFP/File, Ted Aljibe

Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Fu Ying (right) talks with Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Erlinda Basilio prior to their meeting at the Foreign Affairs office in Manila on Friday, November 30. Fu is visiting for a one-day meeting with her counterpart and Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, and is expected to discuss territorial disputes.

PHILIPPINE President Benigno Aquino named a senior diplomat as ambassador to Beijing Wednesday, December 5, saying it showed Manila was serious about resolving a tense standoff over territory in the South China Sea. Erlinda Basilio, 68, who as a foreign department undersecretary helped draft national diplomatic policy, will take over a post that was effectively vacant as the two neighbours’ quarrel over the Scarborough Shoal simmered.

Previous ambassador Sonia Brady

suffered a stroke in August, four months after Chinese patrol vessels prevented the Philippine navy from arresting what the Philippine side described as Chinese poachers in Manila’s waters.

“This sends a signal of how important our relations with China are and how serious we are in trying to achieve an understanding with them,” Aquino said of Basilio’s appointment.

China claims most of the South China Sea, including waters close to the shores of its neighbours. These areas include major sea lanes and are

believed to hold vast mineral and oil resources.

China’s claim is contested by the Philippines as well as Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam, which have overlapping claims to some or all of those same areas.

Since the April standoff, the Philippines has repeatedly brought up the dispute with China at international meetings while China has tried to brush it aside, stressing its preference for rival claims to be settled bilaterally.

Diplomatic sources said Basilio had

helped draft the Philippines’ hardline stance against China’s controversial claims, which have irked Beijing.

The foreign department said in a statement that Basilio was wellversed on the issues, adding: “we are relying on her to enhance the bilateral relations between the Philippines and our very important neighbour and friend, China”.

Basilio previously served as ambassador to Sweden and representative to the Philippine mission to the United Nations Office at Geneva. ■ (©AFP – December 5, 2012)

Philippines queries China on ‘board-vessels order’ “If media reports are accurate, this planned action by China is... a direct threat to the entire international community.

“It violates not only the maritime domain of coastal states established under UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), but also impedes the fundamental freedom of navigation and lawful commerce.”

Hernandez said that according to reports the Chinese law would take effect in Hainan province in January 2013 and allow Chinese authorities to board, inspect, detain, confiscate, immobilise and expel vessels caught sailing through.

China claims most of the South

China Sea, including waters close to the shores of its neighbours.

The claim is contested by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, which have overlapping claims to some or all of those same areas.

The dispute led to a maritime standoff in April between the Philippines and China over the Scarborough Shoal.

Prior to the reports on the supposed Hainan law, China provoked fresh protests by the Philippines and Vietnam by issuing new passports that show a map including its claim to almost all the South China Sea. ■ (©AFP – December 3, 2012)

Original Creation and Copyright Reserved By: Hello Philippines 2012

THE Philippines has asked China to clarify reports Beijing ordered its navy to board and interdict foreign ships entering its claimed territories in the South China Sea, an official said Monday, December 3.

The foreign department said a diplomatic note seeking clarifications was sent on Saturday, December 1, following reports appearing in the Chinese media, department spokesman Raul Hernandez told reporters.

“We would like China to immediately clarify its reported plans to interdict ships that enter what it considers its territory in the South China Sea,” said the note, which the department posted on its website.

8

HELLO PHILIPPINES

EVENTS DIARY

www.hello-philippines.com

December 2012 – No. 22 • UK & Europe Edition

SIMBANG GABI 2012 - SCHEDULE OF MASSES DATE / TIME

VENUE

PRESIDER / CO-CELEBRANTS & CHOIR

15 December 2012 – Saturday 3:00pm

Westminster Cathedral Clergy House, 42 Francis Street, London SW1P 1QW

16 December 2012 – Sunday 2:00pm

Carmelite Priory 41 Kensington Church Street, London W8 4BB

16 December 2012 – Sunday 3:00pm

Sacred Heart Church New Priory, Quex Road, Kilburn, London NW6 4PS

Presider: Fr. Irvin Morastil, O.M.I.

16 December 2012 – Sunday 3:00pm

Blessed Sacrament Parish Church 157 Copenhagen Street, Islington, London N1 0SR

Presider: Fr. Allan Sator

16 December 2012 – Sunday 5:00pm

St. James Catholic Church Forbury Road, Reading RG1 3HW

16 December 2012 – Sunday 6:00pm

St. Dominic’s Catholic Church Violet Lane, Waddon, Croydon, Surrey CR0 4HN

16 December 2012 – Sunday 6:00pm

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel & St. Joseph Church 8A Battersea Park Road, London SW8 4BH

Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M.

17 December 2012 – Monday 7:00pm

St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church 167 The Broadway, West Hendon, London NW9 7EB

Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M.

17 December 2012 – Monday 7:00pm

St. Edmund Campion Roman Catholic Parish 40A Altwood Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 4PY

Presider: Fr. Claro Conde

18 December 2012 – Tuesday 8:00pm

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church 218 Roehampton Lane, London SW15 4LE

19 December 2012 – Wednesday 7:00pm

Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception 114 Mount Street, London W1K 3AH

19 December 2012 – Wednesday 7:00pm

Roman Catholic Church of St. Joseph’s Wembley 339 High Road, Wembley, Middlesex HA9 6AG

Presider: Fr. Agustin Paunon

20 December 2012 – Thursday 6:00pm

The Holy Cross Chapel Charing Cross Hospital, Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 9NT

Presider: Fr. Nigel Griffin Co-Celebrant: Fr. Ari Dy, S.J.

21 December 2012 – Friday 6:00pm

Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church 111 Portsmouth Road, Frimley, Surrey GU16 7AA

Presider: TBC

21 December 2012 – Friday 6:30pm

St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church 185 Mitcham Road, Tooting, London SW17 9PG

Presider: TBC

21 December 2012 – Friday 7:00pm

Roman Catholic Church of St. Pius X 79 St. Charles Square, Ladbroke Grove, London W10 6EB

21 December 2012 – Friday 7:30pm

Our Lady of Lourdes Church Acton High Street, London W3 8AA

21 December 2012 – Friday 5:00pm

St. John the Baptist Church Alexandra Road, Andover, Hampshire SP10 3AD

21 December 2012 – Friday 7:00pm

St. James Church Abbott Walk, Reading RG1 3HW

22 December 2012 – Saturday 4:00pm

Parish of St. Michael and St. Martin 94 Bath Road, Hounslow, Middlesex TW3 3EH

22 December 2012 – Saturday 6:00pm

Sacred Heart Of Jesus 62 Eden Grove, Holloway, London N7 8EN off Holloway Road, opposite Metropolitan University

22 December 2012 – Saturday 6:00pm

St. Joseph’s Church 12 Eastgate Gardens, Guildford, Surrey GU1 4AZ

22 December 2012 – Saturday 7:30pm

Sacred Heart and Mary Immaculate Church 2 Flower Lane, Mill Hill, London NW7 2JB

22 December 2012 – Saturday 7:30pm

Church of the Holy Redeemer 20 Brixton Road, London SW9 6BU

23 December 2012 – Sunday 3:00pm

Our Lady of the Holy Souls 68 Hazelwood Crescent, Kensal Road, London W10 5DJ

23 December 2012 – Sunday 6:00pm

Christ the King Roman Catholic Church 408 Northumberland Avenue, Reading, Berkshire RG2 8NR

23 December 2012 – Sunday 7:00pm

English Martyrs Church Chalkhill Road, Wembley Park HA9 9EW

Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M. / Co-Celebrant: Fr. Ari Dy, S.J. Choir: Friends of Our Lady of Peñafrancia Choir and Couples for Christ Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M. Choir: Carmelite Church Filipino Choir

Presider: Fr. Norlan Julia, S.J. Co-Celebrant: Canon John O’ Shea Presider: Fr. Jake Dicto, C.S.

Presider: Fr. Jake Dicto, C.S. Presider: Fr. Ari Dy, S.J.

Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, S.J. Presider: Fr. Ari Dy S.J. Presider: Fr. Norlan Julia, S.J. Presider: TBC Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M. Presider: Fr. Gideon Wagay Choir: The Filipino Nurses Group of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church Presider: Fr. Aaron Espenelli Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M. Presider: Fr. Jake Dicto, C.S. Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M. Presider: Fr. Pat Madden Presider: Fr. Cirino Potrido, C.M.

PLEASE NOTE: The Oval Filipino Community of the Holy Redeemer Church (RC), Scalabrini Centre, and the Filipino Community of Roehampton, both under the Archidiocese of Southwark and entrusted to the Scalabrini Fathers, are hosting a novena of masses from 15 to 23 December 2012. Following are details of their Simbang Gabi Masses: 15 – 23 December 2012 7:30pm

Church of the Holy Redeemer 20 Brixton Road, London SW9 6BU

Presider: Fr. Jake Dicto, C.S./Scalabrini Fathers

15 – 23 December 2012 8:00pm

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church 218 Roehampton Lane, London SW15 4LE

Presider: Fr. Jake Dicto, C.S./Scalabrini Fathers

15 – 23 December 2012 8:00pm

Our Lady of Dolours, Service Parish Church 264 Fulham Road, London SW10 4EL

Presider: Fr. Allan Satur

HELLO

Corazon Reyes Santos FOUNDER E-mail: corazonrsantos@hello-philippines.com Mike McCarthy PARTNER / SALES DIRECTOR PHILIPPINES Tel. No.: +44 (0) 1708 550 398 E-mail: mmccarthy@mshareltd.com PUBLISHER HP Classified E-mail: classifieds@hello-philippines.com Website: www.hello-philippines.com Universal Infinity Limited HELLO PHILIPPINES IS PUBLISHED FORTNIGHTLY BY UNIVERSAL INFINITY LIMITED. THIS PUBLICATION IS COPYRIGHTED AND ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. UK & EUROPE EDITION IRELAND, ITALY, SPAIN AND FRANCE.

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SIMBANG GABI PRAYER of the FILIPINO COMMUNITIES in the UNITED KINGDOM Year of Faith 2012 God our Loving Father,/ as we celebrate Simbang Gabi in this Year of Faith,/ we praise and thank you for the gift of our Catholic faith./ As we recognize that Jesus is your greatest gift to us,/ we also thank you for Your countless blessings upon us./ We continue to pray for the perseverance in the Christian faith of all Filipinos,/ at home and in other parts of the world.

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour,/ we ask that He be born in our hearts/ so that our lives may radiate His love, joy and peace to others./ As we have received the gift of faith,/ may we,/ too,/ share it with others,/ especially those who have not heard of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

We pray for our loved ones,/ especially those far away from us;/ keep them in Your loving care./ We pray for our fellow migrants here in the United Kingdom,/ especially those who are oppressed./ Protect them and give us the grace/ to extend to them our generous assistance.

May the example of San Lorenzo Ruiz and San Pedro Calungsod/ inspire us to be courageous witnesses to our Christian faith/ despite all the trials and temptations that we encounter every day./ We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. ★★★ PANALANGIN sa SIMBANG GABI ng mga KOMUNIDAD NG PILIPINO sa UNITED KINGDOM Taon ng Pananampalataya 2012 Diyos Ama naming mapagmahal,/ sa pagdiriwang namin ng Simbanggabi ngayong Taon ng Pananampalataya,/ pinupuri at pinasasalamatan ka namin/ sa biyaya ng aming Katolikong pananampalataya./ Samantalang kinikilala namin si Hesus/ bilang iyong pinakadakilang biyaya sa amin,/ pinasasalamatan ka rin namin/ sa Iyong di mabilang na mga kaloob sa amin./ Ipinapanalangin namin ang pananatili sa Kristyanong pananampalataya/ ng lahat ng Pilipino, sa aming bayan at sa bawat sulok ng mundo./ Habang kami ay naghahanda sa pagdating ng Iyong Anak,/ hinihiling namin na si Hesus ay isilang sa aming mga puso/ upang ang aming mga buhay/ ay maging salamin ng Kanyang pag- ibig, kaligayahan at kapayapaan./ Nawa’y maibahagi namin sa iba/ ang tinanggap naming biyaya ng pananampalataya,/ lalo na sa mga hindi pa nakarinig ng Mabuting Balita ni Hesukristo.

Taimtim naming ipinapanalangin ang aming mga mahal sa buhay./ Nawa ay pagpalain at alagaan Mo sila./ Ipinapanalangin din namin ang aming mga kapwa migrante dito sa United Kingdom,/ lalo na iyong mga inaapi at sinasamantala./ Kupkupin Ninyo sila at gabayan Ninyo kami upang mabigyan sila ng kalinga.

Nawa’y patnubayan at palakasin kami ng halimbawa/ nina San Lorenzo Ruiz at San Pedro Calungsod,/ upang kami rin ay maging magigiting na saksi ng Kristiyanong pananampalataya,/ sa kabila ng mga pagsubok at tukso sa araw-araw./ Ito ay hinihiling namin/ sa Ngalan ni Kristong aming Panginoon. Amen. ★★★ Simbang Gabi Prayer of the Filipino Communities in the United Kingdom – in English with Filipino translation – both of which were finely crafted by Fr. Ari Dy, S.J. And Fr. Norlan Julia, S.J. The prayer is in keeping with theme: “Simbang Gabi in the Year of Faith: Knowing and Loving Jesus.”

“Thank you to our beloved Fr. Ari and Norlan for this new prayer.”

10

HELLO PHILIPPINES

INTERNATIONAL / GLOBAL NEWS

www.hello-philippines.com

December 2012 – No. 22 • UK & Europe Edition

Asia-Pacific launch trade pacts amid tensions Martin Abbugao, AFP ASIA-Pacific nations launched negotiations on Tuesday, November 20, for two giant free trade pacts that diplomats said may foster warmer ties at a time of deep tensions over multiple territorial rows.

China, Japan and South Korea, embroiled in maritime disputes that have frayed diplomatic ties, began talks for a free trade agreement when their trade ministers met on the sidelines of an Asian summit in Cambodia.

Talks will start in earnest early next year, the three said in a joint statement announcing the start of the negotiations.

Negotiations for a separate Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) involving the three Asian economic powerhouses and 13 other nations were also launched almost simultaneously at the East Asia Summit.

China is locked in a series of territorial disputes with four planned members of the RCEP – the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei – and tensions over those

rival claims flared yet again at the Cambodia talks.

But Surin Pitsuwan, head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which hosts the annual summit, said all parties understood that they could not afford to let the disputes hold back lucrative trade agreements.

“The effort is to try to isolate the two issues. Economic integration will have to go forward... because everybody is going to benefit from this new architecture,” he told AFP. The launch of talks for both trade pacts came amid a particularly deep strain in ties between China and Japan, Asia’s two biggest economies, over competing claims to islands in the East China Sea. Their trade relationship, which is worth well over $300 billion a year, has suffered as the escalation in tensions fanned nationalist flames.

Anti-Tokyo riots shook Chinese cities in September, with the violence leaving some Japanese businesses in ruins.

A Chinese consumer boycott of Japan-brand goods also left the likes of the Japanese auto giant Nissan ©AFP/File, David Bayarong

Philippine navy ship BRP Rajah Humabon leaves Subic Bay, the former US navy base, near the south China sea in July 2012.

Philippines refuses to stamp Chinese passports

THE Philippines said Wednesday, November 28, it would refuse to stamp Chinese passports containing a map showing most of the China South Sea as belonging to China, as it stepped up protests over the controversial move.

The new passports have provoked angry reactions from around the region, with Vietnam, Taiwan and India all expressing their objections amid an ongoing row over Beijing’s territorial claims.

The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that immigration personnel would stamp “a separate visa application form” instead of the Chinese passport.

“Through this action, the Philippines reinforces its protest against China’s excessive claim over almost the entire South China Sea,” the department said.

Stamping the Chinese passport could be “misconstrued” as legitimising China’s claim over vast parts of the South China Sea,

which are also claimed in part by the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.

President Benigno Aquino’s spokesman also said Wednesday the Philippines welcomed a recent US State Department statement that it planned to raise concerns over the new Chinese passports with China.

Last week, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario sent Beijing a formal protest letter, calling the passport maps “an excessive declaration of maritime space in violation of international law”.

Foreign governments became aware this month that China had begun issuing passports with maps showing a “nine-dash line” that runs almost to the Philippine and Malaysian coasts.

Vietnam has also refused to stamp the passports while India, angered that the map claims Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai China as Chinese territory, is stamping its own map on visas given to Chinese visitors. ■ (©AFP – November 28, 2012)

forecasting a large drop in sales in the world’s largest car market.

Meanwhile, Japan and South Korea are locked in another row over islands in waters between their countries.

Tensions boiled over in August after a surprise visit by South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak to the Dokdo islands, known as Takeshima in Japan.

But, if successful, the threeway talks would create one of the world’s biggest free-trade zones.

Trade between the three countries already totalled $514.9 billion in 2011, according to the Japanese government.

The Chinese government, which has eschewed top-level talks with Japan amid the rise in tensions, nevertheless sees the advantage of pursuing the free trade agreement.

“We have to take the FTA of Japan, China and South Korea in a broader context, that is East Asia cooperation,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters in Phnom Penh.

“We believe that the FTA will be a very important vehicle in forging a broader trade arrangement in this region.”

©AFP, Christophe Archambault

US President Barack Obama stands with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders during a family picture.

The RCEP offers potentially even greater riches, with the 16 nations involved currently accounting for half of the world’s population and a third of global economic output.

It would cover all 10 ASEAN members, as well as China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand, and would be the world’s biggeset free trade deal if realised.

All the countries have bilateral FTAs with ASEAN on which they can build.

However, as with the proposed South Korea-China-Japan free trade

pact, no timetable has been set for the completion of negotiations.

Iman Pambagyo, Indonesia’s director-general for international trade, told AFP that he expected closer trade ties between the rival nations would help them better manage their decades-long territorial disputes.

“At the end, it is economic development and improvement of well-being that matters the most... with improved welfare comes moderation,” he told AFP. ■ (©AFP – Phnom Penh, Cambodia – November 20, 2012)

Philippines to host fourway maritime talks

THE Philippines is to hold fourway talks next month with fellow Southeast Asian nations with rival claims to South China Sea territories, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Wednesday, November 21.

The deputy foreign ministers of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam are to meet in Manila on December 12 as part of Philippine efforts at pushing for a multilateral solution to their disputes, he told a news conference.

The talks exclude China, which claims most of the sea including waters close to the shores of its neighbours and has insisted its own disputes be solved bilaterally between Beijing and individual claimants.

“This is one of viable options to move the issue forward in terms of (arriving at) a peaceful solution,” del Rosario said.

“We need to pay attention to the fact that there are many claimants

and it has to be settled in a multilateral approach.”

Taiwan, like China, claims most of the sea, which includes some of the world’s most important shipping lanes and is believed to be rich in fossil fuels.

Del Rosario said the four-way meeting was first proposed by the Philippines last year, in contrast to China’s preferred bilateral approach.

“We respect what (China) is suggesting, but we do not accept this,” del Rosario said.

“We view the situation in the South China Sea as a threat to the stability and security in the region.”

Rival claimants Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam are all members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Tensions have increased steadily over the past two years, with the Philippines and Vietnam accusing China of increasingly aggressive

diplomatic tactics to stake its claims.

Del Rosario’s announcement came just a day after he returned home from an regional summit in Cambodia that was overshadowed by the dispute.

Host Cambodia had said ASEAN leaders had agreed not to “internationalise” the disputes and confine the talks to those between the bloc and China.

But Philippine President Benigno Aquino publicly rebuked Cambodian leader Hun Sen, saying no such consensus had been reached and that he would continue to speak out on the issue.

Asked what the Manila meeting hoped to achieve, del Rosario said Wednesday: “If we can discuss limitation solutions to areas where we have disputes with each other, that certainly would be a good result to the initiative.” ■ (©AFP – November 21,

2012)

©AFP/File

©AFP/File

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12

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HP NEWS

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December 2012 – No. 22 • UK & Europe Edition

Indonesian embassy warns maids to avoid Malaysia Julia Zappei, AFP INDONESIAN maids should avoid working in Malaysia, their embassy in Kuala Lumpur said Tuesday, December 4, after the latest domestic worker scandal there saw 105 women locked up and forced to work without pay.

Malaysian authorities said they had freed 95 Indonesians, six Filipinas and four Cambodians who toiled as housemaids by day but were locked inside a building near the capital at night.

Recurring reports of abuse of Indonesian maids have soured relations between the two Southeast Asian neighbours and prompted Jakarta to angrily cut off the supply of domestic workers to Malaysia in 2009.

The two sides announced a year ago that the ban would be lifted after they reached an accord to provide maids better protection and working conditions.

But the latest case, exposed in a raid by authorities on Saturday, showed Indonesians were still at risk, especially those who come to Malaysia illegally rather than through proper recruitment channels, a spokesman for Jakarta’s embassy said.

“The Malaysian authorities should take tough action... It’s better for Indonesian maids not

to work in Malaysia,” spokesman Suryana Sastradiredja told AFP. “They (Malaysia) are asking for Indonesian maids but they cannot protect them well.”

The women freed Saturday – Malaysian media reports said they had arrived illegally over the past several months – have been taken to a shelter and will eventually be sent back to Indonesia, Sastradiredja said.

Some of the women claimed their monthly wages were being seized by their employment agency as payment for recruitment services, reports said, adding that 12 people had been arrested in the case.

Sastradiredja said fewer than 100 Indonesian maids had arrived through official channels since the ban’s lifting, turned off by low salaries and abuse reports.

But, citing estimates by Indonesian and Malaysian activists, he said Jakarta fears thousands more may have been duped into coming illegally with promises of well-paid work since the ban was set, and were now working in vulnerable situations.

One of Southeast Asia’s most affluent and developed countries, Malaysia has long attracted aspiring maids from its poorer neighbours, mostly Indonesia. And before the ban, some 300,000 Indonesians were legally registered as working as maids there. ©AFP/File

Police stand guard outside the US Embassy in Manila.

Hundreds of police ‘cheated in exams’

THIRTEEN policemen have been sacked and more than 350 others placed under investigation for allegedly cheating in written exams, the police governing body said Sunday, November 25.

The National Police Commission said it had invalidated the results of the exams taken last year by 386 people in the southern city of Zamboanga as so many had put exactly the same wrong answers.

The exams were being taken by would-be officers applying to enter the force as well as serving officers seeking promotion.

The cheating was only uncovered recently, and those taking entrance exams had already been commissioned into the force.

Thirteen officers had since been

sacked and the rest were under investigation and could also be dismissed, said regional police chief Superintendent Napoleon Estilles.

He did not say how the cheating came to light.

“The termination board found them guilty of... dishonesty,” Estilles said.

The controversy highlighted the problems of corruption facing the country’s police, who are often derided in the local press as incompetent.

In 2010, a frustrated officer who was sacked from his job over allegations of corruption hijacked a bus carrying Hong Kong tourists.

A bungled police rescue led to the deaths of eight hostages, as well as the gunman. ■ (©AFP – November 25,

2012)

Authorities involved in Saturday’s raid could not be reached.

But Human Resources Minister S. Subramaniam was quoted by Malaysian media warning tough action against the country’s more than 300 maid agencies if they mistreat foreigners.

Recurring incidents in which foreign maids have been confined, abused or even killed have repeatedly rankled Malaysia’s neighbours.

In October, an advertisement in Malaysia that offered Indonesian maids “on sale” went viral online in Indonesia, sparking new outrage.

Last month, police said they were investigating a man in northern Malaysia for allegedly raping his 15-year-old Indonesian maid.

Meanwhile, three police officers were charged in November with raping a 25-year-old Indonesian woman at a police station.

Cambodia also banned sending maids to Malaysia last year following numerous abuse complaints.

Irene Fernandez, executive director of Malaysian migrant labour group Tenaganita, said maids were still not covered under the country’s labour laws and thus extremely vulnerable.

“There are terrible weaknesses in the system. We do not have a legal framework for domestic workers,” she said. ■ (©AFP – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – December 4, 2012)

©AFP/File, Saeed Khan

A young woman reads advertisements for “maids wanted”. ©AFP/File, Tengku Bahar

Indonesians who worked as domestic maids in Malaysian homes at a shelter for migrant workers.

Filipina housemaids in Morocco say abused, raped YOUNG women from the Philippines working as housemaids in Morocco on Wednesday, December 5, described being exploited, physically abused and raped by their employers in the north African kingdom.

“I was confined in the house of this woman, who confiscated my passport. To get it back, she told me that I had to give her $4,000,” Analissa Dalambines, a young Filipina, told reporters at a press conference in Rabat.

“I’m ready to give up the job that I’ve done for two and a half years and return to my country,” she said,

before shouting, with tears in her eyes: “My employer raped me.”

“When I arrived in Morocco, I was hired by a woman who beat me regularly,” another woman told the conference, convened by the Democratic Organisation of Labour (OTD), weeping as she spoke.

The honorary consul for the Philippines, Porto Joselito, said there are around 3,000 young Filipina housemaids in Morocco.

“Most of them are victims of poor treatment and exploitation, including sexual exploitation,” he said.

Marcel Amiyeto, the secretary general of the immigrant workers’

section of the ODT, one of Morocco’s main trade unions, backed up the claims.

“Some of them have been raped or have been subjected to violence by the women that employ them, others have gone without being paid for more than a year,” Amiyeto said.

Social Affairs Minister Bassima Hakkawi was not immediately reachable for comment.

Filipina housemaids in Morocco often have no work contracts and earn less than the minimum wage, of around 240 euros per month. ■

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino will not quit smoking despite the country’s top medical body publicly appealing for him to lead by example and kick the habit, his spokesman said Saturday, November 24.

The Philippine Medical Association called on Aquino to give up after noticing his frequent coughing, spokesman Edwin Lacierda told government radio.

But Lacierda said that Aquino’s cough, which was first noticed during official visits to Australia and New Zealand late last month, was

not related to his smoking but in fact caused by an allergy to pollen.

“Right now, this is one thing that takes away his stress. So let us let the president see how best to cope. He knows what is important,” Lacierda said.

Aquino, 52, cancelled a meeting with visiting International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde due to ill health on November 16, his office said.

He flew to a regional summit in Cambodia the following day while suffering from the flu, Lacierda said.

(AFP – Rabat, Morocco – December 5, 2012)

President ignores call to quit smoking ©AFP/File, Ted Aljibe

The Philippine Medical Association called on Benigno Aquino to give up smoking after noticing his frequent coughing.

■ (©AFP – November 24, 2012)

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16

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HP NEWS

www.hello-philippines.com

December 2012 – No. 22 • UK & Europe Edition

Massacre clan jostling for power again Cecil Morella, AFP DOZENS of members of a clan whose leaders are on trial for the Philippines’ worst political massacre are candidates in 2013 elections, some for the president’s party, media and rights groups said Friday, November 23.

The revelations sparked outrage on the three-year anniversary of the massacre, in which 58 people died, with critics saying the Ampatuan family’s enduring political influence underlined the country’s “culture of impunity”.

“That some clan members are running under the banner of President (Benigno) Aquino’s party is a serious cause for concern because it imparts a damaging message that impunity is alive and well,” Human Rights Watch’s Carlos Conde told AFP. Leaders of the clan, then allied to Aquino’s predecessor, Gloria Arroyo, are accused of carrying out the massacre to stop a local rival from filing his candidacy for Maguindanao province governor in 2010 elections.

Andal Ampatuan Snr, the patriarch and then governor of the province, plus four of his sons, are on trial, accused of planning or participating in the massacre. They deny the charges.

Eighty-two people in total are on trial, many of whom were allegedly members of the Ampatuans’ private army that helped to consolidate the family’s almost complete control of the province over the previous decade.

The victims included 32 media workers who were travelling in a convoy to report on the opposition candidate’s attempt to file election papers. The Ampatuans and their gunmen allegedly stopped the convoy and shot everyone dead.

In the aftermath of the massacre, Arroyo was forced to cut political ties with the family, and its power base in Maguindanao, a Muslim-populated province plagued by insurrection and other violence, appeared to have been diminished.

But 72 members of the clan are running again as candidates in next year’s elections, including nine for

©AFP/File, Ted Aljibe

Aquino’s Liberal Party, said the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.

They are representing mostly local level positions in Maguindanao, said a joint statement by the union and six other Philippine media organisations that expressed deep anger.

“Even as fear of reprisals continue to haunt witnesses and plaintiffs in the case, the government of Mr. Aquino and other major political parties in the country have embraced the Ampatuan clan,” the groups said.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper also wrote in an editorial Friday: “How can the political parties not know that support for Ampatuan

146 Marcos paintings missing MORE than 140 paintings by Picasso, Van Gogh and other masters which were bought with stolen funds by former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos remains missing, the government said Tuesday, November 27.

Marcos distributed his priceless collection of at least 300 artworks to cronies when his regime crumbled in 1986. Only about half have been recovered by Manila, said Andres Bautista, head of the Presidential Commission on Good Government.

“The Marcoses were art aficionados and they spent millions of dollars buying up these paintings,” Bautista told AFP. The 146 paintings by Picasso, Van Gogh and other masters like Renoir, Rembrandt and Cezanne “could be anywhere,” he added.

The government commission was ©AFP/File, Romeo Gacad

Former dictator Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines from 1965 to 1986.

formed in 1986 to recover Marcos’s embezzled fortune believed to be worth up to 10 billion dollars, after a bloodless popular revolt ended his 20-year rule and forced him into US exile.

The ex-president died in Hawaii in 1989.

The Philippine government drew up the list of missing paintings from art gallery receipts and shipment records left behind by the Marcos family, Bautista said.

Vilma Bautista, the former personal secretary to Marcos’s widow Imelda, and Vilma Bautista’s two nephews were indicted in New York last week over an alleged conspiracy to sell a Monet that had belonged to the first lady.

The Monet, “Le Bassin aux Nympheas”, and three other paintings seized by US authorities from Bautista were on the ©AFP/File, Antonio Scorza

Monet’s “Le Bassin aux Nympheas” was on the Philippines’ missing artwork list.

©AFP/Graphics

The victims included 32 journalists who were travelling in the convoy.

Leaders of the Ampatuan clan are accused of carrying out the Philippine›s worst political massacre.

Philippines’ missing list, said commissioner Bautista, who is not related to the suspects.

The three suspects sold the Monet to an art gallery in London for $32 million, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

The Philippine commission’s Bautista said he had met the New York prosecutors to ask for the return of the four paintings to Manila.

“Now, whether we bring them back here to be exhibited, or we sell them there and remit the proceeds to the national treasury would be up to President Benigno Aquino,” he said.

The other artworks from the Marcos collection that had already been recovered by the Philippine government were either sold or displayed in local institutions or museums, Bautista said. ■ (©AFP – Manila, Philippines – November 27, 2012) ©AFP, Ted Aljibe

Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos allegedly distributed his 300 artworks to cronies when his regime crumbled in 1986.

candidates feeds the very impunity that led to the massacre?”

In the Philippines, powerful politicians and other members of the elite classes often commit crimes without any fear of punishment.

Aquino has vowed to tackle this culture.

Aquino’s spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, confirmed the ruling Liberal party had recruited some Ampatuans, but defended the move saying they did not share the same “brand of politics” as the accused.

He did not say who had been recruited.

The main opposition United Nationalist Alliance, led by Vice President Jejomar Binay, also

©AFP/File, Ted Aljibe

A Philippine relative cries as she touches a collage of photos of the victims during a 2010 memorial service.

confirmed some Ampatuans were running in its coalition but said they had not been implicated in the massacre.

“What’s the big fuss?” coalition spokesman Jose Bautista said to AFP. “Should each and every Ampatuan be penalised for the murders?”

Meanwhile, the trial drags on with no signs of an end. Lawyers have said it could take years, or even decades, for the proceedings to conclude amid the Philippines’ notoriously overwhelmed justice system.

Three witnesses for the prosecution have been killed over the past three years. ■ (©AFP – Manila, Philippines – November 23, 2012)

©AFP/File

Baby bottlenose dolphin Doerte and her mother Delphi swim through their basin on October 18, 2011 at the zoo in Duisburg, western Germany. One of 25 dolphins being transferred to a Singapore oceanarium despite protests from activists died during its flight to the city-state on Thursday, November 22, the resort said.

Dolphin bound for Singapore oceanarium dies ONE of 25 dolphins being transferred to a Singapore Oceanarium despite protests from activists died during its flight to the city-state on Thursday, November 22, the resort said.

Wen Wen, a male dolphin aged about 10, died suddenly less than an hour before the flight from the Philippines landed, a Marine Life Park spokesperson told AFP in a statement.

The spokesperson of the park – which opened to the public for the first time earlier Thursday and is part of the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) casino – said the dolphin appeared fine when medically examined before the flight.

“We are deeply saddened... he will be sorely missed,” the spokesperson said.

The other 24 bottlenose dolphins had arrived and were acclimatising to their new home.

“No effort or resources will be spared in ensuring the health and well-being of our dolphins and all marine animals at Marine Life Park,” the statement said.

Wen Wen is the third dolphin to die out of 27 which RWS acquired from the Solomon Islands in the South

Pacific between 2008 and 2009.

Wildlife activists in the Philippines – where the dolphins were kept and trained before being exported to Singapore – filed a lawsuit last month to stop them from being flown out.

They said the dolphins’ capture violated an international treaty on the trade in endangered animals and plants.

A court in the Philippines initially agreed to a temporary ban on transferring the dolphins but another court overturned it.

A Singapore-based animals rights group also opposed the inclusion of the dolphins in the marine park, saying catching them from the Solomon Islands is detrimental to the survival of the species there.

The remaining 24 dolphins are due to make their public debut at the park’s twin attractions the S.E.A Aquarium and Adventure Cove Waterpark only next year.

The aquarium is touted as the world’s largest with 100,000 marine animals from over 800 species in 45 million litres (12 million gallons) of water. ■ (©AFP – November 22, 2012)

18

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HP NEWS

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December 2012 – No. 22 • UK & Europe Edition

Fish luring devices divide Asia-Pacific tuna meet Ex-aide of Imelda Marcos charged in stolen Monet PHILIPPINES

©AFP/File, Jay Directo

Mynardo Macaraig, AFP

TUNA-harvesting nations of the Pacific argued at a key meeting in Manila Tuesday, December 4, over how best to regulate devices that attract the giant fish, amid growing concern over depleted stocks, officials said.

A call to extend an annual ban on fish aggregating devices (FADs) to four months was among the most contentious issues at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission meeting.

An annual July-September ban on FADS is already in place in waters that account for half the world’s tuna catch, and a four-month ban would hurt small Pacific nations the most, said Palau fishing official Nanette Malsol.

“We don’t want to put any disproportionate burden on smaller countries,” said Malsol, who chairs Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PAN), a coalition of small Pacific island nations.

She said her group opposes the extension of the so-called “closed period” unless smaller nations are compensated.

FADS are made of buoys tethered to the ocean floor. They can attract huge numbers of fish, allowing boats to haul them in quickly rather than spending time and fuel sea-ching for schools of tuna.

Critics say fishing with FADS means juvenile fish are snared, as well as bycatch that includes threatened species like sharks, rays and sea turtles.

About a dozen Greenpeace delegates staged a protest at the

Greenpeace activists protest during the 9th regular session of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.

venue, calling for a total FADS ban to allow tuna stocks to recover.

“FADS must be banned if we want to see our tuna stocks survive,” the environmental campaign group’s delegation head Lagi Toribau said.

“Not only does it contribute to the rapid decline of fish stocks, it also results in a large amount of unwanted bycatch.”

Other delegates told AFP none of the 30 member-nations and territories attending, including the US, China, Japan and Australia, favoured a total FADS ban but many of them recognised the need to limit their use.

However, they said they disagreed on how this should be done.

Malsol said the American delegation opposed compensation for smaller nations.

US-based Pew Environment Group, which also sent delegates to the meeting, estimates between 47,000 and 105,000 FADS are in use worldwide.

The International Union for

UN hails Philippines early typhoon warning systems

IMPROVED early warning systems in the Philippines saved many lives as the country was ravaged by Typhoon Bopha, the United Nations office for disaster risk reduction said Wednesday, December 5.

The typhoon that slammed into the southern island of Mindanao Tuesday, December 4, killed at least 274 people, while even more were reported missing, but UNISDR said the toll could have been much worse.

“This time last year, over 1,400 people died on Mindanao in a similar event, but this time big improvements in the early warning systems have saved many lives,” said Jerry Velazquez, who heads the agency’s Asia office.

About 178,000 people remained huddled in evacuation centres, mostly crowded schoolhouses, gyms and other government buildings, officials said.

In a statement, Velazquez singled out new automated rainfall and flood predictions systems, which he said had greatly improved forecasting and made it possible to more quickly alert people at risk.

The systems are part of the

government’s Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards) introduced earlier this year.

The project, which includes alerts through television and the Internet, “has enabled central government agencies, local governments and citizens to prepare and act before intense weather arrives,” Velazquez said.

That “is vitally important” in a country hit by around 20 typhoons each year, he said, predicting that when the NOAH project is fully rolled out by the end of next year “we should see a significant drop in the numbers of lives lost to disasters in the Philippines.”

He meanwhile called on Manila to do more to respond to the huge economic impact of the devastating storms.

“About 0.8 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) is lost each year to disasters and this takes an unacceptably high toll on the country’s development and efforts at poverty reduction,” Velazquez said.

■ (©AFP – Geneva, Switzerland – December 5, 2012)

Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has previously warned that global tuna stocks are fast reaching the limits of sustainability due to a lack of comprehensive catch-limits. ■ (AFP – Manila, Philippines – December 4, 2012)

THE former personal secretary to Imelda Marcos, wife of deposed Philippines ruler Ferdinand Marcos, was charged Tuesday, November 20, in New York in an alleged conspiracy to sell a Monet painting that had belonged to the first lady.

Vilma Bautista, 74, was one of three people accused of “illegally conspiring to possess and sell valuable works of art acquired by” Imelda Marcos, and “keeping the proceeds for themselves,” the Manhattan district attorney DA’s office said.

They are also accused of seeking to hide the gains from the US tax authorities.

The Monet, which sold for $32 million in 2010, was part of Imelda Marcos’ hoard of artworks and other luxuries accumulated during her husband’s rule, which was brought

down in 1986. The Philippines government moved to recover the property in the aftermath of the revolution, but much of it vanished.

“A significant amount of artwork and other valuables disappeared from Philippine government property, including from the Philippine Consulate townhouse in Manhattan,” the DA’s office said.

Beginning in 2009, Bautista and her two nephews allegedly began trying to sell the Monet water lily, “Le Bassin aux Nympheas,” and three other valuable works that the Philippines government was trying to repossess.

They succeeded with the Monet, selling it to a London gallery and dividing the $32 million, with Bautista “keeping the largest share of the money herself,” prosecutors said. ■ (©AFP – November 21, 2012)

Fugitive politician defiant in Philippine murder case A fugitive Philippine politician and his brother accused of murdering an environmental activist will remain in hiding amid public outrage over the case, their lawyer said.

Joel Reyes, former governor of the island province of Palawan, and his brother Mario, have been on the run since March when a local court ordered their arrest for the fatal shooting of broadcaster Gerry Ortega.

Ortega was gunned down in January of 2011 in a case that rights groups said highlighted the “culture of impunity” in the Southeast Asian country where politicians routinely attack their critics without being punished.

“We would file a motion with the court to get a definitive statement on the lifting of a warrant of arrest against them,” their lawyer Ferdinand Topacio told AFP. “Until we get that, I would suggest to them not to surface first,” Topacio said. “They are fugitives from injustice.”

Topacio said he had had no contact with his clients since they went underground, and immigration officials have said they may have escaped overseas using fake passports.

Nestor Burgos, chairman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, said the government’s failure to arrest the high-profile fugitives showed powerful politicians remained untouchable.

“This is a complete mockery of justice,” Burgos told AFP. “This shows to the public that these people who have power, money and are influential can get away with murder, literally.”

Ortega, a veterinarian known widely as “Doc Gerry”, was shot dead in a clothes shop shortly after he had just finished his radio show.

He had repeatedly accused Reyes of massive corruption during his time as governor, and was an outspoken critic of mining activities that he said damaged pristine Palawan.

The gunman was immediately

arrested and ownership of the weapon was traced to a close Reyes aide.

Another suspect who had turned state witness also implicated the brothers in the plot.

Despite the strong evidence however, prosecutors initially cleared the Reyes duo, triggering a public outcry and an intense social-media campaign that forced the justice department to reinvestigate the case.

In March, a new investigation panel from the justice department ruled there was probable cause to charge the two, and a Palawan court subsequently issued an arrest warrant.

The case however suffered a setback Tuesday, when an appeals court invalidated the findings of the justice department on a technicality, potentially voiding the arrest warrant.

“This ruling is a setback, not only to the Ortega case, but also to the other cases of unsolved murders of journalists,” Burgos said. ■ (©AFP – November 28, 2012)

Foreign minister tells cadets ‘protect what is ours’ FOREIGN minister Albert del Rosario has told the Philippines future military top brass to “stand up to protect what is ours” amid a territorial dispute with China, the government said Saturday, November 24.

He told Philippine Military Academy cadets on Friday that their country included parts of the Spratly island chain in the South China Sea, as well as the Scarborough Shoal off the main Philippine island of Luzon.

China claims the Spratlys and the shoal as well as nearly all of the South China Sea, including waters close to the shores of its neighbours.

“We have a clear mandate from our president. What is ours is ours and we should stand up to protect what is ours,” the country’s top diplomat said,

according to a foreign department statement.

“Live up to your living commitment of courage, integrity and loyalty. By doing so, rather than being forced to accept that might is right, we will instead demonstrate that right is might.”

The school, in the northern city of Baguio, produces most of the country’s military officers.

Del Rosario told how the country’s navy and coastguard got embroiled in a stand-off in April with Chinese patrol vessels that prevented the arrest of Chinese at the Scarborough Shoal.

Philippine officials say the area is part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

Del Rosario told the cadets China

still has three ships around the shoal.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino renewed his calls at a regional summit in Cambodia last weekend for China to withdraw the vessels.

The Philippines pulled its last vessels out of the area in June, but said China failed to reciprocate.

Del Rosario said that “the territorial issues cannot be solved overnight.

However, if the Chinese ships were to be pulled out, this could create the impetus for a way forward”.

China and the Philippines, along with Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam, have overlapping claims in the Spratlys, which lie close to major shipping lanes and are believed to be rich in mineral and oil resources. ■ (©AFP – November 24, 2012)

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22

HELLO PHILIPPINES

Immigration / OFNews

www.hello-philippines.com

December 2012 – No. 22 • UK & Europe Edition

DOLE welcomes new employment protection measures for Saudi-bound HSWs to stem abuse and exploitation LABOR and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz yesterday said she is optimistic Filipino household service workers (HSWs) who will work in Saudi Arabia will be amply protected after the Philippines and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia agreed to a new Standard Employment Contract (SEC) that contains stronger guarantees for the welfare and protection for HSWs and to the resumption of the verification and authentication of employment contracts of first-time HSWs which will commence this October.

“This will pave the way for the resumption of the deployment of HSWs to the Kingdom, but with the new SEC both parties have hammered out and agreed upon, in addition to the strengthened policies and measures the DOLE and its agencies, namely the POEA, POLO, OWWA, and TESDA have set in place, we are very confident all Filipino overseas workers will get the protection they need and deserve should they find it still desirable to work in Saudi Arabia as HSWs,” Baldoz said.

Baldoz issued the statement after the KSA Embassy in Manila announced the agreement for the resumption of the HSW contract verification and authentication which had been suspended since March 2011 when the Saudi government disallowed it, compelling the Philippines to stop contract processing of new hires HSWs. Shortly after the suspension, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia convened the KSA- Philippines Joint Technical Committee which conducted meetings, discussions, and negotiations that led to the current agreement.

With the impending resumption of the deployment of HSWs to the Kingdom, Baldoz ordered Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Administrator Carmelita Dimzon of the Overseas Worker Welfare Administration (OWWA), Philippine Labor Attaches to Saudi Arabia Albert Valenciano, Alejandro Padaen, and Adam Musa, and Director Restituto dela Fuente

of the National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO) to work with licensed recruitment agencies and immediately conduct a massive public information and education campaign, both here in the Philippines and in Saudi Arabia, on the major provisions of the new HSW Standard Employment Contract to foster adequate knowledge and awareness on the dos and don’ts, pros and cons, and the risks and rewards of living and working as an HSW in Saudi Arabia.

“I have directed the widest dissemination of a simple question and answer manual on the very important provisions of this agreement, which should give us the opportunity to really deliver the message to Philippine recruitment agencies, Saudi foreign placement agencies and employers, prospective Filipino HSWs, and the concerned Filipino public that we mean business when we say the deployment of HSWs is highly-regulated, with a very strong bias for welfare and protection,” Baldoz said.

“And as such, it should start with us at the DOLE. We should already take advantage of this new agreement to enforce a stronger regulatory regime for the deployment of HSWs and ensure that abuse and exploitation of our HSWs are stopped; and that uncaring recruiters, opportunistic middlemen, and abusive employers who do not treat our HSWs with respect and dignity as human beings and as workers are penalized and banned from ever participating in overseas employment,” she emphatically explained.

And to further prepare prospective OFWs wanting to work as HSWs in Saudi Arabia even if the DOLE is exerting efforts to encourage them to stay in the Philippines, Baldoz further instructed Administrators Cacdac and Dimzon to work with TESDA and look into the Comprehensive Program on Training, Assessment, and Certification for HSWs and review jointly the module on OWWA mandatory language and culture, with a view of ensuring that only those with the required competencies are

certified and allowed to process their contracts.

She instructed that TESDA, together with POEA, should work out a system of strictly regulating and monitoring the operation of training centers and weeding out the “notoriously undesirables”.

“I also ask OWWA and the NRCO to vigorously promote the national reintegration program, including its livelihood components, such as the Balik-Pinay, Balik Hanapbuhay Program, to provide our people a clear and better option to stay and not work abroad as a HSW,” she said.

On the recruitment of prospective HSWs from the provinces, Baldoz also instructed the POEA, OWWA, and NRCO to do a nononsense implementation of the Comprehensive Pre-Departure Education Program for HSWs (preemployment and pre-departure seminars) by enabling prospective HSWs to clearly understand the unique culture of Saudi Arabia and its religion, language, customs and traditions, and laws and regulations so as to minimize cases that normally arise from cultural adjustment.

“The OWWA should re-visit the PDOS curriculum/module and intensify the close monitoring of its implementation by private sector providers. The OWWA, if necessary, should itself directly provide the PDOS,” she said.

“On the other hand, the POEA should further tighten the screws on erring employers, as well as recruitment agencies – both local and foreign. It should go hard against any or all of them, not only those hiring HSWs, but any OFW. It should simplify further its own processes and, as I have said last January, make it “easy to do” business for those who comply and “easy to go” for those who violate our rules,” Baldoz explained, adding: “I have assigned Undersecretary Danilo P. Cruz, cluster head for employment, to be on top of all these sustained welfare and protection activities and measures for our HSWs.” She said the new SEC for HSWs,

which contain 19 articles, spells out clear and specific provisions on salary (minimum US$400) and the manner of its payment (bank account to be opened by the employer for the HSW in Saudi); rest hours (at least 8 hours of continuous rest) and rest days (at least one day per week); and paid vacation leave in the Philippines (30 days for every two years of service with free round-trip economy class air ticket).

It also requires the employer to provide the HSW suitable and sanitary living quarters and adequate food, or equivalent money allowance; to allow the HSW to rest if she is sick, to continually pay her salary, and to shoulder the HSW’s medical expenses.

It also requires Saudi employers to provide free transportation from the Philippines and back upon the expiration of the HSW’s twoyear contract; to ensure timely repatriation, including during cases of termination in which the HSW is not at fault.

In case of death, the employer is required to repatriate the remains and belongings of the HSW to the Philippines as soon as legally possible and without undue delay.

In the event of war, civil disturbance, or major natural calamity, or in case the HSW suffers from serious illness or work injury medically proven to render her incapable of completing the contract, the employer is also required to repatriate the HSW at the employer’s expense.

Baldoz said one of the most important protection and welfare guarantee is the agreement and procedure on the settlement of disputes involving the HSW and the employer.

On this, her instruction was for the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices in Saudi Arabia to closely coordinate with their counterparts in the Kingdom, as well as with the Saudi foreign placement agencies/ recruitment agencies to ensure the implementation of the agreement.

The new standard employment contract also contain eight special provisions that deal with the

responsibility of informing the employer on the departure from the Philippines and arrival to Saudi Arabia of the HSW (the role of the Philippine recruitment agency and the Saudi recruitment agency); mutual respect; coverage of work (HSW to work solely for employer and immediate household); and payment of residence permit (iqama), exit/ re-entry visa, and final exit visa, including renewals and penalties resulting from delays (the employer’s responsibility).

There are also special provisions that prohibit any deduction from the salary of HSW; a provision clearly stating that the passport and iqama of the HSW shall remain in her possession; and a special provision that requires the employer to allow the HSW to freely communicate with her family and the Philippine Embassy or Consulate at her expense.

Baldoz, who expressed satisfaction at the conclusion of the agreement with the Saudi government, said she intends to use the SEC for HSWs as a guide or model for forging similar contracts with other HSW-receiving countries because “this already contains, more or less, many of the salient standards in the ILO Convention 189, or the Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers.

She also directed the members of the Philippine side of the KSA-Philippines Joint Technical Committee to continue the bilateral talks with Saudi officials on the other agreements and other areas of cooperation which remain unfinished, particularly those which the Saudi side had to implement, such as the setting up of welfare centers in the Kingdom, PH-Saudi bilateral agreement for HSW, mutual assistance in the settlement/ resolution of disputes, and creation of Saudi government-owned megarecruitment agencies.

She expressed optimism that with the goodwill generated by the initial agreements, the unfinished items, particularly the conclusion and signing of bilateral agreement on HSW, can be done before the end of the year. ■ (DOLE – September 28, 2012)

Warning about fake UK Border Agency websites and calls

UKBA are aware of a number of scam e-mails and websites claiming to be sent and operated by us; and of calls made by people posing as our staff.

The scams that we are aware of include: • Foreign criminals advertising fake UK jobs on the internet. Individuals that apply are told they have a job and are directed to a link to pay for visa and work permit fees. These websites are not operated by us, and you should not click on any of the links or pay any money.

• Students at a number of UK

universities have received calls from individuals who claim they work for the UK Border Agency, giving a false name and a return phone number. These calls are not from the UK Border Agency. The caller may appear to be genuine and convincing and explain that there is a serious problem with your immigration status, and that you need to send a payment as soon as possible to prevent further action including deportation.

• A request for payment of a deposit as proof that you have sufficient funds to support your arrival in the

UK until your first salary is received.

The scams which we are aware of have been reported by us to action fraud, the UK’s national fraud reporting centre. There may also be other scams which have not been brought to our attention.

If you believe that you received a suspicious call or e-mail, or come across a suspicious website: • Do not give out any personal information, or confirm that any personal information they have is correct • Do not make any payment • Do report the matter online to

action fraud (www.actionfraud. police.uk) or by calling Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.

You should always access the official UK Border Agency website by typing: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk into your internet browser. Official UK government websites will have a .gov. uk at the end of their website address.

When e-mailing us, you should also ensure that the e-mail address is genuine. The following example are what you would expect when receiving or sending an email to us: name. surname@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk or name. surname@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.

Sometimes these exact addresses will appear on the screen, but when you click on the address, a different e-mail address will be selected, so you should also be aware of this.

The UK government will never use free e-mail accounts such as hotmail, yahoomail, or gmail to contact you.

For further information on genuine UK Border Agency visa application fees, please see the Fees for our services page. If you wish to check if letters or emails are genuine, please visit our countries list page on this website and select your country for contact details. ■ (UKBA – November 29, 2012)

24

HELLO PHILIPPINES

Immigration / OFNews

www.hello-philippines.com

December 2012 – No. 22 • UK & Europe Edition

POEA to cancel license of recruitmentCacdac firms violating rules on household service workers said deployment of of salaries or remittances without or death of the worker; d) grave

THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration yesterday reiterated that recruitment agencies found violating government rules on the recruitment and deployment of Filipino household service workers (HSWs) face penalties such as suspension and cancelation of license depending on the gravity and frequency of the offenses.

Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac said DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz has instructed him to make recruiters observe the HSW reform package as provided by the various POEA Governing Board resolutions issued in 2006.

Cacdac said the reforms are the following: 1) Minimum deployable

age increased from 18 to 23; 2) Minimum entry salary increased from US$ 200 to US$ 400 per month; 3). Prohibition on collection of placement fee from the HSW, whether done prior to their departure or on-site through salary selection; 4) Higher competency standards for prequalification of workers -- HSW NC2 TESDA Certificate of Competency and attendance to the Language and Culture Orientation provided for free by OWWA; 5) Higher standard of prequalification for Foreign Placement Agency and its foreign employer; and 6) Prohibition on HSWs/DHs markets as compliance with new market requirements for issuance of new license.

Changes to the Immigration Rules

THURSDAY, November 22, 2012, a written ministerial statement has been laid in Parliament outlining a number of changes to the Immigration Rules which will come in to force on 13 December 2012.

These include non substantive changes for sponsors and migrants coming to the UK under the following routes of the points-based system: • Tier 1 - entrepreneurs and investors.

• Tier 2 - skilled workers, including changes for senior intra-company transfers.

• Tier 4 - students, including extending the interim limit.

• Tier 5 - temporary workers including the requirements for the government authorised exchange category and private servants in a diplomatic household.

• Sponsorship - revised sponsorship guidance will be published in December.

In addition, there are changes to the Rules affecting: Criminality • Establishing a more robust and clear criminality framework to assess immigration applications against which immigration applications will be assessed.

• Recalculating the length of time, based on the length of sentence,

before we will revoke a deportation order.

• Introduction of a re-entry ban, for some foreign national offenders who have been removed from the UK as part of a conditional caution and additional powers to end (curtail) a migrant’s visa or leave.

• Creation of a ‘route’ for ex-Armed Forces to remain in the UK. Settlement • Amendments to clarify the absences from the UK that are allowed during the continuous residence period for Tier 1 (General), Tier 2 and prepoints based system work routes (for example work permits, selfemployment and business person).

Family and private life • Minor changes to the child and parent routes to make them as clear and comprehensive as possible.

There will also be some changes to the Youth Mobility Scheme quotas and Tier 4 loan letters in early 2013.

For full details, please see the Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules and the explanatory memorandum within the document.

The written ministerial statement and statement of policy can be found on the Home Office website. ■ (UKBA –

November 22, 2012)

underage workers and collection of placement fee from an HSW are serious offenses that carry the penalty of cancellation of license.

Some of the less serious offenses committed by recruiters include the following: 1) contract substitution or altering, to the prejudice of the worker, contracts approved and verified by the POEA; 2) falsifying or altering travel documents such as visa, passport or birth certificate of the worker; 3) deploying workers whose employment and travel documents were not processed by the POEA; 4) deploying workers to employers or principals not accredited by the POEA; 5) failing to provide PDOS to the worker; and 6) withholding

justifiable reasons.

Under the POEA rules, the penalties for less serious offenses are the following: a) 2 to 6 months suspension for the first offense; b) 6 months to 1 year suspension for the second offense; and c) cancellation of license for the third offense.

The administrator said erring foreign employers also face sanctions under POEA rules.

Offenses by foreign employers such as: a) default on its contractual obligations to the migrant worker and/or to its Philippine agent; b) gross violation of laws, rules and regulations on overseas employment; c) gross negligence leading to serious injury or illness

misconduct; e) conviction of an offense involving moral turpitude; and f) any other cases analogous to the foregoing have the penalty of suspension of its accreditation for the first offense, and disqualification from participation in the overseas employment program of the Philippines for the second offense.

Cacdac, citing the increasing number of Filipino HSWs who have filed cases against their recruiters and employers, had reminded recruitment agencies that they shall be held accountable for recruitment violations, incidents of abuse, exploitation, or breach of contract committed by household employers against our domestic workers. ■ (POEA – October 10, 2012)

POEA to vacationing OFWs: Get your exit clearance early

“AVOID the rush. Avoid the long lines”.

Thus said Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac yesterday as he advised balik-manggagawa or overseas Filipino workers spending the holiday season in the Philippines to get their overseas employment certificate or exit clearance early and not get caught with the last-minute dash to return to their jobs abroad.

Cacdac said that the POEA, for several weeks now, have been gearing up for the anticipated arrival of thousands of OFWs this December and their subsequent departure after Christmas and New Year’s Day. “The POEA has been improving its systems and expanding its facilities for the workers’ convenience, but still, we warn our OFWs not to wait for the last day of their vacation to get the exit clearance,” Cacdac said.

Cacdac advised OFWs to avoid the week after December 25 and January 1 when thousands of them troop to the POEA main office to have their travel documents processed.

He said the satellite processing units Trinoma, Quezon City; SM Manila near the Manila City Hall; and the Duty Free store in Parañaque City are now operational and are ready to accept applications for exit clearance during shopping hours.

OFWs going to their provinces may also acquire their exit clearance from

the POEA’s offices in Baguio City; San Fernando City, La Union; Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark Field, Pampanga; Calamba City; Legaspi City; Tacloban City; Iloilo City; Bacolod City; Cebu City, Cagayan de Oro City; Butuan City; Davao City; and Zamboanga City.

However, Cacdac said the most convenient way especially for those with tight schedule or little time to spare for the exit document, is to use the POEA’s balik-manggagawa appointment system which is free and available at bmappointment.poea.gov. ph. With the appointment service, the worker may choose the time, date, and processing unit most suitable to him or her.

Cacdac said OFWs may also get their exit clearance or OEC at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) nearest their jobsite before their departure to the Philippines.

The POEA also issues to OFWs a multiple travel exit clearance (MTEC), co-terminus with the validity of their employment contracts, but which shall not exceed two (2) years. The worker has the option to secure a maximum of 2 travel exit clearance during the validity of her or his existing contract depending on the provisions of the contract allowing frequent vacations.

According to Cacdac, the following are considered balik-maggagawa:

1). a worker who is on vacation or on leave from employment under a valid and existing employment contract and who is returning to the same employer regardless of any change in jobsite, to finish the remaining unexpired portion of the contract; 2). a worker who was rehired by the same employer after finishing his/ her contract and who is returning to the same employer, regardless of a change in jobsite; 3). a returning worker whose employment contract was not processed with the POEA but was subsequently verified and registered with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in the jobsite and who is returning to the same employer either as a worker-on-leave or rehire, regardless of any change in jobsite.

Returning workers would have to pay Php100 for POEA processing fee; US$25 or its peso equivalent for OWWA contribution on a per contract coverage; Php1,200 for one year Philhealth coverage; and a minimum of Php100 contribution to Pagibig Fund, Cacdac added.

The required documents are: 1) Php passport valid for 6 months from time of departure; 2) Valid working visa/work permit: 3) Proof of employment such as certificate of employment, company ID, pay slip, and other equivalent document. ■ (POEA – November 28, 2012)

Mandatory online payment for UK visas announced in the Philippines Filipino dies of burns from US oil rig fire

FROM 17 December 2012 all UK visa applicants in the Philippines will be required to pay for their visa online, in US Dollars, as part of the online application process using either a Visacard or Mastercard.

Other methods of payment will not be accepted from this date.

Once you have applied and paid for your visa online you will still need to visit the visa application centre to submit your documents and provide your biometrics (fingerprints and digital photograph). Appointments to attend the visa application centre should be booked online when you are completing your online application form.

If you completed your online application form prior to 17 December 2012, you will still be able to pay for your visa application using one of the current methods of payment available until 13 January 2013. From 14 January 2013 only applications where the payment has been made online will be accepted.

The integration of payment into the online system will provide a more streamlined visa application process for customers and is part of a wider move to allow almost all of our customers to apply and pay for their visas online by 2013/14. ■ (UKBA –

December 4, 2012)

A Filipino worker who was badly burned in an explosion on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico last week has died from his injuries, the Philippines embassy said Friday, November 23.

His death brings the toll from the November 16 blast off the coast of Louisiana to three, all of whom were Filipinos.

Welder Avelino Tajonera, 49, died a few hours after his wife and three children arrived at the Texas hospital Thursday night.

“The Filipino nation joins his family in grieving over their loss,” Philippine Ambassador Jose Cuisia, Jr. said in a statement.

©US Coast Guard/AFP/File

A platform fire on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico is extinguished.

The body of Ellroy Corporal, 42, was recovered Saturday and will be repatriated Tuesday. Rescue workers were unable to find Jerome Malagapo, 28, who was lost at sea.

Nine of the 22 workers doing maintenance work on the nonproducing platform were Filipinos working for a sub-contractor.

About nine million Filipinos, or 10 percent of the Philippines population, are abroad to work in better-paying jobs than they can get in their largely impoverished homeland.

Rig operator Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations had a history of safety violations and US regulators warned Wednesday the Houston-based company could lose its license if it does not improve its safety performance. ■ (©AFP – Chicago, USA – November 23, 2012)

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26

HELLO PHILIPPINES

Immigration / OFNews

www.hello-philippines.com

December 2012 – No. 22 • UK & Europe Edition

Avoid internet job scams POEA goes after recruitment agencies violating rules on household workers ADMINISTRATOR Hans Leo J. • Mistakes in English grammar and Cacdac yesterday issued a warning on the proliferation of employment scams in the internet and at the same time offered helpful tips on how to avoid them.

Cacdac said more applicants use the internet to find jobs and with the popularity of internet-ready gadgets, and job search and social networking websites, they become easy victims of illegal recruiters and job scammers.

Cacdac said his office has received numerous queries and complaints about unsolicited e-mails, websites, and other job advertisements that offer employment overseas which were found to be fake.

As modus operandi, these unscrupulous persons would build bogus company websites or blogs, advertise in legitimate online job search companies, send mass emails, or enter discussion boards or forums that are frequented by overseas Filipino workers to lure their victims, Cacdac said.

Administrator Cacdac identified some indicative signs that the job offer is a scam as follows: • The website is crudely made with incomplete links and information about the company • Applicants are asked to send resume and application through postal mail or drop boxes • The e-mail address used has nothing to do with the real company • The job offer received through e-mail is unsolicited

spelling in the website or e-mail • Applicants are asked to pay in advance through a courier or remittance company supposedly for training, work permit, and other travel documents • Money-back guarantee offer • The salary and other benefits such as free food and accommodation are too good-to-be- true • Applicants are asked to send details of bank or credit card account • Cacdac said job applicants should also be cautious of recruitment websites that use “poea” in their domain names or titles. “poea.gov.ph is the official website of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. Other websites with ‘poea’ attached to their domain names, e.g. jobspoea.com, facebook. com/pages/POEA-Jobs-Abroad, poeajobsabroad.org, poea-jobsabroad. blogspot.com, poeanursingjobs.info, poeaworkabroad.net, are not in any way connected with the POEA and are not authorized or licensed to recruit Filipinos for overseas jobs,” Cacdac said.

Cacdac also advises workers to apply directly with licensed recruitment agencies or submit resumes only to popular online job search companies.

The POEA allows licensed recruitment agencies to advertise their job orders in their respective webpages or job search sites if the vacancies are covered by manpower requests of accredited employers. ■ (POEA – October 9, 2012)

POEA launches balik-manggagawa online appointment system

BALIK-MANGGAGAWA or vacationing overseas Filipino workers now have the option to set an appointment with the POEA for the processing of their exit clearance or overseas employment certificate (OEC), Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac announced.

Cacdac said the appointment system, which will be launched on November 5, 2012, was developed for the convenience of returning workers who have limited time to spend with their respective families during their stay in the country specially this coming holiday season.

The POEA has put up counters at its main office in Mandaluyong City, Duty Free Philippines in Parañaque City and SM Manila to accommodate those who choose to get their exit clearance at a specific date and time.

Cacdac advised OFWs to use the appointment system particularly during the peak months of March, April, May, November, December and January when the bulk of OFWs return home for vacation.

The appointment service is free and is available at bmappointment. poea.gov.ph.

While encouraging the use of the system, Cacdac explained that the

POEA has not totally scrapped its facility for walk-in clients.

“We are just starting out with the system and we believe that OFWs without access to internet would still prefer getting their OEC the usual way without setting an appointment with us,” Cacdac said.

Cacdac emphasized that the documentary requirements for those using the appointment system and walk-in processing are the same: 1) Passport valid for 6 months from time of departure; 2) Valid working visa/ work permit: 3) Proof of employment such as certificate of employment, company ID, pay slip, and other equivalent document.

Returning workers have to pay Php100 for POEA processing fee; US$25 or its peso equivalent for OWWA contribution on a per contract coverage; Php1,200 for one year Philhealth coverage; and a minimum of Php100 contribution to Pag-ibig Fund, Cacdac added.

Cacdac said OFWs may also get their exit clearance or OEC at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) nearest their jobsite before their departure to the Philippines, or at the POEA regional offices while they are in their respective provinces. ■

(POEA – October 30, 2012)

THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration trains its sight on recruitment agencies violating rules and regulations concerning Filipino household service workers (HSWs) as it ordered last month the preventive suspension of four recruitment agencies for deploying underage HSWs, illegal collection of placement fees, and other recruitment violations.

Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac said that based on the complaints of several female OFWs, he issued separate suspension orders against Happy World Human Resource and Recruitment Agency Inc., B&E Overseas Manpower Services Corporation, AFT International Manpower Services, and A-M Professional Services Corporation to prevent them from further circumventing government policies that seek to protect our household workers from abuse.

Cacdac said the protective mechanism for household service workers is embodied in a series of resolutions issued by the POEA Governing Board in 2006. The special issuances provided for the minimum age of 23 years old, minimum entry salary of US$400, exemption from placement fee, TESDA NCII certification, and OWWA language and orientation seminars, among others. The resolutions took effect on 16 December 2006.

“The Philippine Senate’s ratification of ILO Convention No. 189 or the Decent Work for Domestic Workers

Convention, which was officially accepted by the International Labor Organization, further strengthened our resolve to enforce special measures to safeguard the rights and welfare of our household workers,” Cacdac added.

Cacdac said that from January to September 2012, the POEA has cancelled the licenses of 10 recruitment agencies charged with violation of specific rules on household service workers.

Cacdac identified the agencies as Lucky International Placement Services, Inc., Dreams Manpower and Recruitment Agency, Multi System Conexions International, Inc., Hope International Manpower Services, Ritz Manpower Services, Philippine Integrated Labor Assistance Corporation, Vogue Plus Promotions, First Asian Career Solutions, Inc., Versatile International Services, Inc., and M.R.C. Promotion and Management Inc. In her complaint against Happy World Human Resources and Recruitment Agency, Rahma I. Ampaso narrated that she was only 19 years old when she was deployed as domestic worker to Qatar last year. She escaped from her employer for fear of bodily harm from the employer’s children who, armed with knives, would enter her room unannounced even in the wee hours of the morning.

Another OFW, Nor-Ain Ponding of Davao City, alleged that B&E Overseas Manpower Services Corporation recruited and deployed her when she

was 19 years old. She reported that she left her employment in Qatar after her employer’s two drivers attempted molesting her.

Ms. Ponding also charged B&E Overseas Manpower Services Corporation of illegal exaction of placement fee and misrepresentation.

Two complainants, Rebecca B. Nola and Saguira B. Mamaluba, accused A-M Professional Services Corporation and AFT International Manpower Services of falsifying their travel documents, misrepresentation, illegal exaction of placement fees, and violation of other related rules and regulations.

In their joint statement, Nola and Mamaluba admitted that they were two years short of the minimum age requirement for household workers when they were deployed.

Nola alleged that she used a fake birth certificate provided by the recruitment agency when she applied for her passport in the DFA office in Cotabato City. She said she ran away from her employer in Qatar because of physical maltreatment.

Mamaluba said she left her Qatari employer after seven months of suffering from maltreatment. She complained that she was made to work beyond waking hours and was given insufficient food.

Cacdac said that while the license of the aforementioned agencies is suspended, they cannot engage in any activity related to recruitment and deployment of overseas Filipino workers. ■ (POEA – October 2, 2012)

PH Consulate in Toronto warns against nurse recruitment scam THE Philippine Consulate General in Toronto (Toronto PCG) warned the public against a scam circulating by e-mail which offers Philippine nurses non-existent jobs in Toronto-based hospitals.

A report from Toronto PCG said the email contained offers for work with Shouldice and other hospitals in Toronto. It invites nurses to “coaching interviews” conducted by staff of the said hospitals in Makati in preparation for supposed interviews to be conducted by the Canadian embassy in Manila.

Participants are made to pay a fee of PhP3,888 for the “coaching interview”, which is a prelude to a 2-day seminar at the completion of the initial consultation, the Consulate said .

According to Shouldice Hospital, it has been represented illegitimately and falsely by an “unidentified” agency in the PH as conducting interviews of nurses. These Filipino nurses have been sent emails supposedly from Shouldice Hospital.

In the past few days, Shouldice Hospital has been receiving at

least 100 emails and telephone inquiries about the coaching interviews by its staff in a Makati location, for potential employment in its hospital in Thornhill, Ontario.

These would-be participants are asked to send money via Western Union, specifically to somebody using Shouldice Hospital’s officers including its CEO. The Consulate General “advises recipients to be wary of such invitations, especially those that demand money from potential applicants.” ■ (POEA – November 20, 2012)

FROM 1 December 2012, the requirement to provide the UK Border Agency with biometric information is changing.

If you are from outside the European Economic Area or Switzerland and you are granted permission to stay in the UK for more than 6 months on or after 1 December 2012, you must apply for a biometric residence permit (if you have not already done so). If you are affected by the change we will write to you about how to apply for your biometric residence permit.

This is to ensure that from 1 December we only issue this new format of immigration status document. This is to meet our obligations under European legislation.

Biometric residence permits are replacing older forms of documentation and the new format is helping employers and other bodies to check the immigration status and entitlements of foreign nationals.

They are both simpler to understand and are more convenient for foreign nationals living in the UK to use. The application process also enables the agency to check a person against both our records and police fingerprint records.

We have been rolling out biometric residence permits to different visa categories over the last 4 years. This means that applicants have been enrolling their biometric information (fingerprints and facial images) to

apply for a biometric residence permit at the same time as making their application to stay in the UK. Some people will have applied to stay in the UK before there was a requirement to provide biometric information in their category, and will not have provided their biometric information. If these people are granted permission to stay on or after 1 December 2012, either at first consideration or after a successful appeal, they will need to apply for a biometric residence permit.

These measures are helping to combat illegal immigration, abuse of the immigration system and the misuse of public funds. ■ (UKBA –

Changes to the requirements for biometric residence permits

November 30, 2012)

30

HELLO PHILIPPINES

ENVIRONMENT / NATURE

www.hello-philippines.com

158 caves under protection

THE government has put 158 caves under the protection of the environment department to safeguard them from treasurehunters, vandals and looters, it was announced Saturday, November 3.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources said the caves, which are scattered across the country, would be protected both by the department and local governments.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said caves were a valuable natural resource for their scientific, historical and cultural value.

“Yet they are also in constant

threat from destructive human activities like vandalism, treasure hunting, pollution and illegal extraction of resources,” he said in a statement.

Many caves in the Philippines have been illegally excavated by people searching for treasure, valuable minerals, artefacts to be sold as antiques or even stalagmites and stalactites which are sold as decorations.

Under the order, 118 caves have been classified as being closed to the general public because they are too dangerous or contain valuable geological formations, threatened

December 2012 – No. 22 • UK & Europe Edition ©AFP/File, Noel Celis

species or historical artefacts.

Such caves will be accessible only by scientists, researchers or trained spelunkers, the department said.

Another 40 caves were listed as “generally safe,” and remain open to the general public to visit or for activities such as collecting guano and bird’s nests for soup, the department added.

The department’s wildlife protection bureau has counted at least 1,756 caves scattered across the Southeast Asian archipelago but only a small number have been checked and classified by authorities. ■ (©AFP – November 3, 2012)

Half of all wetlands destroyed since 1900 AN alarming 50 percent of the world’s wetlands have been destroyed in the last 100 years, threatening human welfare at a time of increasing water scarcity, a new report said.

Wetlands serve as a source of drinking water and provide protection against floods and storms, yet they have been decimated to make space for housing, factories and farms or damaged by unsustainable water use and pollution.

“In just over 100 years we have managed to destroy 50 percent of the world’s wetlands,” said Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme.

“It is a startling figure,” he said at

a UN conference in Hyderabad.

The report, compiled by an ongoing research project entitled TEEB, or The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, said coastal wetland losses in some regions, including Asia, have been happening at a rate of 1.6 percent per year.

“Taking mangroves as an example, 20 per cent (3.6 million hectares) of total coverage has been lost since 1980, with recent rates of loss of up to one percent per year,” the report said.

“We need wetlands because our existence, our food and our water is at stake,” said Ritesh Kumar of the environmental group Wetlands International.

Wetlands are known to cover about 13 million square kilometres (five million square miles) of the Earth’s surface, and are a natural sink for Earth-warming carbon dioxide, act as fish nurseries and are important tourist attractions.

In the United States alone, wetlands are estimated to provide $23 billion worth of storm protection every year, the report said.

The report was released at a conference of the UN Convention on Biodiversity, where environment ministers will hold three days of talks from Wednesday to try and raise funds to stop the decline of Earth’s natural resources. ■ (©AFP – Hyderabad, India – October 17, 2012)

A photo taken in February and released by the Biodiversity Conservation Programme (BCP) shows one of the ten new species of owl – Ninox-Reyi – found in Tawi-Tawi, on the southern island of Mindanao. Scientists and birdwatchers discovered the ten new owl species in the Philippines, using advanced recording equipment that can distinguish between their hoots.

New owl species

discovered in Philippines

SCIENTISTS and birdwatchers have discovered 10 new owl species in the Philippines, using advanced recording equipment that can distinguish between their hoots, a conservation official said.

Eight of the new species were previously considered subspecies while two are totally new, said Lisa Paguntalan, field director of Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Programme.

“There is no significant variation in their forms. It was the sound difference of their calls that was very significant in distinguishing between species,” she told AFP. Paguntalan warned that many of these new species were possibly endangered because they were found only in small isolated islands or in tiny pockets of forests.

Ornithologists and birdwatchers from Michigan State University,

Birdlife International and other groups used museum samples and high-quality photography and recording systems to show the owls were of different species.

The research took 10 years but the results were only announced after coordination between the various groups.

The two new species are the Cebu hawk owl and the Camiguin hawk owl, found in the central Philippine islands of Cebu and Camiguin respectively.

They are described as about eight to 12 inches (20 to 30.5 centimetres) in size and hard to spot.

The Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands with diverse animal species evolving in different parts of the country but many of these unique species are threatened by destruction of their habitat. ■ (©AFP – August 19, 2012)

A wetland forest at the Danau Sentarum National Park is pictured in 2010 on Indonesian Borneo island.

An alarming 50 percent of the world›s wetlands have been destroyed in the last 100 years, threatening. human welfare ©AFP/Graphic

ORTOe at a time of increasing water scarcity, a new report said Tuesday.

“Wash down Pure Foods Corned Beef with Red Horse Beer.”

32

HELLO PHILIPPINES

Celebrity, Showbiz & Entertainment

www.hello-philippines.com

December 2012 – No. 22 • UK & Europe Edition

Nora Aunor mania rages this December with ‘Himala’ in HD, 2 MMFF entries Arnel Ramos, InterAksayon.com NORAMANIA rages this December with four Nora Aunor-centric events that will send the whole town talking.

In celebration of Ishmael Bernal’s hypnotic 1982 classic “Himala” turning 30 this year, a restored version of the film that starred Nora Aunor in her most iconic role will be exhibited at the Cinema One Originals film festival in early December.

Jointly restored by the ABS-CBN Film Archive and Central Digital Lab. Inc., this “Himala” in HD (high definition) premiered at the 69th Venice International Film Festival last September.

“Himala” features one of the superstar’s most iconic roles, that of the bogus visionary Elsa. It was on the set of “Himala” in Ilocos that its screenwriter Ricky Lee met the legendary actress for the first time.

“I was already a fan back then,” Lee told InterAksyon via email, “kasi superstar na siya noon, samantalang ako kabago-bago ko lang sa movies.

Since I was the one who chose her to

be Elsa in ‘Himala,’ siyempre I was praying that she would say ‘yes’ to the project so when she said ‘yes,’ that was heaven-sent.”

Aunor and Lee would become lifelong friends but not right there on the set of “Himala”.

“I would often go to the set in Ilocos and I would see her,” recalls the screenwriter. “Mahiyain siya at tahimik, nakaupo lang sa isang tabi, walang kaarte-arte, parang hindi superstar. Eh ako mahiyain din, kaya halos ‘di kami nagkakausap. It was only later when we did ‘Andrea’ (in 1990) together that we became good friends at mabilis kaming nagkasundo.”

Coinciding with “Himala” in HD’s Venice premiere was the inclusion of “Thy Womb,” Nora’s first film with internationally acclaimed Pinoy filmmaker Dante Mendoza, in the main competition category in the prestigious fesatival.

After being shut out of the eight official entries in the annual Metro Manila Film Festival, “Thy Womb” ended up joining the festival anyway.

Nora Aunor in ‘Thy Womb’.

It took over the slot vacated by “Kwento ni Lola Basyang” which backed out from the race.

This means that Aunor has two MMFF entries this year. She also appears in a guest role as the second wife of Emilio Aguinaldo in the biopic “El Presidente.”

On television, Nora just won a Best TV Drama Actress award from the Philippine Movie Press Club for “Sa Ngalan Ng Ina,” her first project with her new home network TV5 and also her last collaboration with the late esteemed director, Mario O’Hara.

Nora likewise shines in a small yet integral part as a fairy queen in

Nora Aunor in ‘Himala’.

TV5’s well-received fantasy series “Enchanted Garden.”

She may have had ups and downs in her lengthy and checkered career as a movie queen but Nora continues to be relevant and timeless. She has, in fact, ceased to be merely iconic.

Nora Aunor has become immortal.

Ricky Lee tries to explain his dear friend’s enduring appeal.

“She will always be a beautiful enigma to all of us. Sometimes the audience and her fans feel that they already know her very well, but the next instance she proves to be as mysterious as ever. She has retained that mystique that keeps you asking

for more from her, that keeps you wanting to know her more and more.

“She makes you feel like she is just like your ordinary neighbor, na kapantay mo lang siya, pero at the same time you also feel that she is above there, brilliant and unreachable. She combines the uncombinable. She makes you feel that everything good is possible.”

Nora’s current manager, Noel Ferrer, offers: “She has defied the conventions of a star and has given the term a new meaning and elevated it to a level that no one in Philippine show business has ever achieved.” ■ (Interaksyon.com – November 20, 2012)

Derek Ramsay leads exciting TV5 event in Guam

TV5 International treated its loyal Guam subscribers to a memorable night of fun and entertainment with “Give Me 5, Kapatid” held last November 10. Filipinos in the area trooped to the famous Phoenix Center to experience the spectacular show headlined by Kapatid heartthrob Derek Ramsay.

Currently gearing up for the upcoming superhero series Kidlat, Derek took time off from his busy schedule to meet with TV5 supporters in Guam. The charming actor serenaded the crowd with a few love songs and enthusiastically played a dating game with members of the audience. The lucky participants even got to steal a hug (or two) from the affable star.

Kapatid star Arnell Ignacio also joined in on the festivities, taking the reigns as the show’s host. The Game

‘N Go gamekeeper left the crowd in stitches with his hilarious quips during the games. He even got everyone up on their feet and dance to the hit song “Oppa Gangnam Style.” Arnell also performed a few songs for our kababayans. Joining Derek and Arnell was singer Geneva Cruz who wowed the audience with her rousing concertstyle performance.

“Give Me 5, Kapatid” was TV5’s way of giving back for all the support the Filipinos in the region have shown for TV5’s two international channels, Kapatid TV5 and Aksyon TV International. During the event, TV5 International also launched several promo packages much to the delight of the subscribers. With the success of this event, Kapatid supporters in Guam should expect bigger and more exciting promos and events in the future. ■

Janine Tugonon off to Las Vegas for Ms. Universe pageant Asti Flores, GMA News

by President Aquino during the 2012 Presidential Awards for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas in Malacañang on Wednesday, December 5. ■ (GMA

BINIBINING Pilipinas-Universe Janine Tugonon poses with other Bb. Pilipinas title holders during a send-off press conference in Quezon City on Tuesday, November 27.

Tugonon will compete in the 2012 Ms. Universe pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 19. ■ (GMA News

News – December 5, 2012)

– December 4, 2012)

Apl.de.ap receives award from Pnoy Benhur Arcayan, GMA News FiIL-AM artist Allan ‘Apl.de.ap’ Pineda of the Black Eyed Peas renders a song after he was awarded with a ‘Pamana ng Pilipino Award’

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34

HELLO PHILIPPINES

www.hello-philippines.com

Celebrity, Showbiz & Entertainment

December 2012 – No. 22 • UK & Europe Edition

Filipino Filmaker Will Fredo named Best Director in International Film Festival Manhattan, New York WILL Fredo was named Best Director for the movie The Caregiver in the ongoing International Film Festival Manhattan (IFFM) NYC. The award was handed during the opening ceremonies on November 8, 2012. The festival runs from November 9 to 15 at the Quad Cinemas, 34 West 13th Street, New York.

The Caregiver is the story of Carlito Mariposa (Joshua Deocareza) who is nursing Agustin Vergeire (Marcus Madrigal), a “sepaktakraw” (competitive hacky sack) player who was badly injured in one of his crucial games. Confined in a very limited and shrunken world, the two developed an unlikely attraction that had Carlito thread an unexpected journey of selfdiscovery, shedding layers of skin along the way like a deadly viper.

Completing the cast are Liza Diño, CJ Mercado, Jake Macapagal, Lynn Sherman, Lily Chiu, Miguel Castro, Mika Margolles and Leo Rialp. Elin

Jr., a Filipino-Australian musician provided the musical score.

Fredo is the only Filipino winner of the Merit and Juried awards handed out that night. Among the winners were Stefan Immler for Oxygen for Ears (Best US Documentary), Tetsu Shiratori (Japan) for Inori (Best Global Documentary), Daren Press for Theresa is a Mother (Best US Narrative) and Nikolay Iliev (Bulgaria) for The Foreigner (Best Global Narrative).

Fredo, in his acceptance speech, mentioned that the award was unexpected given the quality of films in competition. He intimated that The Caregiver is a personal film and is delighted to have found a very appreciative audience in this festival.

Luis Pedron, Director of IFFMNYC, forwards that “the directorial prowess of Will Fredo and the acting skills of Filipino actors, show the relationship between a caregiver and a patient. The narrative ends with a

jaw dropping twist!”

In attendance in the opening and awards night were Liza Diño, who stood in for Gregory Macaraeg, President of HUBO Productions, to receive the Mount Hope Project Award for the film Ganap na Babae (Garden of Eve), and Fernell Cruz, Board Member.

HUBO Productions is an independent multi-media production company that is known for its core film ventures. To date, HUBO has released three-full length films. In Nomine Matris, its fourth offering, is an official selection in the New Wave Cinema Category of the 38th Metro Manila Film Festival which will run December 18 – 22, 2012. HUBO has ventured its artistic reach in music, theatre, dance, and visual arts.

HUBO encourages artistry through practical means, and dedicates its art to stimulate the mind however unconventional and unfamiliar. ■

(New York City, USA – November 9, 2012)

IFFM 2012 Best Director Will Fredo

The Caregiver – Official Poster

Ganap na Babae (Garden of Eve) – International Poster

IFFM 2012 Best Director Will Fredo and actress Liza Diño

IFFM 2012 Best Director Will Fredo, actress Liza Diño, and The Caregiver producer Fernell Cruz

International Film Festival Manhattan Awards Night

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39

OCAMPO AIMING FOR A FILIPINO DOUBLE WITH PACQUIAO

JOSE Ocampo says he’ll defeat WBO World Lightweight Champion Ricky Burns and Manny Pacquiao will beat Juan Manuel Marquez to make it a Filipino double.

Pacquiao takes on Marquez for a fourth time in Las Vegas this Saturday, 8 December and a week later on Saturday, 15 December, Ocampo challenges Burns for his title at the ExCeL London.

Ocampo, 23, was born in the Sarangani province where Pacquiao is the current Congressman and he reckons his countryman will beat the Mexican great for a third time.

“Manny has got a tough fight, Marquez is still a big threat, but I can see him winning convincingly this time,” Said Ocampo.

“I will be watching the fight before travelling to London to finish preparations for my fight with Burns later that week,”

“I hope that Pacquiao does it and I’m sure he will, it would be fantastic for our country for Pacquiao to win and for me to win the world title,” “I’ll be coming to London with only one thing on my mind and that is to win the title.”

Ocampo added that he would throw a spanner in the works of any plans the Scotsman has of facing American star Adrien Broner.

If Burns comes through against Ocampo then he could be looking a unification showdown with new the WBC World champion next year, but Ocampo says that won’t happen.

He added, “It’s disrespectful that Burns is looking ahead of me next Saturday when I’ll give him the hardest fight of his life,” “He will not beat me and the Broner fight will not happen. If anything I’ll be the one to face Broner.”

©Philboxing.com/Carlos Costa

©Philboxing.com/Carlos Costa

Jose Ocampo

Burns v Ocampo headlines a massive six-title card that features George Groves defending his Commonwealth SuperMiddleweight title against Glen Johnson in the chief support; plus Commonwealth Middleweight Champion Billy Joe Saunders defends his title against Nick Blackwell with the vacant British title also on the line; unbeaten Bradley Skeete challenges Southern

Area Welterweight Champion Chas Symonds for his title and WBO International Cruiserweight Champion Tony Conquest defends against Neil Dawson.

Tickets priced from £40 are available at www.eventim.co.uk or by calling 0844 249 1000.

The show will be live and exclusive on BoxNation (Sky Channel 437 / Virgin Channel 546).

Join at www.boxnation.com. ■

Name: Jose Ocampo Birth Name: Jose Mier Ocampo III Born: 06-06-1989 (Age: 23) Birthplace: Sarangani, Philippines Hometown: Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines Alias: The Bomber Stance: Southpaw Division: Lightweight Boxing Record: won 17 (KO 12) + lost 5 (KO 0) + drawn 1 = 23 / rounds boxed 109 KO% 52.17 Regional & Minor Titles: • WBO Asia Pacific Super Featherweight Title (March 2012) • WBO Oriental Lightweight Title (April 2011) •Interim Philippines Boxing Federation (PBF) Lightweight Title (April 2009)

JOSE OCAMPO CHALLENGES BRITISH RICKY BURNS FOR WBO LIGHTWEIGHT WORLD CROWN IN ENGLAND

unbeaten European champion Liam Walsh (13-0, 10KO’s), but Walsh had an accident and had to pull out, so it will be Ocampo the one to climb the ring on Dec 15.

The 23 year-old Jose Ocampo, born in Sarangani, Philippines, who captured the Asia Pacific super

featherweight (130 lbs) title last March, will fight for a first tile for a world title in his second fight away from his native Philippines.

In April of last year as a huge underdog, the then featherweight (126 lbs) Jose Ocampo climbed two weight classes to square off world #2 Lightweight (135 lbs) Thai Tor Silachai in Petchaburi, Thailand, in an intense combat attended by this author.

In spectacular fashion Ocampo knocked out the more experienced Thailander to earn the Asian Pacific belt and a place in the world rankings.

Now in preparation for his world title battle against the talented Burns, Ocampo has been going through a rigorous training in a paradisaical beach in the Philippines, informed Ocampo’s promoter Sammy Gelloani.

“Jose Ocampo has been in

training since September at my SGG training camp at the seaside resort Municipality of Baliangao, Misamis Occidental (Mindanao) in the southern Philippines.

“My fighter (Ocampo) has been sparring with stablemates Rey Labao (Filipino Lightweight Champion), featherweight Weng Haya, Cebuano featherweight Jessie Cris Rosales and 154 pounder Mark Jason Melligen.”

In his big fight in England, Ocampo will be accompanied by his head trainer Danilo Bactol, second/ cutman Celso Epanto and his promoter Sammy Gello-Ani. The four will leave for London next Tuesday, December 10, five days before the important night.

The Burns-Ocampo fight for the WBO Lightweight World Title at the ExCeL London Arena is a production of Hall-of-Famer British promoter Frank Warren of BoxNation. ■

the hardest fight of my career so far against a young hungry challenger who will be looking to take my title,” Said Burns “Filipino fighters are as tough as they come, just look at Pacquiao and Nonito Donnaire, like the Mexican’s and African’s they come to have a fight and Ocampo will do just that.

If he fights like those two, as people

say he does, then I’ll be in for a tough night,” “It’s unfortunate that Walsh had an accident and had to pull out of our fight, but I’m a world champion and I have to deal with these changes and I’m confident I’ll deal with Ocampo,” “I’ll let my trainer Billy Nelson do the homework and he’ll come up with the master plan to beat this guy like he has done for all my big fights against Mitchell, Katsidis and Martinez,” Promoter Frank Warren added, “It’s going to be hard for Ricky, he’s been training to face Walsh and in an ideal world he would have had more time to prepare for the different style that Ocampo will bring. He can’t afford to slip up, though, we are virtually there with the fight against Broner for next year and that will only happen if he comes through against Ocampo.”

Burns v Ocampo headlines a massive six-title card that features George Groves defending his Commonwealth SuperMiddleweight title against Glen Johnson in the chief support; plus Commonwealth Middleweight Champion Billy Joe Saunders defends his title against Nick Blackwell with the vacant British title also on the line; unbeaten Bradley Skeete challenges Southern Area Welterweight Champion Chas Symonds for his title and WBO International Cruiserweight Champion Tony Conquest defends against Neil Dawson.

Tickets, priced from £40 are available at www.eventim.co.uk or by calling 0844 249 1000.

The show will be live and exclusive on BoxNation (Sky Channel 437 / Virgin Channel 546).

Join at www.boxnation.com. ■

Carlos Costa, PhilBoxing.com OCAMPO’S golden chance has arrived. Filipino Jose Ocampo (175-1, 12KO’s) will have the greatest opportunity to shine in the world of boxing when he challenges 2-division world champion Ricky Burns (35-2, 10KO’s) of Scotland for the WBO Lightweight World Crown on December 15th at the ExCeL London Arena in London, England.

The fight will be Ricky Burns’ third Lightweight world title defense since his successful arrival in the 135 lbs division outclassing Australian Michael Katsidis in November of last year.

In January 2012, Burns was installed as regular WBO Lightweight champ after then champion Juan Manuel Márquez moved up a weight class to the super lightweight division.

©Philboxing.com/Carlos Costa

Ocampo scores against the Thai.

Prior to being Lightweight champion, Burns was a super featherweight monarch with three successful title defenses before moving to the lightweights and the skillful 29-year-old Scotsman hasn’t lost a fight in almost 5 years.

Burns was interested in fighting

Burns to defend against Ocampo WBO World Lightweight Champion Ricky Burns says he will end the year with a bang against hard-hitting Filipino challenger Jose Ocampo.

Scottish hero Burns makes the third defence of his title on promoter Frank Warren’s six-title extravaganza on Saturday, 15 December at the ExCeL London, live and exclusive on BoxNation (Sky Channel 437 / Virgin Channel 546).

Burns is coming off a career best win destroying British rival Kevin Mitchell inside four rounds in September and is now in line for a huge unification showdown with American star Adrien Broner who won the WBC title earlier this month.

First he has to get through the heavy handed Ocampo, ranked number 14 by the WBO, who has

stopped 12 out of 17 opponents early and although he has five losses and a draw, he has never been stopped.

He replaces the original challenger Liam Walsh who was injured in a car crash two weeks ago forcing him to withdraw from the fight.

The 23-year-old comes from the Sarangani Province that is governed

by Congressman and pound-forpound best Manny Pacquiao.

And Ocampo, a former WBO Oriental has been described as a young Pacquiao with a similar aggressive, strong punching style and plenty of fighting heart.

Two-weight world champion Burn’s, who’s had a top year with title defences against Paulus Moses and Mitchell, says he will put in a devastating performance.

“I’d say that this is going to be