ENVOY MEETS WITH HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP TO PROTECT OFWs
MANILA, JANUARY 8, 2011 (STAR) Pia Lee-Brago – Ambassador to Beirut Gilberto Asuque has met with top officials of Human Rights Watch (HRW) to discuss protective measures for overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Lebanon.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday Asuque discussed the protective measures under Republic Act 10022, the Amendatory Law on the Magna Carta for Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos, during a meeting at the chancery last Dec. 1.
Assistant Labor Attach Salome Mendoza and Welfare Officer Toribio Robles Jr. joined Asuque during the meeting with HRW officials.
Sarah Leah Whitsom, HRW executive director for Middle East and North Africa Division; Nadim Houry, HRW-MENA Division researcher; and Wenzel Michalski, HRW Germany director led the 14-member HRW delegation.
The HRW officials were in Lebanon to assess the status of the rights of migrant domestic workers and the efforts done by the Lebanese government in addressing migrant workers' concerns over the protection of their rights and welfare.
Asuque discussed RA 10022 and its relevant provisions, specifically the conditions that must exist in the receiving country before OFWs are allowed to be recruited and deployed.
He said the embassy is negotiating a memorandum of understanding on labor cooperation with the Lebanese government for the protective measures required by RA 10022.
Mendoza and Robles informed the HRW officials of the assistance being provided by the embassy, the labor office and OWWA-Beirut to the OFWs in Lebanon, especially to those in distress who ran away from their employers or recruitment agencies with complaints of abuse.
These OFWs-in-distress are now sheltered in the Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC).
Assistance provided includes searching for OFWs wherever they may be in Lebanon and bringing them to the FWRC to resolve their immigration cases.
Two OFW wards in the FWRC were invited to the meeting to briefly present their status and condition in Lebanon to the visiting HRW officials.
Asuque informed the HRW officials that the 31 OFW wards (as of Dec. 1, 2010) in the FWRC are given full assistance by the government, including negotiations with the Lebanese immigration authorities for the resolution of their immigration cases, issuance of exit permits and repatriation.
The embassy has repatriated 162 OFWs in three batches last Nov. 15 and 16 after undergoing the assistance process.
At the end of the meeting, the DFA said HRW officials commended the Philippines for providing the best example and best practices in the protection of the rights and the promotion of the welfare of migrant workers.
HRW officials also held a meeting with Lebanese Labor Minister Butros Harb who briefed them on the status of the proposed legislation for migrant workers.
CBCP: PLEA BARGAIN DEAL WITH GARCIA WILL WEAKEN JUSTICE SYSTEM By Evelyn Macairan
PHILIPPINE STAR
Former Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Jaro, Iloilo Archbishop Angel Lagdameo warned the people yesterday that the plea bargain agreement with dismissed Gen. Carlos Garcia would weaken the country's justice system.
Lagdameo told CBCPNews, the official news provider of the CBCP, that General Garcia should serve his prison sentence if he would be found guilty of plunder.
He said the plea bargain deal would only worsen corruption in government and not solve the problem.
Bad precedent
"If the plea bargain agreement is implemented, it could serve as a precedent and be abused for the convenience of other corrupt officials. It will not be a good example and that way of doing it might be sought and be applied for similar and other cases of corruption," he said.
He said the government should determine the truth to get justice.
He urged the Aquino administration to oppose the agreement that would allow Garcia to escape charges for allegedly stealing P303 million from state coffers while serving as armed forces comptroller.
"The search for truth must continue so that justice will be achieved," Lagdameo said.
More supporters
Dilaab, a Church-based movement, also supports the call of former ombudsman Simeon Marcelo and former special prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio to revoke the plea bargain deal on Garcia's plunder case.
"The events of the recent days on Garcia being allowed to plead guilty to a lesser offense and being set free come as a sordid shocker that is nothing short of a betrayal of public trust, and a reversal of whatever gains the nation may have had in its fight against graft and corruption," the group said in its position paper.
The group joins Marcelo and Villa-Ignacio in their call to nullify the corrupt and illegal plea bargain agreement with Garcia and that those responsible for the deal should be prosecuted.
----------------------------------------------------------
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
----------------------------------------------------------
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------
