THE HAGUE, The Netherlands — Vice President Jejomar Binay met with Filipino migrants here last week and urged those undocumented to work on getting documented for their own good.
Binay, the presidential adviser on OFW concerns, shared this advice during his meeting with top leaders of non-government organizations here last week, and during a lecture at the Institute of Social Studies.
Vice President Jejomar Binay met with NGO leaders and attended a lecture at Institute of Social Studies in The Netherlands last week. Photo by Chared Verschuur-BalloThe meetings were part of his travel to the Netherlands to represent the Philippines to the National Security Summit.
“The government faces a big problem with undocumented migrants. Being undocumented means that the government does not know that the migrant is in a certain country. If something happens to them, how can we help them?” said Binay.
He added that it is not only easier for the government to reach out to a migrant when he/she is documented, being so also lessens the stress on a migrant's family.
He cited the current situation in Syria where the government is having a hard time contacting undocumented Filipinos. He said even if the government wants to repatriate them, it is not possible as the government does not know where they are.
He called on Filipinos who want to work abroad to go through official channels and avoid illegal recruiters so that they can properly prepare for their trip abroad.
He noted that documented Filipinos undergo the needed seminars and workshops before leaving the country, making them psychologically prepared for a new culture.
“All those who are documented get the right support like seminars before they leave our country,” Binay said. “This prepares them emotionally and psychologically. It lessens the possibility of culture shock.”
He said those undocumented “usually enter a country with a tourist visa and just stay longer and take on jobs, most often illegally.”
“It is very stressful for someone who is new to a country to just figure out how to find a job when he's already in that country. This leads to unnecessary stress which is only one of the things we are trying to avoid here,” added Binay.
The Netherlands is home to about 18,000 Filipinos. — KBK, GMA News
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Comments