Pinoys in Riyadh want doctor to head OWWA

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino workers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, have started a campaign to make a pathologist the next head of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

Online news site Arab News (www.arabnews.com) reported Wednesday that Filipinos in Riyadh want Dr. Muhammad Ali Carlito Astillero to fill the post vacated by now Labor Secretary Marianito Roque.

"Yes Madam President, it is high time that someone from among the OFW community leaders be appointed to the post of OWWA Administrator; one who understands by heart the every day problems faced by our overseas workers inside and outside their jobsites, and during and after the tenure of their work contracts; one who has been in the field, and has seen and attended to many OFW cases that were brought to his attention as a trusted community leader," said Francis Oca of the OFW Congress in a letter posted online.

The OFW Congress in Riyadh, an umbrella group of different Filipino groups in Saudi Arabia, is spearheading the petition to have Astillero appointed OWWA chief.

It launched an online petition for Astillero at www.petitiononline.com/OWWADMIN/petition.html. As of Wednesday morning, the site had 288 "signatures."

The group will meet on Friday to kick off their campaign worldwide and gather signatures from the officers of different community organizations.

Astillero, who hails from Western Mindanao, has worked over the past years as laboratory director at Al-Mishari Hospital I Riyadh for the past 21 years.He worked in Iran, Libya and Saudi Arabia for the last 32 years.

He had been an active community leader and fund campaigner for Filipino calamity victims in the Saudi capital. Among the organizations he headed is the Organization of the Knights of Rizal (OKOR) in the Middle East and Africa, of which he was a past “commander."

He received various awards, including the Special Presidential Award 1996 - Banaag at Sikat, the San Lorenzo Ruiz Award for Outstanding OFW (1994), the Bagong Bayani Award (1992), and the Most Outstanding Filipino in Saudi Arabia (1990). - GMANews.TV

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

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 ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

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...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

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...
Read more