OFWs urged: Come home more often, join FB, invite all

Rob Schneider- Hollywood Actor said: To be a Filipino, It's just fun anywhere 

Add a few more Facebook friends and earn the title "new tourism ambassadors" in the process.

The catchy campaign come-on was pitched by Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr., who urged more than 9 million overseas Filipinos to "go into the social network and begin to connect with everyone else in the world."

"No matter how many kinds of Filipinos are in the world today—Filipino-Americans, Filipino-Chinese, Filipino-Italians, Filipino-Japanese, Filipino-Singaporeans, Filipino-French, Filipino-Arabs, Filipino-Germans, Filipino-Canadians and Filipino-Swedes, among others—there will always be only one type of fun. It's called Filipino fun," Jimenez said in a speech during the closing program of the Second Global Summit of Filipinos in the Diaspora on Feb. 27 in a Makati City hotel.

He said that kind of fun comes from an openness, which happens to be a common Filipino trait.

"To build a nation, one can only begin with the most basic of all ingredients—national pride. Your self-esteem, your confidence is what will make people sit up and take notice. They will praise you for your hard work, your perseverance, your intelligence, your discipline," he said.

"But if you are great fun, if you are confident in yourself, they will follow you in the Philippines," he added.

Come home

In his remarks, Jimenez also urged overseas Filipinos to come home to the Philippines more often.

Last year, a record 4.27 million tourists visited the country, a 9.07-percent increase over the 3.92 million visitors in 2011.

Jimenez expressed confidence that the 2012 figures could be surpassed this year with the help of the Filipino diaspora, which he said was "not just a spreading out of Filipinos."

"Because if all we did was to spread out, it could be the beginning of a separation, which is what makes this gathering very crucial, some important and so necessary," he said.

Common view

Jimenez said the tourism slogan "It's more fun in the Philippines" is an invitation to the world that Filipinos share more than a language.

"We share a common view of our world. We remind each other of the things that matter most—family, friendship and God," he added.

For his part, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the government was encouraging the active participation of overseas Filipinos and their involvement in national issues.

"Our foreign service posts are partners of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas  in communicating with and mobilizing overseas Filipinos to participate in various programs," including, among others, the Business Advisory Circle, which assists Philippine nationals abroad in setting up business partnerships in the country; the Alay Dunong program, which systematizes the skills and technology exchange between overseas Filipinos and the Philippines; and the Return and Reintegration Program, which assists balikbayans to successfully reintegrate into local life.

Proactive approach

Del Rosario said the country's embassies and consulates abroad were also taking a proactive approach to urge overseas Filipinos to join the country's overseas absentee voting and dual citizenship programs.

The government also puts the welfare and protection of the rights of Filipinos abroad in its top priorities, he added.

"In cooperation with other government agencies and international organizations, the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) has repatriated a total of 14,203 OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) from areas affected by civil strife or natural disasters, from 2011 up to the present. In particular, a total of 3,457 Filipinos were repatriated from war-torn Syria since the uprising began in 2011. Despite the ongoing crisis in the middle eastern country, the Philippine Embassy in Damascus continues its operations in order to evacuate the OFWs who remain there and ensure their safety and well-being," he reported.

Del Rosario said during the past eight years, 746 Filipino seafarers who fell victims to piracy had been released and repatriated through the joint efforts of the country's embassies abroad, manning agencies and the sailors' principals.

Last year, 122 Filipino victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment were assisted by the DFA, he said.

In 2011, a total of 28 OFWs facing the death penalty were provided legal assistance by the agency. Last year, at least 40 of 130 OFWs with death penalty cases were commuted to life or fixed imprisonment, he said.

To further intensify efforts to promote and protect the rights of Filipino migrant workers, the DFA head said the Philippines had adopted a new qualification framework containing sets of training regulations for Filipinos that prescribe competency standards for various qualifications.

"The country also ratified in August 2012 the International Labor Convention (ILO) No. 189 on decent work for household service workers," said Del Rosario, noting the Philippines was the "first Asian nation to commit itself to the respect and implementation of the new ILO labor standard that was adopted on June 16, 2011, during the ILO conference in Geneva."

INQUIRER Global Nation

Continue reading

ICAO lifted ban for Philippines planes flying to European Airspace?

International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

After more than 5 years, local airlines may soon be allowed to fly again to Europe and to expand their operations in the United States after the government successfully passed a safety audit by the world's aviation regulatory body.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya on Saturday said the findings of the one-week audit by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) were "positive," contrary to earlier reports.

"The ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) team was satisfied with their observations/findings on the [Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines's] efforts to comply with international safety standards," Abaya said in a text message.

Passing the ICVM audit will likely pave the way for the lifting of ICAO's "significant safety concern (SSC)" tag on the Philippines issued in 2010. Other countries cited with deficiencies in the 2010 report were Angola, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Djibouti, Kazakhstan, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia.

The ICAO had cited 89 points of concern in the country's aviation regulatory framework that jeopardized the safety of airline passengers. Among these were the registration of aviation companies and regulations covering the training of pilots and other industry personnel.

Findings sent to Canada

The ICAO audit was used by the European Union (EU) as a basis for the ban on local airlines from flying to any point in the economic bloc. The ban also meant that no Philippine carrier was allowed to even enter EU airspace.

Abaya said the ICVM's findings would be forwarded to the ICAO's headquarters in Canada. "They will recommend to ICAO headquarters the lifting of the significant safety concern issued on the Philippines," Abaya said.

Abaya said the official lifting of the EU's ban should come in two to three weeks.

In a statement, the Department of Transportation and Communications said the ICVM team focused on two "critical elements" during the audit. These were the certification of airlines in the Philippines and the registration of Philippine civil aviation aircraft.

Other areas covered were the legal, organization and licensing aspects which were "satisfactorily addressed" last October, the DOTC said.

"We are confident the ICAO will adopt/approve the recommendation," Abaya added.

The ICVM arrived in the Philippines last week on the invitation of CAAP, headed by retired Gen. William Hotchkiss, who assumed his post in July last year.

Hotchkiss dismissed reports that the ICAO team had given CAAP "failing marks" because it had only passed one of the five major issues looked into by the audit mission.

According to Hotchkiss, the CAAP team headed by Henry Gourdji called the validation mission a "success." The other members of the ICAO team were Amal Hewawasam, Vincent Lambotte, Christopher Dalton, Guseul Kim and Saulo Jose da Silva.

Encouraging, inspiring

"The exit briefing conducted by the ICAO audit team was on the whole very encouraging and inspiring for the CAAP team that had been tirelessly working for the lifting of the SSC tag that had been hounding CAAP for several years," he said.

"The team itself acknowledged during the closing of the review Friday that the present CAAP team was headed in the right direction. They were very satisfied with our efforts to comply with international safety standards," he said.

Hotchkiss said that CAAP was "very optimistic" that the recommendations would be approved and adopted by ICAO in an official announcement in two weeks.

He said that while the ICAO had yet to come out with a final report on the audit, officials who visited the country in the past months had expressed confidence that corrective measures on the remaining concerns shall be totally addressed by CAAP. (http://bit.ly/XwVMvY)

Read more in Philippines, ASIA and the Global Economy

Continue reading

Philippines: winning Japanese investment at the expense of China

Japan Sumitomo Corp : Sumitomo Corporation Launches Expansion of Industrial Park in the Philippines

The First Philippine Industrial Park, some 50km south of Manila, is already a whopper, accounting for about 3 per cent of the country's total exports. Which is why it is notable that Sumitomo Corporation, the Japanese trading house that owns 30 per cent of it, wants to make it even bigger.

By 2014, the 67 companies that currently call it home – including Honda, Canon, Nestle and Philip Morris – could be joined by 20 more, as Sumitomo spends about Y5bn to expand the 349-hectare site by almost a third.

The plan confirms two things. First, that Japanese companies will continue to steer funds into faster-growing, more dynamic economies – even as the recent depreciation of the yen makes investment back home that little bit more attractive.

The Philippines scores particularly well for its "rich human resources with good levels of English and high hospitality," says Yasushi Fukuda, general manager of Sumitomo's overseas industrial park division, which also runs parks in Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.

Japan's total FDI stock in the Philippines stood at just over $10bn at the end of 2011, according to government data, more than five times the level of a decade earlier – a rate of growth exceeded only by investment in India (13x), China (8x) and Thailand (6x) over that period, within Asia.

The second conclusion to be drawn is that a fair amount of this newer investment by Japan Inc is happening at the expense of China, as companies baulk at spiralling labour costs after the blow-up over a tiny chain of islands in the East China Sea.

Osaka-based Funai Electric was hit by wage-hike demands from Chinese workers after anti-Japan demos broke out last year, the Nikkei newspaper reported this week. It is now shifting production to a new site near Manila.

China was getting expensive already. Monthly base salaries for manufacturing workers in China grew by roughly 40 per cent over five years to $328 as of October 2012, according to the Japan External Trade Organization. By contrast, workers get $253 in the Philippines, $145 in Vietnam and $53 in Myanmar.

This year Japanese companies expect to pay Chinese factory workers 10 per cent more than in 2012, says Jetro – double the equivalent rate of increase in the Philippines.

Without naming China in particular, Fukuda of Sumitomo notes that wage hikes and worker shortages are driving many Japanese companies to consider "diversification of production facilities."

And where better than the Philippines, where about 97 per cent of Japanese companies with overseas operations are yet to venture?

Notably, it is not just the Hondas and Canons that Sumitomo is looking to lure. It says it is considering offering factory facilities for lease, with logistics and procurement support, as a way to encourage small and mid-sized Japanese businesses to set up shop.

Although the official sales promotion is yet to begin, "inquiries from prospective customers have been rapidly increasing," says Fukuda. (http://on.ft.com/XKxQHB)

FT

Continue reading