NEWS AT A GLANCE

OWWA, merciless – Migrante leader
 
Migrante Partylist vice chairperson John Monterona said Feb. 17 that families of the three overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who died in an Iranian Kish Airline plane crash in the United Arab Emirates last Feb. 3 cannot be compensated by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

“The grieving families of Francisco Britanico (Bacolod City), Englebert Lingal (Pangasinan) and Danilo Manalese (Pampanga), deserve the fullest assistance, from burial expenses to legal and livelihood assistance from the OWWA,” Monterona said. 

OWWA has not given them benefits since the three had no work contracts at the time of the accident, Monterona added. The three fatalities were leaving the UAE to the Iranian island of Kish where they were to wait for possible new employers.

“We wonder how OWWA, the government welfare agency for OFWs and their families, can be so merciless,” Monterona said. “The OWWA Omnibus Policies prevent the anguished families from pursuing livelihood now that their primary breadwinners have died.”

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Killing party-list organizers a military policy?
 
The Gabriela Womens Partylist denounced Feb. 16 the 204^th Infantry Brigade (IB) whom it accused as responsible for the death of Juvy Magsino, human rights lawyer and Naujan, Mindoro Oriental vice mayor, and Karapatan Mindoro Oriental Secretary General, Leima Fortu. Magsino, who was running for mayor, was an honorary member of GABRIELA and served as counsel of the women’s partylist formations in Mindoro Oriental.

Gabriela Women’s Party president, Liza Maza, asked Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita to order the immediate pull out of all troops in Mindoro following the deaths of Magsino and Fortu and scores of others before them.

“Has the murder of human rights advocates and activists now become a policy and a mission of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Mindoro?” Maza, a Bayan Muna Party-list congresswoman, said.
 
Meanwhile, the National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates-Youth Sector (NNARA-Youth) likewise charged the AFP Feb. 21 as responsible for the murder of Adrian Alegria, Anakpawis coordinator in Sta. Cruz, Occidental Mindoro.

Reginald Vallejos, secretary general of the group, said that “after Bayan Muna, the military has now turned its sights on Anakpawis.”

The 21-year old Alegria is the 38^th civilian victim of alleged AFP assassinations since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term began in 2001, Vallejos said.

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POEA-licensed recruitment agencies dupe OFWs

Migrante International warned Feb. 18 prospective migrant workers that they are not safe from illegal recruitment even with Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA)-licensed recruitment agencies. Among the agencies, the international alliance said, are Vilman International Manpower and General Services, Dragon Luck International Placement Services, MGM Manpower and General Services and Non-Stop recruitment.

Ironically, POEA website identifies these agencies in “good standing” with licenses valid until 2007, said Migrante International.

However, the migrant group reported that there are at least 56 alleged victims of the Vilman agency who filed complaints at a Quezon City court. There are also 17 Filipino women illegally recruited as waitresses or entertainers in Singapore and four domestic helpers in Syria who suffered abuses and threats, the group also said.

Migrante International secretary general Maita Santiago urged concerned government agencies to immediately order the closure of the recruitment agencies and the repatriation of victimized OFWs. “Otherwise, the POEA, DOLE and even the DFA and OWWA, are guilty of colluding with, and intensifying the miseries, caused by illegal recruiters,” she said. 

Bulatlat.com

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