200 Pinoys stranded in Jeddah
About 200 Filipino Women and children, mostly runaways, remain stranded in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for still unknown reasons.
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Pag-IBIG launches website for Filipino Overseas Workers
A new website created for the benefit of Filipino Overseas Workers was recently launched by Pag-IBIG Fund under its Home-Matching Program. The new site shall provide the millions of OFWs with information on available housing projects, their rates or prices, and where these projects are located in the Philippines. Various housing developers have been invited to join in this campaign to tap the rich OFW market.
To access the said information, the OFWs would only need to log on to the Internet and to this site www.pagibigfund.gov.ph/hmp
Already, 12 housing developers in the Metro Manila area alone have registered in the home-matching program, which would directly link them to the web site and allows inquiries to be directed to the offerings of these developers. Another developer in Davao City has also signified its inclusion to the program.
Developers listed in the site would also give the OFWs wider choices to invest.
It was noted that the lack of information regarding various housing projects in the Philippines has prevented a lot of OFWs from acquiring properties back home.
So far, 12,000 OFWs have already availed themselves of the various packages of the Pag-IBIG Fund in the past, despite the lack of specific information site for them.
Pag-IBIG Fund reported that its extension offices abroad would take care of the processing of the applications of these OFWs once their needs and requirements would be matched with the available projects.
On the OFW Phenomenon, Mail Order Brides, Prostitutes, and More
Domestic helpers. Mail-order brides. Exporters of human labor. Scammers.
These are how people the world over have come to know us, Filipinos. And sometimes, I can’t blame them. For though it’s not completely true that these are what constitute us as a people, it’s not completely false either.
Our main export product is our people. A big chunk of our population — roughly ten percent — are Overseas Filipino Contract Workers (OFWs), many of whom are working abroad either as domestic helpers, construction or factory workers, nannies, and health workers, among others. The government calls our OFWs “the modern-day heroes,” because they have saved the country’s economy many times over through their remittances. Without our OFWs, our economy would have long gone under.
Filipinos in Singapore
Monday, I was feeling homesick and I was totally bored. I have decided to email the recruitment agency to make a follow up on the status of my employment pass. Right after I emailed her, she contacted me twice to inform me that I have passed. She also told me that I could come in their office for my medical examination. I have asked on how much it will cost and she told me that it is more than 40 SGD.
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Makoy is 26 yr old IT guy who loves to write, thrilled with movies as much as his favorite American food, fascinated with politics, current events and money matters, an entrepreneur in the making, and a certified Ortigas blogger.
Free Software to Increase Traffic to Your Blog
Here’s a free software for you guys (download link below) who would like help boost traffic to your blogs. It practically enables you to search a keyword and the blogs that are related to that keyword you typed in. You will be able to quickly find the blogs that are “up there” in the ranks and you can start putting comments to their blogs to increase your own blog’s exposure. As illustrated below -
1. type a keyword related to your blog. i.e. “pinoy”
2. type in your domain name (this is related to point #4)
3. PR stands for “page rank”
4. if you typed your domain name in point #2, it will show if that domain name has links with the top blogs. In this case www.i-filipino.com doesn’t have any links with the top blogs
5. you can see the highest ranking blog related to the keyword “pinoy” – in this case it is “sunstar.com.ph/specials/election” (the lower the number, the higher the ranking)
We Filipinos Always Manage to be in the Headlines in Canada
We described the side comment from the Desperate Housewives about Filipino doctors as degrading, right? Now, I could not, in my simple little mind figure out why someone would upload a confidential operation on Youtube. I am talking about that “Vicente Sotto Medical Center Scandal.” I’ve seen it. Although it was taken down from Youtube, you could still find the link where you can download it – for $1.00. Talk about enterpreneurship………. Well, i’ve downloaded it for free…
I came across it last week but I just shook my head. I didn’t dwell on it. But today while reading news from the CBC website (Canadian Broadcasting Centre), the VSMCC Scandal was one of the headlines. Of course it doesn’t say VMSCC scandal but “Doctors face dismissal after surgery posted on Youtube.” Here’s the link, read it for yourself – Doctors face dismissal after surgery posted on Youtube . At the bottom of that article, you can see different reactions from Canadians.
“ All Rice “
(This is a write-up from my guest blogger, Eygee who currently lives in the Philippines. I live in Canada now and have trained myself not to eat rice everyday lol! 
It’s hard to believe that there is a shortage of rice in the Philippines. It’s sad. – Ate G.)
Before anyone reacts, yes ,you read it right it’s not a typo..my topic is about rice…all about rice….the most important food product… a major staple food in the Philippines…a part in every Filipino’s grocery list….”the Rice”.
By this time, it’s already in the news, the soaring rice price hits the Philippines…the shortage of rice supply…the hoarding of supply…the long lines for rice subsidy….the announcement from the government that Filipinos should now eat and cook only half of the rice that they’re used to eat…people panicking for their supply of their beloved rice…but how can that be?
On Top of Canada
During my first few months in Canada, that was in April 2004, I noticed that when saying goodbye (i.e., after a days’ work) a Canadian would say “enjoy the sunshine!” My answer would be, “oh we get a lot of sunshine in the Philippines and it’s too hot there so I really don’t mind the hovering clouds.” Later on I realized that Vancouver and the surrounding areas get so gloomy. And it is such a welcome treat for them to see the sun out. What I am trying to say is that in the Philippines, most Filipinas would run to be under the shade ‘coz they don’t want to get dark skin, right? Filipinas want their skin to be lighter. Hence, the multimillion peso skin bleaching business i.e., hydroquinone, bleaching soap, skin whiteners….glutathion. Tongue out But here in Canada, you would see Canadians eating lunch under the sun. They want their tan. You won’t see skin lighteners in the supermarket. You will see tanning lotions. And of course, tanning salons.
please go to www.i-filipino.com for the rest of the story plus pictures.
O’ Canada What is It About Canada? – Part 2
So, okay…in short, I left Philippines because I just wanted a change of phase. I was tired of the rat race. Canada seemed like a good place to start over. Yup! I left my managerial job in Canada to be a student again in Canada…didn’t mind taking the bus again. Hey, I had to sell my car so I would have enough money to go to Canada…pay the agency, etc. I had to stay up late nights again to study in preparation for my licensure exam. I had to eat chicken wings and Spam because the place that I was staying in Vancouver only allowed a microwave in the room.
I still didn’t answer the question “what is it about Canada,” right? I’ll answer that on Part 3. Well, did you have a similar experience? Let me know. Please feel free to leave your comments.
For the meantime let me give you a peek of Vancouver and Victoria and Tofino in British Columbia, a video posted by SenhordoBonfim in Youtube. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/v/Tm05r2Bq7P0
300 Nurses to Saskatchewan, Canada
It’s for real. Saskatchewan has been having a shortage of nurses. Mainly because of lots of retirees. The baby boomers. Another reason is because of the nurses who left Saskatchewan for another province. Guess what? They are coming back now. It could be because of the new government headed by Premier Brad Wall but Saskatchewan is just booming. People from Alberta who were originally from Saskatchewan are coming back. The new government promised 800 nurses. 300 of them coming from the Philippines. About 90 plus nurses were recruited sometime in November. The second recruitment was done in March for another 295. All I can say is to my kababayans, “Welcome to Saskatchewan!!!…nothing is easy. Adjustment takes time. And..there’s a reason for everything…” Hope your stay in Saskatchewan and Canada becomes a gateway for you to start your successful lives.
Here’s the article from CBC.CA – http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2008/02/21/nurses-philippines.html
Feel free to leave your comments below. Till next. 
