Page 17 - Hello Philippines January 2016 'B' issue

January 2016 / Fortnightly – No. 2 • UK & Europe Edition
years after the law, more than 120,000
domestic workers have already
registered with the SSS, 24,671 with the
Pag-IBIG, and 59,734 with PhilHealth.
To protect its domestic workers
overseas, the Philippine government
continues to try and forge bilateral
and multilateral agreements and other
protective instruments with other
countries to ensure their protection,
according to Labor Secretary Baldoz.
On May 2013, the Philippines signed a
bilateral agreement with the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia on the employment of
domestic workers, the first such pact
with a labor-receiving country. The
country also signed similar agreements
with Jordan and Lebanon.
But the work is not yet finished. For
one, many Philippine-based domestic
workers still do not enjoy the rights
spelled out in the Kasambahay Law.
For those working abroad, many
governments still do not recognize their
rights, or if they do, do not ensure that
they are upheld.
“Mas mahirap dito sa Pilipinas. Mas
mahirap magpaalam sa mga anak, mas
mahirap iwan ang iba pang mga gawain
(Organizing domestic workers is more
difficult here in the Philippines. We find it penalizing and even canceling the
harder to leave our familial duties, explain
to our children what we need to do),”
says Borlongan, who went on to become
founding president of a returning
migrant workers’ organization based in
her home province Tarlac.
Borlongan recalls the harassment
and threats she received as a union
leader in Hong Kong, but says returning
to the Philippines has been harder,
especially as her bread and butter
of breeding dogs does not earn her
sufficient regular income. But she
marches on. With the financial support
of her son, who works as a call center
trainer, she continues to raise the
political consciousness of families of
migrant workers. A real street fighter,
as her son calls her.
Meanwhile, work continues for
Varona, now a volunteer for the
secretariat of the Philippines-based
Migrants Coordinating Group-Western
Visayas—to other countries where
there are many migrant workers as in
Southeast Asia and Middle East.
With the help of Philippines-based
labor center Sentro, he has helped build
chapters of Filipino migrant domestic
workers in Malaysia and Singapore,
two countries that don’t recognize
domestic workers’ right to organize,
a core ILO value. He recognizes the
role of the Philippine government in
looking after the welfare its people in
and out of the country. He specifies
the invaluable role of the Philippine
Overseas Employment Administration
licenses of erring recruiters. “Church
groups and human rights organizations
have also been crucial in our work,” he
adds, noting that any worthy struggle
needs everyone’s contribution. n Veronica
Uy / InterAksyon.com / January 7, 2016 / 1:45 pm
NEWS www.hello-philippines.com 17
Tagle: Look beyond the pushing, shoving; devotees
have nothing else to cling to but the Nazareno
MANILA – Devotees of the Black
Nazarene should not be brushed off join the procession, cooked food for those He holds us in his hands.”
as fanatics pushing and shoving each passing by her house on their way to the And the Nazarene, he said, resounds
other over a religious icon, Luis Antonio religious event.
Cardinal Tagle said. particularly strongly with those who feel
This, he said, is their way of glorifying alone, wounded in their faith, who, Tagle
“Have you ever experienced having “the only one we can hold on to.” said, Jesus bears on his shoulders.
nothing more to hold on to? Once you’ve
experienced that, then the Nazareno is “You are the only one we can draw “You are not heavy. You are not a
there for you. Draw near to him, hold on near to. We long to feel that you are there. burden,” he said.
to him. And you will understand why the There may be no one else to hold on to, but
desire of the devotees to be come close the Poong Nazareno is there,” Tagle said. If the world saw the poor as a
to him is so,” the Manila archbishop said problem, he said, Jesus did not. He was
at a midnight mass he led at the Quirino “His fidelity to me cannot be grateful for them, and would lift them
Grandstand in Manila, hours before the measured,” he added. up in thanks.
image of the Black Nazarene was to be
returned in a procession to the Quiapo “I am not surprised that our devotion Tagle also underscored the fact that
church in the traslacion. to the Black Nazarene is an imitation of this year’s traslacion falls within the
what he has already done” through the Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis.
The annual procession draws up Eucharist, Tagle said. “We think that we
to 10 million devotees, many clawing were the first in wanting to touch the Black “And that,” he said, “is the message
and climbing over each other as they Nazarene. But, no. He was ahead of us in of Jesus the Nazarene. He brought us
attempt to touch or wipe towels on the holding the bread—a symbol of the world. mercy.” n Tricia Aquino / InterAksyon.com /
statue of Christ bent under his cross,
which is believed to be miraculous. January 9, 2016 / 7:28 am
Most endure hunger, heat and the
risk of injury in the crushing throng. Tagle
observed: “Earlier today, some were lining
up for seven hours along Roxas Boulevard
just to come close to the Black Nazarene”
for a mere three seconds.
Explaining the depths of this
devotion, Tagle quoted a devotee who
said the sacrifices they undergo are
nothing compared to what Christ had to
suffer for mankind. Another, too old to