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Cisco brings The Human Network Effect via Tele-Presence in the Philippines

Just got an email from JC Valenzuela on the latest technology on Tele-Presence a cutting edge technology you may have seen on the TV commercial linking 2 town square In China and Italy where 2 children was having a dance off to the tune of John Lennon’s Only People. A quote from JC Valenzuela’s email:

Cisco Philippines is launching Cisco TelePresence – a cutting-edge tool that allows face-to-face, real-time communications between parties in several locations, taking cross-border communication to a new level.

That being said, Cisco TelePresence in the Philippines, is being positioned as a service which can help Pinoy OFWs communicate with their families back home (in the Philippines).

Cisco TelePresence has situated sites in Hong Kong and in the Philippines (for its initial arm of the service duration) where Pinoy OFWs in HK can communicate with their families in the Philippines. The service is free at this point, and is opened for Pinoy OFWs who register online.

Since we expect a lot of interest, we are prioritizing OFWs who have not seen their families for at least more than 1 year. Moreover, the Cisco TelePresence is situated in Metro Manila, hence another variable in terms of preference – just so that it wouldn’t be hard for both parties to situate the call. (This is also the initial plan, and may expand to other areas in the future).Last preference is that participants to be of legal age.

Wonderful I should say, since this is free initially I suggest OFWs in Hong Kong who are qualified and their families in the Philippines to avail of this memorable opportunity to seriously check this out. Below is the Saavedra Family:

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Filipinos

Overseas Filipinos

Distressed OFW in Unjust Legal Predicament Under Con Gen Ezzedin Tago's Watch

Imagine yourself sitting in the driver seat of a company truck while parked on the shoulder of the highway that is under construction. Along came a speeding car driven by an old man crashing into your vehicle thus killing the speeding driver. If you are in the west your vehicle insurance will take care of the damage and if you suffered an injury in that accident you have a valid claim for medical treatment.

In the west that would have been a no contest because traffic rules and regulations requires drivers to slow down in a construction zone for safety reasons. But not in Al Saba in the mountain region of Assir in Saudi Arabia where a Filipino OFW named Eddie C. Javier, driver at the general contractor Shibh Al Jazeera and Ali Fairs Ahmad Al Hassaner is now languishing in jail since June 29, 2008 the day after the accident.

The family of the Saudi old man lodges a complaint with the league of morons’ errr Saudi court for the death of their relative causing damages to the tune of 97,000 Riyals (US$56,887.00). Say whaaaat? The Saudi man speeding and crashing on a vehicle that was parked as in immobile and the league of morons’ errr Saudi court ruled it was the fault of the driver of the parked vehicle. Hmmmmn, how perverted or illogical can they get? Was it because the vehicle was in the way of the speedster that Eddie Javier being a migrant worker and a Filipino at that will of course be blamed?

This is a country in the midst of modernization and it seems they have not heard of insurance which would have taken care of the damages. The woes of OFW Eddie Javier does not end there as if to make matter worse like a nightmarish situation while in prison his contract expired and his employer general contractors Shibh Al Jazeera and Ali Fairs Ahmad Al Hassaner has disavowed any responsibility enough to have him declared abandoned. These moronic contractors seems to forget that they own the vehicle not OFW Eddie Javier who is only the driver and this makes me wonder why the family is running after Javier instead of the contractor duo. If it is monetary damages they seek is it not logical to run after the contractors instead of the driver being paid only a pittance? Or is it because Filipinos are easy pickings owing to the xenophobic attitude of the league of morons errr courts in Saudi Arabia as in if you did not go to this desert country of ours the accident would not have happened? Did they just fish their puny brains out the toilet or what?

This is again under the watch of Consul General Ezzedin Tago (the consul where OFW Bedoya was beheaded for lack of legal representation and Ryan Anievas at the risk of long prison term) in his refusal to provide legal representation to OFWs in dire situations has the gall to point a finger on the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (Oumwa) of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila who he says has the mandate to do so and not him. What is his job description then, chief party animal whose “mandate” is to show his ugly errr face in petty Filipino community events? Excuse me but as the Consul general should he not request assistance with Oumwa or does he feel it is too degrading for someone in his “stature” to “request” thus he flatly stress it was not his mandate?

No wonder people are reacting negatively like Prof. Cesar Torres urging people in Saudi Arabia, especially those in the Worldwide Filipino Alliance, and the PPP, like Jun Aguilar, Jauhari Usman, Rudy Dianalan, Ka Corly Obtinalla, Pope John, to do something such as writing a petition to have this DFA official sent to Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iraq. Maybe that is exactly what is needed for DFA officials to realize the importance of their positions in making a difference in the lives of distressed OFWs. Another reaction coming from JM Nepomuceno of PHP Global Network, to quote:

While the GRAND JURY and TRIAL JURY System has yet to be adopted in the Philippines, we just have to continue using available ways and means to "shake" this insensitive government. How about "stirring up" a "clamor" for the TERMINATION of this Consul General Ezzedin Tago IMMEDIATELY? I realize that it is best for the OFWs to take the "lead" for the demand. Perhaps, you can pass on / forward / convince one of the more active bloggers among the OFWs to take the cudgels for this.

Grabe talaga ang kakapal ng tropa ni Arroyo sa gobyerno... puro kurakot lang talaga ang inaasikaso.

Let’s hear from other bloggers on what they say about this, but of course without getting distracted on pushing for the passage of HB 5657 filed by Bayan Muna Party List representative Satur Ocampo.

Meanwhile while the government has no problem spending or squandering hundreds of millions for fertilizer scams and other anomalous projects the OFWs left on their own raising funds to help those with criminal cases, to quote Migrante-KSA Chairman A. M. Ociones:

The independent initiatives to raise funds in support of OFWs charged with criminal offense, once again shows the discontent of OFWs for the inability of the government to provide assistance to compatriots in distress.

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Saving Kabayan [countryman] OFW Ryan Torres Anievas

Is it incompetence or outright discrimination that exposed Filipinos in dire situations that could have been avoided in the first place?

Incompetence bordering on criminal when Philippine foreign affairs officials that is supposedly looking after the welfare of its Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) give false hopes through outright lies and misrepresentation.

The situation is so deplorable that one is reminded of the case of Jennifer Bedoya a.k.a. Venancio Ladion, beheaded in Jeddah on Oct. 14, 2008 for murder, to quote GMANews:

"Huwag ng antayin pa ng gobyerno ni Arroyo na makulong si (Let us not wait for the Arroyo government until Anievas is incarcerated) OFW Ryan Anievas. We certainly don’t want him to be another Jennifer Bedoya who was hanged due to the failure of the Arroyo government to provide legal assistance to him during the trial of his case," he said.

Bedoya, a.k.a. Venancio Ladion, was beheaded in Jeddah on Oct. 14, 2008 for murder. Migrante accused DFA officials of lying to the Bedoya family about the real status of the case and gave them false promises after it asked the family not to reveal the case to the media.

Migrante claimed Bedoya did not receive any legal assistance during his trial. “The family was later outraged to find out that Jennifer did not receive legal assistance, and was only provided an interpreter and not a lawyer in the early stages of the trial," Migrante said.

Consul General Ezzedin Tago, the Philippine envoy in Jeddah, later admitted the shortcoming, but claimed Bedoya was given legal assistance when he appealed the case.

Interpreter instead of a lawyer to represent the accused will almost always guarantee beheading and providing a lawyer on appeal is a bit late I should say. Trying to salvage the situation when damage has been done is not going to cut it, and if this is not incompetence or misplaced priorities I don’t know what is?

Consul General Ezzedin Tago you would think would have learned something from the beheading of Bedoya and would have known better to hire a lawyer the second time around so as not to repeat a dumb mistake. If indeed funding was a problem, they could not have hired a lawyer on the appeal or is this just their dumb SOB errr SOP. Consul General Ezzedin Tago has an opportunity to learn from their past mistakes to do the right thing in the case of OFW Ryan Anievas and yet, once again despite an an urgent appeal by Anievas for legal representation is providing an interpreter instead of a lawyer. What exactly is the reason why Tago is providing an interpreter? You guess it right, no funds as usual that they simply cannot hire one as he stated in a dialogue with Migrante-Saudi Arabia on January 14.

OFW Ryan Torres Anievas is a 29-year-old administrative clerk/secretary at Petro Rabigh Company Project in the industrial city of Rabigh in western Saudi Arabia. He had the misfortune of buying a gift for his wife at the Itnayn-Itnayn Store in Rabigh town where he was given 96-riyal change along with 5 pieces of fake 10 riyal bills (amounting to 50 SR). It was unfortunate that he did not notice that he was handed down fake currency and unintentionally without malice used the same to buy food.

There was no doubt the currency was fake as confirmed by the Saudi Finance Ministry complete with documentation from Saudi Aramco Security Authority that Ryan Anievas the “accused” used the bill to buy food. Is there such a thing as honest mistake in the Middle East that one who unknowingly received fake currencies is now accused of distributing fake currencies? Should the “authorities” not dig deeper and find the source instead of accusing the victim himself but then again why bother when they can easily pummel a Filipino migrant worker to add to their “accomplishments.” He is a victim but in a foreign land where discrimination and xenophobia permeates the minds of the ignorant a victim finds himself the accused instead of redress for the crime committed against his person.

The sad part is that the wife and baby of Ryan Anievas are staying with him and he is forced to send them back to the Philippines due to his legal predicament. As if to make matters seven worse his employment contract that ended on January 31, 2008 was not renewed by his employer. Talk about innocent until proven guilty but that is Saudi Arabia and nothing surprises us anymore.

To be jobless in a foreign land is excruciating enough and to be compounded with a pending criminal case against you is something that is truly dreadful exacerbated by cold incompetence of an arrogant administration is even more revolting. The only consolation he gets out of this is he has a friend willing to provide him shelter and the strong “Bayanihan” trait of compatriots like Migrante helping him air his plight and pressing for his legal protection and representation.

Time is running out with the trial scheduled on February 17, 2009 he may not get the proper legal representation if any that will be provided by the Philippine government. That is the problem with a feudal society finding themselves a washed with petro-dollars unable to grasp the importance of individual’s rights…….. you would think that with all the money they have, they would have been close to being a civilized society, where one cannot be convicted if one does not have proper legal representation.

The problem it appears is not just on the other side but ours as well if this article is accurate hoping it is a typographical error on the part of Bulatlat, to quote:

Mario Ben, KGS-Migrante spokesperson recalled, “The deployment of a government Labor Attaché was the very promise pledged by Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when she visited Saudi Arabia in May 2006 during a meeting with the Filipino community at the Philippine Embassy.”

The Philippine Consulate in Saudi Arabia without a labor attaché’ is troubling that only shows the inept and numbing coldness of the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration. This is the height of stupidity to say the least when most if not all of its citizens are workers. If this is true, this should explain why we hear of cases of contract switching once our OFWs arrived in these places because they don’t even assign the right people to fill those patronage based positions.

Is there hope? We can only hope against hope but first we need to figure out pronto how to help the likes of OFW Ryan Torres Anievas facing 5 to 15 years in jail for a crime he is a victim not the perpetrator. There are 5, 000 OFWs incarcerated in the Middle East jails and how many are guilty of the crimes they are accused of cannot be determined due to the Philippine governments' insensitivity to the plight of the sectors they only see as their milking cow. On the brighter side a bill was filed by House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo, that aims to expand the scope and upgrade the program of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to provide full legal assistance to our migrant workers and overseas Filipinos in distress, amending Republic Act No. 8042 or the “Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.” The question is will it pass and unless we urge our representatives and senators to pass this, our OFWs will not have a fighting chance against the injustices they face in foreign lands with strange culture and bizarre justice system.

Your signature may spell the difference in support of a kababayan (countryman) in need, please sign the petition now, Oplan Saving Kabayan Ryan to demand legal representation for OFW Ryan Anievas.

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