Posts by Philip Tubeza

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aaaA group of Filipino domestic workers is participating in Hong Kong's Dragon Boat Festival this year. The Filipino Dynamo Dragon Boat Team, which was founded in January 2018, is set to participate in its debut race in Discovery Bay this Sunday (June 17). The team is composed of 51 women from the domestic workers community and most of them are newbies in this team sport. However, they trained every Sunday for 13 weeks so that they could join in the Dragon Boat Festival. The team's supporters are inviting Filipinos in Hong Kong to watch t...

June 15, 2018
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aaa“Nahold-up ako ng usa.” With a smiley, I sent this message to a friend after gallivanting across the green expanse of Nara Park. Nara served as Japan’s capital for around a century some 1,300 years ago and so it has beautiful temples and other historic places. I was on my way to the Todaiji temple complex, which houses the bronze Daibutsu or the Great Buddha, said to be the largest of its kind in the world. But before I got there, I came across herds of deer. Considered by locals to be the messengers of the gods, ...

January 26, 2017

aaaIT caught my eye while our taxi was barreling down the freeway from Osaka. The mountain range in the distance looked like it was ablaze. I squinted and took in the view. The foliage had begun changing to the colors of Fall: from yellow to red to a tinge of deep orange. “Wala nito sa Pilipinas (We don’t have this in the Philippines),” I told myself as I tried to get a photo with my phone camera from our moving vehicle. The long line of mountains was giving me a colorful preview of my destination: Kyoto. Besides spring...

November 25, 2016
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aaaThe online registration for the civil service exam next month will start on All Souls’ Day (November 2) or afterwards, Labor Attaché Jalilo Dela Torre said. Dela Torre said the Civil Service Commission did not post the registration link today on its website (http://www.csc.gov.ph/) because today (October 31) is a holiday in the Philippines. “Undas kasi. So, they’ll post it either on November 2 or 3 (Wednesday or Thursday),” Dela Torre said in an interview. He said the tentative date for the exam remains to be November 27 while...

October 31, 2016
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aaaDon’t gamble away your savings. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III urged overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Hong Kong not to get addicted to gambling, particularly the card game known as “tong-its”. Bello said in a dialogue with OFWs at the Hong Kong University during his recent visit that it was better to save than gamble away one’s earnings. “Huwag lang kayo mag tong-its. Day, ayaw pagtong-it gyud,” Bello told his audience, who replied that many played the game here in Hong Kong. “Alam nyo, noong abogado pa ako, n...

October 28, 2016
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aaa The Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) is looking for an institute that could teach German to Filipino nurses who work as domestic helpers here in Hong Kong, Labor Attache Jalilo dela Torre said. Dela Torre said members of the Philippine Association of Service Exporters (PASEI) told the nursing jobs forum at the Bayanihan Centre on October 9 that there was a great demand for Filipino nurses in Germany. “Tremendous ang demand kaya naghahanap kami dito sa Hong Kong ng training institute,” Dela Torre said in an interview. He...

October 17, 2016
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aaaA majority of the Filipino community in Hong Kong wants to end the practice of holding numerous beauty contests in the territory, Labor Attaché Jalilo dela Torre said. Dela Torre said many beauty contests not only put Filipino women in a bad light as “objects of sexual exploitation” but they also leave domestic workers mired in debt. “I’ve been taking the pulse ng community and it seems mas gusto ng karamihan na itigil na ito,” Dela Torre said in an interview. “It’s not just from the point of view of promoting women as o...

July 20, 2016

aaaDAYS before his inauguration, President Rodrigo Duterte bared the names of four more individuals who will join his Cabinet. Duterte chose Health Assistant Secretary Paulyn Ubial to head the Department of Health, Wanda Teo as Tourism Secretary, businessman Ramon Lopez as Trade chief, and Regina Lopez as Environment Secretary. Ramon Lopez was a top executive ofthe RFM Corporation handling strategic planning and business development, mergers and acquisitions. He was also the executive director of Go Negosyo, which promotes micro- and small-...

July 13, 2016
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aaaTHE Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) plans to hold another board exam for aspiring teachers in Hong Kong this September, Labor Attaché Jalilo dela Torre said. Dela Torre said that, if the plan pushes through, the board exams would be held on September 25 for those who intend to pursue a teaching career in the Philippines. “It has been recommended for approval by the examination division to the board. As soon as the PRC passes a resolution, that’s the time they will open the website for overseas applicants,” Dela Torre sa...

June 22, 2016

aaaTO facilitate the social security transactions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the Social Security System (SSS) is offering them free personalized luggage tags that can be claimed at SSS foreign representative offices (FRO). Judy Frances A. See, SSS Senior Vice President and Head of the International Operations Division, said these “SS# Tags” include information like the member’s name, Social Security (SS) number, OFW coverage status and date of card issuance. For added convenience, the contact information of the issuing SSS F...

May 11, 2016