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Retired envoy urges sport groups to play for charity

Posted on 10 April 2019 No comments

By Vir B. Lumicao
 
Amba Mindy (in white) with members of the FBC led by Jenny Gafate (5th from left)
Sport-minded overseas Filipinos should add value to their organizations by supporting charities, especially those that need financial help the most, according to retired Ambassador Minda Calaguian Cruz.
Amba Mindy, the country’s ambassador to Australia when she retired last September, was the guest speaker at the opening of the Australasia Filipino Bowlers’ Friendship Games 2019 at the US Dacos Bowling Centre in Tsuen Wan on Apr 6.
She praised the Filipino Bowling Club chapters that launched the annual competition nine years ago in Singapore, where she was the head of mission, for sticking together and continuing the tournament. But she urged them to do so with a noble purpose.


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“It is good to affirm that we are good in bowling, but I think it is greater to affirm that we are human beings who love others,” the diplomat said after reminiscing the early years of the FBC and her serendipitous trip to Hong Kong as a guest at the event.
Amba Mindy said she got an email from an FBC officer who mentioned the upcoming event, and suddenly old friends in Singapore who are now in the SAR vied to host her and retired Ambassador Louie Cruz, her husband. But she turned them down.


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Instead, she decided to return to Hong Kong, where she once served as consul, for a special project – to drum up support for a Davao-based foundation that is helping Mindanao’s cancer-stricken children.
“What we are doing now is more of charity and humanitarian work, we have been supporting a foundation that is (helping) a group of children with cancer in the whole of Mindanao,” Amba Mindy said to describe the couple’s retirement preoccupation.


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“Cancer is a deadly disease, it can destroy your body and soul… And we believe that we can do our share,” she said, by helping the House of Hope – Kids of Hope Foundation based in the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao since 2004.
It is a cause close to her heart, as her daughter, Natasha Ria Cruz-Gutteridge, died of cancer in 2017 at the young age of 31.
Amba Mindy said the foundation was set up by a young oncologist, Dr Emily Portilla, who sought her help to look for donors for the project.


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From having just four beds, the foundation now has its own building and is the “center of excellence in Mindanao” for treating young cancer victims.
Amba Mindy said despite the expansion and improvement of the center’s facilities and increase in its doctors with capabilities, the number of afflicted children is also rising.  
“So, we think these kids all the more need a better way to help, to involve our time,” Amba Mindy said. For those who have no resources, “we don’t have money to donate, but we have the time to donate and be able to bring in more people on board to help”.
She appealed to the bowlers to do their bit to help the less-fortunate children. She said that even if the players had not yet reached the top of their hierarchy of needs, they can still help the children.
The diplomat suggested that instead of spending their funds on trophies and other prizes, they should find a charity of their choice to support.
“Just give small medals to all the bowlers, but the huge part of (the prize fund), try to find a charity where you believe you can make help change lives,” Amba Mindy said.
She said by doing so, the bowlers would be adding more value to their purpose of holding the annual tournament by supporting a charity.
The House of Hope occupies a renovated old dorm within the SPMC compound which serves as a transient home for children with cancer.

The foundation claims more than 2,700 patients and 4,000 caregivers have benefited from its clean and wholesome environment since 2007.

Amba Mindy said she uses her time to look for people to support the foundation, which believes that cancer in children is curable but treatment could take months and even years.

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DH who fell off Ma On Shan cliff on way to recovery

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By Vir B. Lumicao
 
The victim's hiking buddies being taken away by rescuers from the scene of the mishap

A Filipina domestic worker who fell 20 meters off a cliff on Ma on Shan on Mar 31 has had a lucky escape, with just an injury in her left hand waiting to heal, according to officers of the Consulate who visited her in hospital on Apr 5.

The helper, who friends identified as Bella or Jobelle, asked not to be interviewed by journalists for fear of being bashed on social media, said Virsie Tamayao of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

Tamayao said the fall victim was lucky to be wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, thus saving her from what could have been serious or even fatal injuries.
The welfare officer said it was fortunate, too, that Bella’s employers were supportive of the helper. 

One of Bella’s hiking buddies said those who were with her during the climb, who included two other Filipina and three Indonesian migrant workers, also preferred not to talk about the incident.
The six were hiking at 5:44pm on Ma On Shan’s Skyline Path on Mar 31 when Bella reportedly lost her footing on a very narrow trail and fell off the cliff.

Rescuers could not extricate her from the steep slope due to bad weather and had to wait until the next morning to airlift her to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan. 
Her hiking buddies who spent the night on the slope with her were guided down the trail by rescuers from the Fire Services to waiting ambulances at the entrance to Ma On Shan Country Park. 

Just six days after Bella’s mishap, a 26-year-old Filipina resident plunged to her death from a slope beside a waterfall in Tai Mo Shan Country Park while apparently taking a selfie.
The victim, whose identity was not disclosed by the police, was said to be a Lantau resident who had a daughter. She was reportedly hiking on Apr 5 with her younger sister and four friends when the accident happened.

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Congen warns against 'illegal' campaigning during overseas voting

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By Vir B. Lumicao

Voters check their names against the list furnished by Comelec to make sure they can cast their ballots

Consul General Antonio Morales has stirred a hornet’s nest when he said Philippine laws ban campaigning during the entire overseas voting period, which for this year is set for April 13 to May13.

Filipino community leaders who attended a meeting at the Consulate on Mar 31 challenged the lawyer-diplomat, insisting campaigning has always been allowed at a park across Bayanihan Centre in Kennedy Town, where the voting is held.

Many of the veteran leaders said the ban had applied only to campaigning inside  Bayanihan from the time the first overseas election was held in 2004.

Illegal? Filcom veterans Cynthia Tellez and Eman Villanueva handing out leaflets outside Bayanihan during the 2016 election

In response, Morales read a section of Republic Act 9189, or Overseas Voting Act of 2003, which says: “It is a prohibited act for any person to engage in partisan political activity abroad during the 30-day overseas voting period.”

 “Eh kung tama ho iyan o mali, disagree kayo o agree, karapatan natin iyan, pero iyan ho ang nakasulat sa batas at hindi natin mababago. Iyan lang ho ang aming masasabi, na bawal sa batas ang mangampanya mula April 13 hanggang May 13,” Morales said.

The SUN tried to get a clarification about the law from the Commission on Elections, but has yet to receive a reply.

Morales, however, admitted that there is a grey area in the law because criminal laws of one country have no extra territorial application in another country. Still, he said everyone should be careful because if somebody complained, they could be prosecuted.
Deputy Consul General Germinia Usudan, who is also a lawyer, backed her boss. She said supporters should think twice about campaigning because if somebody files a complaint, it is their candidate who will suffer the consequences.

In a separate interview days after the meeting, Congen Morales insisted the law against campaigning during the entire overseas vote should be followed, but conceded this would be difficult to enforce abroad.

“That is the letter of the law,” he said. Asked who might try to file a case using the said law, Morales said, “supporters of some candidates. They could file cases against those in the rival camps.”
He also said that in Singapore where he was last posted before Hong Kong, there is a law that prohibits candidates from other countries to do their campaigning there. “But I guess there is no such law in Hong Kong,” he said.

During the Filcom consultation, a woman asked why several first-time voters in the presidential election in 2016 were now missing from the list of 87,441 certified voters that the PCG had displayed in the public area.

Consul Robert Quintin, who is in charge of the overseas voting in Hong Kong, advised the woman to provide a list of those whose names had disappeared so he could ask the Comelec to revalidate them.

Also at the meeting were Consul Paulo Saret and Consul Fatima Quintin.

The discussions focused mainly on preparations for the upcoming overseas election, in which voters will elect 12 new senators from among 62 candidates and choose one party-list from 104 aspirants.
Morales said the midterm election is very important for the future of the nation and urged the voters to choose their candidates wisely.

Morales said the Consulate, which has been deputized by the Comelec to conduct the overseas voting in Hong Kong, has already formed the three bodies that will administer the vote: the Special Ballot Reception and Custody Group, the Special Board of Election Inspectors, and the Special Board of Canvassers.
Nine SBEIs have been formed to oversee the process in each of the voting precincts. Each SBEI will have a chairman and two members who will administer the testing and sealing of vote-counting machines, receive and transmit election returns and ensure order in the precincts.

Robert Quintin said that one member in each SBEI has been certified by the Department of Science and Technology to be capable of operating the vote-counting machine

His wife, Fatima Quintin, reminded voters that taking photos of the ballot is prohibited, and that the SBEIs will require obedience in the precincts.  

The voting will start at 8am on Apr 13, a Saturday, and will close at 5pm. On Sundays, voting will be from 8am to 6pm, and on weekdays and Saturday, from 9am to 5pm. On May 13, voting ends at 6pm.

Canvassing of election returns by the SBOC will begin right after the polling stations close. Hong Kong will be the center for canvassing the returns from the SAR, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Chongqing, Macau and Mongolia

Morales will be the SBOC chairperson and Consul General Lilybeth Deapera of the PCG in Macau the vice chairperson.

Two other items on the agenda were the preparations for Philippine Independence Day activities in June and the controversial anti-measles vaccination of Filipino workers. 

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Maagang nagkalinawan

Posted on 09 April 2019 No comments

Wala pang isang buwan si Janice sa among taga Sheung Wan nang kausapin siya. Ite-terminate na raw siya dahil ayaw sa kanya ng ina nito, dahil hindi siya marunong magsalita ng Cantonese.

Malumanay na sumagot si Janice. “You knew Ma’am, from the start that I can only speak English. And also, why is your mother now included in our discussion? Our contract mentions only you, your husband and the children.”

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Sa pag-uusap nila, nalaman niya na ang plano pala nito ay maliban sa bahay ng amo, dapat ding maglinis at magluto si Janice sa bahay ng matanda.

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Naunawaan siguro ng amo na paglabag ito sa kanilang kasunduan, na may karampatang parusa, kaya hindi na itinuloy ang balak.

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Hindi na rin nagpakita ang ina ng amo sa bahay. At naging ma-respeto ang kanilang pagsasama simula noon, “Minsan, mabuti na yung nagkakalinawan kayo ng amo.

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Kung hindi ka papayag na palusutin ang mga gusto nilang mangyari, kahit mali, hindi naman nila ipipilit,” ika ni Janice.

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