We beg to differ.
The Philippine government is appealing to the US government for a granting of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to hundreds of thousands of undocumented Filipino nationals illegally residing in the United States. The appeal builds upon the Philippines’ claim to being unable to fully recover from the devastation wrought by super-typhoon Haiyan (a.k.a. Yolanda) across its…
Poor Thomas Van Beersum. He now stands as a shining lesson to Western Europeans of what it means to get in trouble in a Third World country half a planet away. Beersum is a Dutch activist who made headlines after participating in a protest rally during the delivery of the State of the Nation Address…
Between Malaysia and the Philippines, it is obvious who has the most to lose as the Sabah conflict rages on. Figures from the Commission on Filipinos overseas reportedly place the number of Filipinos residing in Sabah at 570,000 of which 447,000 are illegal aliens… On Sunday, nearly 300 undocumented Filipinos arrived in Zamboanga City from…
Filipino ‘illegal’ immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas seems to have started something big. Vargas, who lives in the United States, is a journalist of Filipino ancestry who was born in the Philippines but was sent to live with his grandparents (both naturalised Americans) when he was 12. At 16, he experienced a rude awakening to the…
Read More “Jose Antonio Vargas – modern day migrants’ hero and Filipino exemplar?” »
Apparently, Filipino boxing champ Manny Pacquiao does not think too highly of immigrants. In an interview he implied that naturalised citizens cannot claim to be considered to be a true national of their adopted country… In a press conference after his return to General Santos City, Pacquiao fired back when the press asked him about…
Read More “Is Manny Pacquiao implying that Filipino-Americans are ‘not real’ Americans?” »
It irritates me to a great extent whenever I encounter or hear about other people in the United States stealing resources that should only belong to American Citizens. Take the case of Jose Vargas, a journalist who wrote about the Virginia Tech shooting and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for it. He came to the…
Read More “Jose Vargas: Does ‘coming out clean’ compensate for a life of deception?” »
The Philippine economy will collapse without the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). Remittances from the OFWs contributed significantly to the 7.3% growth in the economy in 2010. The spending fuelled by the billions of dollars they send back home is a factor that is likely helping the country avoid a Greece-like economic failure. Even without drastic…
Read More “Are OFWs’ right to travel being violated by the Philippine Government?” »
Exit permits for OFWs? You gotta be kidding. That plus anecdotal evidence of all sorts of red tape before one can depart for a job overseas? An outrage! It sounds like something reminiscent of the Cold War when East German citizens would risk life and limb to make a dash across the border for a…
Read More “OFW ‘exit permits’ make sense – because taxpayers’ funds are at stake” »