Over 250 Pinoys now out of Ukraine–DFA

 

Filipinos from Ukraine to arrive in Manila on Tuesday night, March 1, 2022. (Photo courtesy of the DFA)

by Betheena Unite, Manila Bulletin

More than 250 Filipinos in Ukraine are now out of danger, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday afternoon, March 10.

A total of 259 Filipinos have been taken out of Ukraine, DFA Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola said. Of this, 90 Filipinos were already repatriated while 169 nationals are in various safe borders near Ukraine.

Arriola said of the 169 Filipinos evacuated from the war-stricken country, 60 individuals are expected to arrive in Manila on Thursday.

 

Meanwhile, of the 90 Filipinos, who have already returned home, 55 are seafarers.

On Wednesday, March 9, a total of 29 seafarers arrived in the Philippines. They are the crew members of MV Global Aglaia, MV Joseph Schulte, and MV Star Helena.

According to DFA, they exited Ukraine to evacuate to Moldova with the assistance of the Philippine Honorary Consulate in Chisinau and the Philippine Embassy in Budapest. They then left for the Philippines from Bucharest, Romania.

The Foreign Affairs department expects more seafarers to arrive in the country in the next few days through its evacuation and repatriation programs.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola disclosed on Wednesday that they are having a hard time evacuating seafarers, particularly those stranded at the Black Sea.

“Kami, medyo, problemado tayo dito sa (We are facing problems with evacuating) sea-based (workers). POEA (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration) is closely monitoring how many Filipinos are stranded sa kanilang (in their) vessels,” Arriola said.

She added that they could not leave their vessels due to the “heavy fighting” and they can only hunker down and take cover amid the intense firing. However, she assured that the government will keep working with Philippine embassies and consulates in the embattled country and its nearby territories to get them out of danger.

DFA calls European Parliament reso on rights issues an attempt to influence elections

Photo shows the Department of Foreign Affairs main building along Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City.

Gaea Katreena Cabico - Philstar.com

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs condemned the European Parliament for adopting another resolution on human rights abuses in the Philippines, calling it an attempt to interfere in the country’s electoral process.

In a statement Sunday, DFA said the allegations raised in the text are "unfair, largely baseless" as it dismissed the resolution as another intrusion in the country’s internal affairs.  

"We condemn the misguided attempt of the European Parliament to interfere in the Philippine electoral process through its resolution raising already discredited allegations of human rights violations in the thin hope of heavily influencing the outcome in favor of its choice," it said.

Last week, the European Parliament issued a resolution calling on the Philippines to immediately end violence against suspected drug offenders and to stop labeling activists and journalists as supporters of communist rebels. It also warned of the temporary withdrawal of trade benefits if calls remain unheeded.

The parliament adopted the text with 627 votes in favor, 26 against and 31 abstentions.

DFA claimed without basis the calls of European lawmakers were prompted by "supporters of libelous journalists and bitter critics of the current administration because they miserably lost the previous election."

"The resolution is based on a deliberately falsified impression of the actual human rights situation in the country. The resolution is presumptuous given the historical record of its main proponents," it said, adding the United Nations Joint Program for Human Rights have already addressed such allegations, including extrajudicial killings of activists and trade unionists and deaths from the government’s bloody "war on drugs."

Signed last July, the joint program is meant as capacity-building assistance to and technical cooperation with Philippine authorities in several areas, including strengthening domestic investigation and accountability mechanisms, data gathering on alleged violations by the police and implementing a human rights-based approaches to drug control.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said then that the program "manifests the sincere efforts of the Philippine Government to infuse its law enforcement and investigative operations with a human rights dimension in a non-political setting." A Department of Justice review of "drug war" cases has led to charges against some police officers.

The department also called out European Parliament Vice President Heidi Hautala who said the winner in the May polls "will have a major task to reverse a dire human rights situation which has seen an appalling deterioration under President Duterte."

"For the Parliament to pass a resolution of this manner is a clear attempt to influence the outcome of our coming elections in May instead of accepting the sovereign will of the Filipino people as manifested in the previous elections," DFA said.

The European Parliament issued similar texts in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020.

Nevertheless, the department said it is looking forward to the European Union’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences monitoring mission from Feb. 28 to March 4, noting the views of European lawmakers do not reflect those of the EU as a whole or of its individual member states.

DFA given 5 days to wrap up passport probe

Rainier Allan Ronda (The Philippine Star) 

MANILA, Philippines — The National Privacy Commission (NPC) has given the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) five days to wrap up its investigation into the passport mess.

Speaking to reporters, NPC commissioner Raymund Liboro said yesterday’s initial meeting was brief but productive.

“The NPC’s investigation continues. In their own preliminary probe, the DFA said it is in control of the data. That says a lot already to assuage the public. The data in question is not controlled by any unauthorized parties. That was what today’s meeting with the DFA established. The data is under their safekeeping,” Liboro said.

Liboro added that he looked forward to next Monday’s fact-finding meeting, which will include representatives from both the DFA and Asia Productivity Organization (APO).

“The lessons we could learn from this incident would go a long way in ensuring better government practices. They would form part of the recommendations the NPC shall later issue to government offices contracting third parties,” he said.

Liboro added that the NPC was looking for ways to further protect personal data.

“The law obliges data controllers like the DFA to strictly implement contractual means to protect data when they deal with third parties and government contractors. We look forward to improving on that based on lessons we learn here,” Liboro said.

In the letter-request sent to NPC Tuesday afternoon, DFA’s data protection officer Menardo Macaraig said the department’s “preliminary inquiries on the matter indicate that there was no data breach because the APO protection unit, a government-owned and controlled corporation and recognized government printer, remain in custody and control of said data.”

Macaraig added that the data have not been shared with or accessed by an unauthorized third party, which may use it for illicit purposes.  

The DFA had requested the NPC for 10 more days to provide information on the incident.

The NPC, in a letter dated Jan. 14, invited Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. or the data protection officer of the DFA to a meeting yesterday morning.

“We went there to convey DFA’s request for a postponement. They gave us five days. The meeting will be Monday morning,” DFA office of legal affairs director Anthony Mandap told The STAR.

As this developed, Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday rejected the call of leftist lawmakers for the House of Representatives to investigate the passport incident in the DFA.

“Investigations are not the job of the House – inquiries but not investigations. And inquiries have to be in aid of legislation and in reality, what legislation can we introduce in a few months?” she told reporters.

Arroyo said she was leaving the matter to Camiguin Rep. Xavier Jesus Romualdo, who chairs the committee on good government and public accountability.

Meanwhile, the recruitment and migration sectors lauded the DFA order removing the requirement of birth certificate for passport renewal.

According to Emmanuel Geslani, who has served overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) for 35 years, they do not bring original copies of their birth certificate.

Geslani agreed with Locsin that requiring birth certificates for passport renewal was an additional burden, adding that the old passport is sufficient evidence of a person’s citizenship.

The Consular Affairs Office recently started issuing 10-year-validity passports but there are thousands of OFWs who still hold five-year-validity passports. – With Pia Lee-Brago, Jess Diaz, Rudy Santos

Filipinos in America

10,000 Filipinos face deportation as US changes immigration policy

By Patricia Lourdes Viray (philstar.com) | Updated September 6, 2017 - 6:05pm

 37  943 googleplus1  0 

Standing on the step to the County Administration building, several groups address the crowd during a rally to show support for DACA in San Diego on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2017. Almost 800,000 young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children or overstayed their visas could see their lives upended after the Trump administration announced Tuesday it is ending the Obama-era program that protected them from deportation. Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP

MANILA, Philippines — An estimated 10,000 Filipinos may be deported as the United States rescinds a program allowing undocumented immigrant children to stay legally in their country.

US President Donald Trump announced the formal dismantling of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which has given nearly 800,000 young immigrants a reprieve from deportation.

Trump gave the US Congress six months to come up with a law that would prevent the deportations of many as the people covered by the program.

Congress, get ready to do your job - DACA!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2017

I look forward to working w/ D's + R's in Congress to address immigration reform in a way that puts hardworking citizens of our country 1st.

Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2017

Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can't, I will revisit this issue!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2017

READ: Trump expected to end program for young immigrants

DFA on standby to assist Filipinos facing deportation

The Philippine government will assist Filipinos who will be affected by the revocation of the DACA program, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

"We will authorize, with certain limitations, the use of the Assistance to Nationals Fund and the Legal Assistance Fund to assist immigration-related cases such as those arising from the decision of President Trump to revoke the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals or DACA," Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said.

The Philippines' top diplomat urged members of the Filipino community in the US to remain hopeful and to actively support the passage of new laws that would assist those who will be affected by the policy change.

"In any event, we are ready to welcome and assist our kababayans in whatever way we can if they are returned to the Philippines," Cayetano said.

According to Chargé d'Affaires Patrick Chuasoto of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., the DACA program provides temporary legal status, allowing qualified immigrant children from the Philippines and other countries to stay, study and work in the US.

The DACA program was part of an executive order that former US President Barack Obama issued in 2012 to protect undocumented immigrant children from deportation.

About 310,000 out of the 3.4 million Filipinos in the US are undocumented, Chuasoto said.

Senator Cayetano as new DFA Secretary

Office of Senator

Alan Peter S. Cayetano

Rm. 602 GSIS Complex Senate of the Philippines Roxas Blvd Pasay City

         

PRESS RELEASE

17 May 2017

Cayetano vows to help Du30 admin fulfill promise of change as new DFA Sec

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano vows to continue helping President Rodrigo Duterte in fulfilling his promise of promoting the welfare of the Filipino people, as well as the country's national sovereignty and interest, territorial integrity, and national security.

This was the pledge of Cayetano when he faced members of the Commission on Appointments at the Senate for the confirmation of his post as Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Members of the CA unanimously voted for the appointment of Cayetano during the plenary session. 

"To the Honorable members of the Commission on Appointments... I have the honor and privilege to be before you today as you exercise your constitutional mandate to assess and decide on my fitness to serve the DFA as its Secretary," Cayetano said in his opening speech before the commission.

The senator stressed that while much has been done in the field of foreign relations, "there is still so much to do" in order to affect more genuine changes for the country.

As Secretary, Cayetano will introduce initiatives aimed at "advocating and pushing for our national interest, strengthening our bilateral and multilateral relations with other countries and organizations around the world, and of course the protection, welfare, and comfort of our Filipinos overseas, particularly our modern day heroes."

The senator also took the opportunity to thank his colleagues in Congress "for helping President Duterte in fulfilling his mandate and vision."

Cayetano had been a public servant since 1992. He was first elected as the youngest Councilor of the then municipality of Taguig, and was voted as Vice Mayor of the same municipality. He served three terms as Representative of the Lone District of Taguig-Pateros, and was elected as Senator in 2007.

He currently holds the position of Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The senator had since been accompanying the President during his state visits to different countries. 

"These foreign trips have... given a face to our 10 million kababayans abroad. They are working hard, sacrificing much, asking for little.They are hungry for change," Cayetano stressed, as he expressed commitment to promoting the welfare of OFWs here and abroad.#