Ms. Fernandez has the right to say what ever she wants to in a free society. Yes, it was a degrading, selfish thing to say but we must be grateful that all of us have the freedom of speech. We don’t want to live in a society like Saddam’s Iraq where one wrong word gets you executed. A free society also allows her to be fired by her employer without interferance from anyone!

The following are my comments re Ms. Malu copied from Ms Ca T’s blog
http://cathcath.com/?p=3325
The Manila Standard’s lady columnist who was accused of being a bigot when she said insensitive remarks about OFWs. apologized and tendered her resignation.

“I am humbled by the vehement and heated response provoked by my article. To say that this article was not meant to malign, hurt or express prejudice against the OFWs now sounds hollow after reading through all the blogs from Filipinos all over the world,” Fernandez said in her latest statement on the online version of Manila Standard Today.

She added: “I am deeply apologetic for my insensitivity and the offensive manner in which this article was written, I hear you all and I am properly rebuked.
It was truly not my intention to malign hurt or express prejudice against OFWs.”

Fernandez admitted being insensitive and offensive, as she apologized to the OFWs for whatever she had written.

Sought for an interview by ABS-CBN, Fernandez declined.

She, however, sent a letter, saying, “I take full responsibility for my actions and my friends and family have nothing to do with this. To date I have submitted my resignation letters to both the Manila Standard and People Asia, on that note may this matter be laid to rest.”

Manuel Quezon III and this Cat did not ask for her blood. Manila Standard was silent about the issue. Up to this writing, Gma7 said that there were no statements from the newspaper and the magazine if they accepted the resignation.

As I have said management always take prudence in resolving an issue that involves employee dismissal on the basis of hate mails. Some bloggers just picked one statement of mine regarding political leanings when I was merely enumerating the strategic processes taken by top management in determining whether there is a valid ground for dismissal. A wrong decision may set precedent for people in the media.

Talk about prejudice. Sheesh.

Only a few OFW bloggers joined the advocacy. It took a non-OFW and non-migrant to start the call for the censure of Malu Fernandez.

The call from a group of bloggers, OFWs and the threats posted in the comment boxes of bloggers may have pressured Malu Fernandez to resign. I know, it would come.

I believe that it is not the death threats that may have caused the resignation. A friend of mine always reminded me to be kind to the household helps. They cook your food. Give tips to the waiter. They serve your food.

The Ca t

malu Fernandez,Jo Malone cologne,OFWs,Manila Standard

Posted in Un-Cat-egorized

12 Comments »
meron ba siyang Tagalog version? Sana hindi niya sayangin ang kanyang talent at pinaghirapan pag-aralan, she can lead by example, sabi ko nga sa aking last comment, pwede siyang mag volunteer magturo sa mga college students to “how to have peace within our community” like the program they’ve started at Virginia Tech to prevent another physical act of violence. Pasalamat siya at mga Pilipino ang nasagasaan niya, tayo ay mapagpatawad at mapagpasensya. Sana wala ng sumunod na kaparehong insidente. Think before we open our mouths or write it in black and white.

Comment by Lorena C. Marzan - August 24, 2007 4:12 am

lorena,
she does not have that luxury yet i.e. volunteering. She has to earn, earn, earn to maintain her lifestyle.

Comment by Cathy - August 24, 2007 4:45 am

There is a hairline boundary on freedom of speech and just being a plain bitch.

We were all taught by our teachers and at home to always consider the feelings of others, we are human beings.
Kawikaan nga sa Pilipino: Huag mong gawin sa kapwa mo ang ayaw mong gawin sa iyo. Don’t do unto others, what you do not want others do unto you.

My Mother is one of the original OFW who went to HongKong to be a Nanny and so many Mothers went all over the world to send their children to colleges to become good citizens and send dollars back home. We are the majority amongst the Filipionos, Ms. Malu Fernandez, is only one and is probably is not worth my time to write or discuss, there are better and more productive things for all of us to do. But one thing I have to be grateful to her, is opening up for all of us to be reunited and speak out ourselves on these issues re OFWs.

Ang tunay na mayaman ay di na bino-broadcast sa buong mundo kung anong meron sila. Isa syang social climber na feeling maganda, e hindi naman. Saka walang magtatanong na “DH ka rin ba?” sa eroplano, kung di ba naman sya tungakers? Ang sinusulat nya ay about travel, pero mas madami pang about sa pangit nyang sarili ang andun, at panlalait sa mga OFW, lalo na sa mga DH. Nasisikipan pa daw sya sa economy, e panong hinde, lumba-lumba sya. Ang arts nya, nag-economy pa sya. O baka naman puro lang sariling kwento nya lang mga sinusulat nya, puro di totoo at imahinasyon.

[...] DIBendano posts an entry on OFWs as perceived by Malu Fernandez in Vox [...]

i had enough of this “Malu Fernandez” issue … .. she had, hopefully, learned her lessons and so did her publishers & editors.

for one thing, it was simply not just about the manner that she addressed OFWs, as these OFWs including myself, are normal human beings that deserve respect and dignity. it was also about how she had written and presented her article that focused only on herself, her materialistic lifestyle, and her clearly perceived ignorance of, one, the state of her countrymen, and two, how intellectual and intelligent we OFWs are.

I just hope we would not read any more articles like the one Malu had written. As such article is very unlikely of responsible journalism.

I’ve read the supposedly “offending” article written by society page writer Malu Fernandez in the form of a forwarded message in my email. I purposely printed my true name and not hide behind pseudonym to emphasize that not all OFWs got offended by the article.

My personal reaction after reading the article was one of surprise as to the extent of “storm” it generated among the OFWs. The article in its prosaic form was nice reading showing competence in English writing. If I were to grade her work, it would certainly merit a B+ or A-.

As to the content, the part about the OFWs was just the spice she used to dramatize just how different she is from the ordinary Filipinos who has to join the exodus out of the country for the proverbial greener pastures. Incidence of the writer’s birth may have provided her with a jaundiced view of things around her. Therefore, the article should be read in the context of her class. I am sure, it was not meant for the CDE classes in our society.

She was writing an article about her journeys and whatever her perception about things around her, it is personal to her. One cannot expect the writer to expound too much and be more detailed about OFWs because the article was not about us, OFWs. Had she included that other OFWs inside the cramped economy class were speaking in impeccable English implying good education or some were in their signature Lacoste shirts or some ladies were carrying Louis Vitton bags with matching gold jewelries, would the reaction be the same?

Some or most reacted because the description by the author of OFWs was too sweeping categorizing them as DH & laborers. So those who are neither reacted strongly. They want to draw attention that not all OFWs are either maids or ordinary workers. Their reaction is actually no different from the author’s poor taste or lack of political correctness.

Why? What is wrong if one is a DH or a laborer? In fact, I find the reaction of professional OFWs (or OFWs who are not DH & laborers) as more disgusting because by their strong avowal of not being maid or laborers, it is implied that they are above these OFWs in stature or status.

Examining closely the “airplane” part of the article, the writer was accurate in most of what she described. There was nothing in there that would suggest the writer was inventing. All situations she mentioned do occur in the economy class of an ME or country bound plane carrying OFWs. There are even more worse scenarios. I should know. Truth hurts and hurts deeply.

I can only say that the writer was unlucky that her piece was read by very discerning OFWs who took offense at being lumped with those unfortunate DH & laborers description. While we always insist on having our rights respected, why can’t we accord the writer the same respect? We may not agree with her but it is her right to express hew own thoughts. It is how she sees the world around her. That’s how she is in life and to expect her to rain accolades to the poor and the downtrodden just to be politically correct would be the height of hypocrisy. At least, she would rather earn the ire of the entire OFW population than be a hypocrite. Why? Are all people in high places in the Philippines morally upright, with impregnable integrity and unblemished reputations? Let us not look far beyond. We , OFWs ourselves should try to examine ourselves and compare with the author. Maybe, many of us are even worse than her.

Insensitivity? Come on? Why forced her to be that if she’s not. She was just telling in words what and how she feels. If not for the few who chanced upon the article, and make a mountain out of a molehill, the OFWs just didn’t care. I’ve spoken to many laborers and they just didn’t give a damn about it. They have more important matters to worry than an innocuous piece of article by an insensitive social elite.

Try reviewing the video footages and the letters to the editors in all newspapers and tabloids and you will find that no DH or laborers have been losing sleep over the article. Only those OFWs who are fortunate not being a DH or a laborer are becoming too agitated. As an OFW myself, I feel nauseated that instead of giving the right argument against the article, many of us chose the wrong view to chastise the author that eventually drove her from probably her favorite calling.

My question to my co-OFWs (I am a professional) why? What’s wrong with being a DH or a laborer? I am a professional and if Malu considers me no different than the sweaty laborers, I couldn’t care less. She certainly does not give me the wherewithal to live my life. It is her opinion about me as an OFW and I have my own opinion about the bourgeoisie in our society. It doesn’t follow that one’s wirter opinion is already the gospel truth.

To Malu Fernandez, you are lucky in life so maybe you can exercise a little prudence when writing about us OFWs because while we OFWs have been very jealous of our supposed rights and dignity, many of us also have become too sensitive to accept anything short of praise and appreciation. And sadly, many of us have also become to self-righteous for comfort. To a burgis, I know it’s difficult but you can always try. And please, go on writing. It is a gift so enjoy it. Forget the raging protest of the OFWs. In time, they will have other issues to rile about and your name will be forgotten by them.

I thank lorena for posting an excerpt of my blog entry about the lady columnist.

This is in response to a lady who invoked the freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech as I have said is protected by the State for the purpose of bringing out the truth and not to use as an excuse to MOCK anybody who is below his/her socio-economic status.

And for those who have not read her columns except for the most controversial one, read her other articles. It is not only the OFWs that she is insulting… even the locals who cannot afford her lifestyle especially those who go to ukay-ukay .

Her so-called lifestyle is just ordinary for us overseas Filipinos , ako pinapaligo ko lang yang mga Ralph Lauren na yan sa umaga, ang panggabi ko ay Estee Lauder at pag nagiging lalaki ako ay AXE. nyeknyeknyek.

I was not for her firing then but the voluntary resignation and its acceptance could have made a closure to the issue.

Funny siya, no phony.

whatever her perception about things around her, it is personal to her.

If she wrote that in an e-mail. that’s personal. But Santa Barbara naman na pinsan ni Santa Clara, she is writing in a broadsheet published nationwide.

And what hurts is that the advertising thrust of the online edition is to promote their products to the OFWs. Ibabagsak ko siya sa Marketing 1001.

Iinsultuhin ninyo tapos pagbibilhan ninyo ng products na nakaadvertised sa newspapers. Haah. Hinihika ako.
Talking about kapal. That could be two inch-plywood.

What shall thatanger? All what Malu wrote was her own experience and she is not in duty to accept anything. And too, what she had complained about is nothing than the truth.
At every flight with many OFW’s, there will be shouting, there will be the smell of several perfumes, and much more else. It has a simply reason: Most OFW’s are poor at home and now, they can afford to show what they are told by advertisements to be “classy, in”. That is why they buy rather luxury than usefuland longlasting cloths, shoes, handbags, why the buy expensive handy’s even they only need texting, why they noften start to build houses that look like villas of rich Americans of the South instead of houses that are easy to maintain and affordable even if there is no more income from jobs abroad. There are many of such houses, not finishedbecause the costs increase more than the salary.
At the former Honkong airport it has been normal usance that security has been calling for more officers to a boarding counter because “the Filipinos are coming”. The reason, there have not yet been reeled lines and Filipinos have been known as too undisciplined for to correct fall in line without forcing by security officers.
For boarding the plane, the last coming down rushedahead of the other, even they did not have the called row number to board. And of course, they tried to bring much more bags than allowed and immediately occupied the overhead space of other rows.
Lastly, is it not true that higher earning OFW’s often look down at their former co-citicens who stayed at home and could not afford what the OFW can afford?
OFW’s are normal humans, means with all the good and not so good manners of normal humans. In a society where money is such a priority, many of them break the limits and feel more than others so that they also do not need to care about other passengers in a plane. Anyway, they are “modern heroes”, forced to go abroad and then to help the government to survive, by sending home Dollars, Dollars, Dollars for a big BSP reserve so that the government can make more loans….

Malu, Pls realize that working in the middle east is like working hard-labor in prison, in a foreign land. Basic freedom is not allowed. People work sometimes 16-18hrs/day along w/the verbal, physical, emotional , sexual and mental, environmental abuse/torture and sometimes dont get paid. and they’re on their own in this misery w/nobody to help them.That is why when they go home and ride a plane they are soo homesick to talk to a fellow Filipino citizen or buy and enjoy basic luxeries like perfume. Try to be a DH/or a worker in the middle east. I bet you wont last a week eventhough you have nothing back home-you’d rather die in hopelessness/desperation. Malu, you’re supposed to be an educated, mature, responsible, sensitive and empathetic HUMAN being. (Pls read the gospel of Matthew)The least you could have done is just share their simple joy of freedom and their hopes of coming home!!

Sa sampung taon ko dito sa Saudi Arabia ay wala akong kinamuhian na tao. Ang totoo niyan, wala akong paki-alam sa paligid ko kahit madalas akong magmasid at ito daw ay isa sa mga katangian ko. Pero ngayon, hindi lang pagmamasid ang gagawin ko. Aba’y marunong pala akong mag-kumento?

Ms. Malu Fernandez, ang sabi mo ay tatlong klase lang ang tao sa Pilipinas. Yun ay sa iyong pananaw.

Pero pakinggan mo din ako dahil sa mayroon apat na klaseng mamamayan sa Pilipinas.

Una, mamamayan na tama ang binabayad na buwis sa pamahalaan.

Pangalawa, mamamayan na nandadaya sa pagbabayad ng buwis sa pamahalaan.

Pangatlo, mamamayan na nilulustay ang ibinayad na buwis ng mamayan sa pamahalaan.

Pang-apat, mga OFW na nagdadagdag ng pera sa kaban ng bayan dahil sa ipinadadalang pera.

Alin ka sa kanila? Magkano ba ang kinikita mo para makapaglakbay ka sa ibang bansa? Kung may dugo kang pulitiko, baka naman pangatlong klase kang mamamayan sa Pilipinas. Nagbabayad ka ba ng tamang buwis sa pamahalaan?

Marunong ka bang magsimba? Katoliko ka ba o kahit anong dominasyon? Ganyan ba ang turo ng iyong relihiyon? Ang manglait ng kapwa?

Saang school ka ba nag-aral? Ganyan ba ang itinuro ng iyong teacher?

Kung hindi ka magpapakilala sa eroplano ay baka masahol pa sa DH ang maging pagkakakilala sa iyo ng katabi mo. Matabang babae na puno ng make-up at umaalingasaw sa pabango. Anong klaseng babae ang maiisip ng katabi mo?

Kung super rich ka katulad ng akala mo. Hindi ka na dapat mag-sulat sa diyaryo.

Hindi ka dapat magpa-umanhin sa aming mga OFW. Kung marunong kang mang-lait, marunong ka ding tumanggap ng mga panglalait ng iba. At kung ganyan din ang pag-uugali ng lahat ng mga kabarkada mo (na pilit mong pinatatawa). Masahol pa kayong lahat sa amoy ng mga OFW!

The whole of Manila Standard organization must be held responsible for what their writer did. In the first place her Editor-In-Chief has given the go signal for the piece to be published. Why they didn’t even bother to print any sign of remorse for the damage their elitist writer did? They don’t give a damn it seems.

It was a funny article…and making fun out of OFW’s it was and in an exaggerated sense…and funny at the perspective of Malu and the people that share her status and thoughts…degrading to the subjects of her sharp wit and sense of humour…writing should be about bridging gaps and setting points aimed at reconciling differences and not towards creating hatred amongst the people of a free society.

Whether the OFWs that surrounded Ms. Fernandez are skilled (masons, carpenters, DH) or the professionals (IT experts, engineers, doctors turned nurses, accountants etc) is beside the point, she took the picture of OFW as a whole not as in specifics to our skilled (the masa type) OFW when she made that remark. I took that as a contempt statement of a high society writer to us OFW as a whole.

When I was reading her article (from forwarded email) I was fuming in rage. Here we are agonizing in separation from our love ones and then you read Ms. Fernandez’s work. How would you feel?

Truely indeed, our society is still full of Donya Victorina sitting on top the Bapor Tabo long after Rizal’s time.

An abject lesson to her and her consequent resignation likely signify her remorse.

A grave lesson to the rest of those who overstep their bounds of elitist thinking, whether intended as a tongue-in-cheek comedy or as fact.

Malu Fernandez should be strung up like a pig and skinned. As a doctor working in Australia and a fellow OFW, shame on her and her family (for not teaching the right values) for maligning us. We feed and cloth the Philippines not unlike you nasty journalists, lawyers, politicians and clergy men who suck the blood out of the people. Its sick if journalists like her use the so callled freedom of speech and the anti-libel stand to spread nothing but pure rubbish. Resigning and apologizing is not enough. May your sick body and soul burn in hell!!!

Accountability and responsibility is definitely lacking in the philippines, be it the government or private sector and that includes the madaya errrr media.

Looking at the pathetic “apology” purportedly coming from the self-proclaimed “diva” wherein she desperately portray herself as the victim of the same bigotry and discrimination with the backlash she was getting on her weight problem is simply a manifestation of her unwillingness to account for her stupidity. It was purely a cheap attempt at getting sympathy for her lard errr large figure in a lame opportunistic attempt to promote her plus size store for the overweights.

Looking at Babes Romualdez response wherein once more we are treated with feudal overlord mindset of pointing out the disclaimer regarding the opinion as that of the writer and does not reflect the publisher as once again throwing the blame at the readers. Again showing signs of unwillingness to be accountable and responsible for what the kind of crap they deemed fit to print.

Is apology and resignation enough you asked…. I dare say not, unfortunately in the land of cheats where people who have been shamed and found to be outright blatant cheaters, cling on to their position as if it was their birthright. Can we expect the editor and publisher to be accountable would have been a better question and it would be up to the readers to patronize papers that upholds decency and ethical journalistic practices.

i have a news that she is the niece of migs zubiri if its true will, again fake senator tell to your bloody cologne niece that if she received death threats as she is complaining go to maguindanao so that she can smell of what you she didnt;

TO MALU FERNANDEZ:

Let me start my comment by asking who are you anyway? How dare you picture and speak about OFWs as if they are a social nuisance and inferior social class compared to your flock just because you wear an expensive Jo Malone perfume and they are reeking of Charlie and Axe deodorants! When you bragged about your expensive scent, it bordered on being a seemingly trying-hard social climber displaced in the ECONOMY SECTION to that of plain hypocrisy. You should be in the FIRST CLASS/BUSINESS CLASS with all your “so-called” wealth!

Perhaps, it was an irony (or should I say poetic justice?) that you were mistaken for a DH. Just perhaps, even with your expensive Jo Malone perfume and signature brands of clothing, YOU STILL LOOK MORE OF A DH than those DHs and laborers you saw in Dubai. Talking of “magaling magdala ng damit or nababagay!” Look at your self in the mirror…

And how dare you even insinuate that either you are a diva or we OFWs are lacking in common sense! Yes, you are a DIVA in an overweight body pretending to be “burgis” in the ECONOMY SECTION of the plane. You are DIVA, DI BA? Talking of common sense to have the nerve to say what you said!…

There are ethical standards in journalism that you need to get refreshed with. There is more to your freedom of speech than just merely being your right to express yourself. It comes with a social and moral responsibility of being a columnist for a major daily broadsheet. Of course, your common sense would have dictated you to AVOID HURTING OTHER PEOPLE’S FEELINGS. And you failed miserably in this aspect.

It is heartening to note that we OFWs still have the civility to keep our calm and refrain from resorting to wild outrage that domesticated animals (like pigs perhaps!) would have done if provoked beyond their comfort zones by an overbearing foreign instigator.

But this civility should not be mistaken for being meek and submissive to the excesses of a few misguided souls camouflaged in “so-called” expensive perfumes and signature brands of clothing. Do unto others what you want others do unto you…You parodied the DHs and laborers (the OFWs in general), you will receive our wrath in writing.(An eye for an eye, or is it a pen for a pen?).

Lastly, let me conclude my comment by saying that OFWs are decent-earning individuals who, through their personal remittances to the Philippines, has kept the Philippine economy afloat especially during the economic crunch of 98 - 05. We are noble-minded individuals who sacrifice our being away from our family to provide for their needs and be able to send our kids to school and have a meaningful education - an education that should give them the tool to become responsible and morally upright members of society. OFWs deserve better than your overbearing portayal of them as lower-status social level. May this be an eye-opener for your brethren that not all that glitters is gold!

READERS: BOYCOTT MANILA STANDARD FOR THEIR IRRESPONSIBLE APPROVAL IN THE PRINTING OF MS. MALU’S ARTICLE DESPITE HER NEGATIVE AND OVERBEARING ARROGANCE TOWARDS OFWs!!! BOYCOTT ANY MEDIA PROJECT INVOLVING MS. MALU FERNANDEZ! This is the way to teach her a lesson or two about humility! Let Manila Standard and Malu Fernandez apologize in public for their insensitivity in publishing her article.

Rodolfo Nardo Jr.
Ops Mgr of an Express & Logistics Company in KSA
UP Alumnus Batch 1987

1st of all, WTF is Malu Fernandez? Doesn’t she know that the only reason why our economy strive is because of OFW remittances? Her resignation doesn’t put the issue into close, not until this newspaper and magazine apologizes, let’s continue the boycott (even though I don’t buy nor read this newspaper and magazine) and pressure.

I am an ofw for 14 long years. malu’s apology is not enough. manila standard should also issue an apology.

Very nicely said Ahmed, no quarrel with you on that. I totally agree with you. I have two professional daughters abroad, they’re not bothered by it. We believe that superiority or inferiority of any kind does not reside exclusively on any one class of people, be it dh, professional, burgis, or social class. A wise man said, “Everyone is superior to me in one way, and that I respect him.” Malu Fernandez could have been thinking legibly of her inner thoughts at the time, and she has the right (and wrong) to it as anybody else.

Malu Fernandez should be banned in all publications and her editor must also publish an apology. She did act on her own, her utter disrespect for the OFWs were tolerated by the magazine and newspaper editors.

it was very insensitive on her part to notice the scent of the hardworking OFWs who were with her inside the plane. She failed to see the sadness of maybe one of those passengers who did not succeed in her job and was sent earlier, there might be someone inside the plane who had to take emergency leave because of a dying relative or sick husband , wife or child. Did she even think what these people had to endure just to earn an honest wage to feed their families because of the government’s failure to provide them with adequate jobs here in the Philippines? No, Malu was so full of herself and branded perfumes and bags to notice these things. What a shame!!!

It’s difficult not get irate and irritated by Malu’s article. My mother was an OFW for fourteen years, and now, I myself is one.

My father often reminded when I was younger, never to attack people through their weaknesses, political beliefs, and religions; not only that it’s unfair, you can also stir up a world war for this. It’s a pity Malu never learned this. Her article pinched a nerve, and of course every action has an equal opposite reaction.

Also, would you refrain calling her a bitch. In reference to my sister’s funny (if not idiotic) philosophy of being a bitch; She says to be a certified one, One has to have these three things, not one less: Beauty, Fame, and Wealth. Therefore she doesn’t deserve the B word.

Someone once said that if not for the OFW’s and their hard-earned money, our country would have by now been blown into bits by a civil war. Without the precious dollars of the OFW’s, our economy would be in shambles as there would no buyers of property, cars, gadgets, and the malls would simply be a haven for window shopping. And people like Malu Fernandez and her “ritzy” class would probably be caught leaving her country to avoid the conflict and work as an OFW in the US or wherever. What an irony indeed!!!

[...] Vox Populi : OFWs as perceived by Malu Fernandez [...]

In my humble opinion, issuing an unpublished public apology plus resignation is never more than enough. I never intend to be vindicative here. Let me tell you why?

Being a journalist/reporter, one is a member of an organization/guild like KBP or whatever related to it. Can this group won’t be able to implement disciplinary measures like sanctioning members for doing a lowly unfounded cheap investigative journalism? If these groups are always crying foul whenever they are harassed by somebody strong and mightier than they are, why can’t they tame any bitchiness in their own ranks for credibility sakes in reference to what Ms. Fernandez did? Her approach to writing about lifestyles of OFWs in the middle east is not humorous at all and to think it was published in a circulated print and media perhaps.

Amplifying futher to encompass a larger picture, why can’t these same “Press Club” or “KBP” can’t imposed the same disciplinary measures and even sanctions to Manila Standard Today for allowing out of ignorance from publishing Ms. Fernandez column? What a shame that the name of Manuel Quezon was dragged into the spotlight.

For the record I was once working in the Middle East, well in KSA sometime in the not so distant past. I could not say anything more appreciative to these OFW’s on their way home inside the airplane other than my proudest grand salute. The environment is kinda like a fiesta or a carnival or a market though most of these people don’t even know each other personally. Nevertheless, it does not matter if everybody was boasting what they have to everybody. It was the spirit of belongingness and being proud survivor that makes them who they are. The camaraderie of OFWs in the Middle East is way up different than those in North America, Europe and in South East Asia.

Even though I am in the UK now, still I keep my feet on the ground with same high regards to OFWs in the Middle Eastern region. It is with unspeakable pride that in my lifetime, I was with them.

yeah right, bert and ahmed? were you paid to defend that “lowlife” called Malu F.

O my Lord, are you all treally OFW’s? It does not look like since esp. those who claim to work in Middle East up to 18 hours a day hardly have the time and opportunity to frequently read and blog online.
It also looks that many of the bloggers did not really read the report of Malu. Otherwise they would have to realize that she described her experience and her feelings through a flight where many co-passengers have been OFW’s. There was nothing which generally would put down OFW’s, deny or neglect their hard work and the important role of their remittances.
Whoever flies with or without many OFW passengers will know the difference. Like coming from Europe to Dubai, already many hours at the plane and wishing to sleep, one will have to ealize that the embarking OFW’s are not yet sleepy and that they will little care about other passengers who are already crammed to the plane for many hours.
They usually discuss across ten rows and therefore shout to each other, leaving little chance for others to sleep or just enjoy a movie.
It is another matter that many of them think they need lotions and perfumes to cover their normal human odor. Probably they think they still smell like at work when they sweat in the hot climate. Unfortunately, mixing smells of different perfumes, even the most expensive, results only in a very poor, undesirable smell.
Describing her flight, why Malu should not be allowed to tell her feelings? Why she should not complain that her right of rest and undisturbed sleep has been violated? Why those OFW’s could not sit down and just be passengers, not partymates that only want their own joy? Even if they are friends, co-workers and co-citizens, during a flight any passenger should behave in a way that other passengers are not disturbed.
Which of course is also valid to any one of the many passengers flying to or from their vacation and who often are also forgetting that they are not yet or not anymore at the beach where they had or will have their vacation.
And about Malu’s apology at her website, why it is not enough if anyway all the bloggers that are complaining permanently surf online? If they read her report online ,then they can also read her apology online. And people who publicly say that somebody should be hanged and skinned have such a bad character that they better would be quiet and not judge other people. Do they not know that Malu even could file a lot of cases against them and also request apologies?

Frankly, di ko sya kilala because I don’t buy the mag neither the broadsheet. Sorry ha, but di sila sikat e. Siguro pang masa ang binabasa ko. For me, keber! I was once an OFW too. Kung kagaya lang din nya ang magsalita ng ganyan, I wouldn’t mind at all. But she should mind what I think about her. Bitterness lang yan ng isang trying-so-hard-to-be-In. Sino ba pinapahiya nya? Nanay nya, school nya, pamilya nya…maqu-question pa pati breeding nya or upbringing nya. Sang-ayon ako sa freedom of speech. She’s free to speak what she truthfully feels, pero wag syang mag-expect na di i-exercise ng iba ang freedom din nilang magreact…and react, they violently did. So there! She reaped what she wrote.

Para sa akin ang mga katulad ni Malu di pinapansin. Mahirap din kasi maging mataba at pangit, discriminated din sigurado yan. Dito pa sa atin! Kawawa yan. Buti nalang may gift sya sa pagsulat. Kinatatakot ko lang baka mamya magpapatiwakal yan sa sobrang remorse…
Sana naman hindi.

Malu, ewan ko kung totoo kang anak-mayaman or just have enough to pretend…all the things you wrote are the rawest of truth about our OFWs. It hurt so much. Pasalamat ka hija at ang mga magulang mo may kaya at di ka naging isa.

DAPAT MAKITA MO ANG LAKAS AT PAG KAKAISA NAMIN MGA OFW, ANG DAPAT I-BOYCOTT ANG LAHAT NG ISUSULAT MO AT PUBLISHING COMPANY NA PAG SUSULATAN MO IN THE FUTURE, AT SA MANILA STANDARD I SUGGEST TO ALL OFW AND THEIR FAMILIES BOYCOTT THIS PUBLISHING COMPANY !!!

What Malu Fernandez and her boss had done was DEPLORABLE. The publisher of her article must take responsibility for the actions they took. I have more respect for OFWs than any other journalists or socialites who doesn’t know a damn thing what its like to make an honest living.

These OFWs, she looked down upon shore up the economy of Philippines by the BILLIONS in US DOLLARS annually. What Malu Fernandez and her publisher have contributed to the Philippine economy aside from their downright stupidity?

Without the REMITTANCE of OFWs eking out a living in different parts of the world, the Philippine economy have gone down to the dogs many years ago. Without our hardworking filipino brothers and sisters working overseas, unemployment in Philippines would be much higher, hunger would be much higher, number of people in poverty level would be much higher.

So what if they’re wearing cheap perfume, the money they use to buy their perfume came from their own sweat, not a payola from some corrupt people to have a good article written about them in any newspapers in Philippines.

Malu Fernandez, has the notion she’s above OFWs, there are doctors, nurses, engineers, architects etc etc working outside of Philippines, they have MORE money than Malu Fernandez yet they don’t brag about it.

Malu Fernandez is a SYMBOL of socialites with nothing to show but their BULLSHIT!

MALU FERNANDEZ YOU’RE FULL OF IT AND SOME!

BOYCOTT THE NEWSPAPER THAT PRINTED HER ARTICLE!

Santambak mga socialite kuno sa Pilipinas, karamihan naman kabit! hah!

Hoy! mga hudas kayo, mabuti pa ang mga OFW marangal ang trabaho nila, may maipagmalaki sila!

It already hurts, when a foreign national considers you a second class person, in a foreign country.

It hurts more, when a fellow citizen, say the same, while in a foreign country.

It hurts deeper, when a fellow citizen, have the face to tell the world, the object of her ignorance, while in her own country.

A little smile can win you a lot of friends. A little smile can make people love you, even if you don’t know them. A little smile will go a long long way.

Change the word “Smile” with “respect”.

Rose,

Freedom of speech has LIMITATIONS, a person’s freedom of speech ends, where the others’ right begins.

Dear All,

Malu is mayabang at mapagmataas lang na writer which is di naman kaya.Siguro 1st time or 2nd time lng nakasakay ng eroplano, or wala talagang budget at nag pumilit lang. Kasi mga Bros and Sis pag lagi ka nag babyahe alam mo ang sitwasyon sa loob ng eroplano.So kung mayaman sya talaga at di mayabang dapat business class ang kinuha nya kasi doon talagang koportable ka at bagay sa sukat nyang XL ang upuan.
Ang gusto ipaabot d2 mga kapatid na kung nagkaisa tayo sa panlalait ni Malu nawa magka isa din tayo sa pag lagay ng tamang Gov’t official na mamuno at katuwang natin pa pag angat ng Pinas. I’m a Visaya but I’d like of what the Kapangpangan effort to unite and install Father Ed Panlilio as their Governor dahil inilagay nila ang taong may takot sa Dios para pangunahan ang bayan nila. Hope for the next election we can control our relatives in the Phils to vote for a right person to be our good Leader. Yon lang po and God Bless You All.

What makes a second class citizen? The OFW tag? Lets change it like FFEE, for FILIPINO FOREGN EXCHANGE EARNERS or whatever is in your mind. I have not read what Malou wrote but she must have touched the lower knobs of the OFWs.

malou fernandez, you certainly have no idea what the ofws are going through because you never experience being one. you have no idea how hard it is to be away from your families and friends spending birthdays, christmas and new year alone in your quiet and small room. you can never imagine how difficult it is to survive in a country that has totally different culture, belief and environment. and i guess you will never really understand that feeling being on the plane knowing that you are finally headed home after 2 years, some even longer. these people have all the reasons to feel so much joy because they know that their longing for their loved ones will finally be over. have you ever realized that these people CAN buy the top of the class perfumes, the latest gadgets and signature clothes yet they do not. BECAUSE THEY CARE MORE ABOUT THEIR FAMILIES TO THE POINT OF SACRIFICING THEIR OWN WANTS AND SOMETIMES NEEDS. they could’ve have, but they will never do it. I HOPE YOU WILL NEVER INSULT the OFWs AGAIN. when you are in a foreign country, chances are there will be always be a filipino working. i hope you wont be needing any help from them. BAKA MAPAHIYA KA AT TANUNGIN MO, HINDI NA BA HOSPITABLE ANG MGA PINOY? sa mga kagaya mo, hindi siguro…

MALU FERNANDEZ is just a person WHO NEEDS LOVE AND ATTENTION! Obviously, she do not have these SIMPLY BECAUSE SHE IS AN ELEPHANT WITH AN UGLY FACE!

IF SHE IS THE EPITOME OF A WELL BREED AND RICH CREATURE. OKAY NA SA AKIN DI AKO MAYAMAN AT WALANG BREEDING!

HER MOTHER IS A FAILURE IN RAISING A HUMAN BEING LIKE HER!

the way i analyzed what malu fernandez has written is something i would say based on the premise of freedom of speech, IRRESPONSIBLE FREEDOM OF SPEECH!

c’mon! you editors and publishers, journalists and alike, do not deny that many of you are writing based on the principle of AC-DC, RIGHT!?

A- ttack and
C- ollect

D- efend and
C- ollect

if you don’t have anything good to say, at least don’t say anything bad, specially against group of people who don’t have anything in mind but to make a living through decent means.

The way we act and the way we talk will reveal what kind of breeding we have.
To malign and insult people especially those who work honestly and hard to strange and foreign land far away from their loved ones just so to give them a better life is the height of insensitivity.
May God look kindly upon you.

I think Malu Fernandez (aka Ricardo Lim) learned her lessons but still can’t accept the fact as truth hurts. She (Ricardo Lim) made a wrong turn, crashed her way through it and ended up being chased by a stampeding OFWs. Tough luck.

Now here’s what you don’t know guys. Malu Fernandez works as Fashion Consultant for the Tantocos, yes Ricardo Lim… I know. So fellow bloggers….Boycott Rustan? nah, we can’t afford it anyways, OFWs lang tayo..

Just a pathetic chubby woman! but let my fellow OFW’s cool down on this now, I think she already learned her lesson - a hard one really, imagine ending up as the most hated Pinay. I just hope she won’t slash her wrist for good!

Re: MAlu Fernandez

To All OFW’s (Professional or Non Professional)!!! Alam ninyo wake-up call lang sa ating lahat ito na kailangan na tayong lahat ay magkaisang mga OFWs imbes na kung minsan ay di magpansinan kasi ugali rin natin yan kung di pa tayo babatiin di rin babati o madalas di namamansin akala mo ba yung langaw na nasa likod ng kalabaw gusto mataas pa sa kalabaw (ganyan tayo di ba? karamihan). Tama rin tayo dahil sa sakripisyo na ginanagawa natin di pa rin tayo napapansin, mga bayani raw kuno…yun ang sabi nila bayani dahil sa pinapadala nating remittances na nilulustay naman ng mga politiko na wala namang ginawa kung hindi magpagalingan at pag-usapan ang mga walang kuwentang bagay para masabi lang na sila’y magaling at concerned sa mga Pilipino o mamayan. Pero ang totoo ang lahat lang ng ito ay pakulo lang nila tapos ng session nagtatawanan at naloko na naman nila tayo (mas masakit di ba).Kaya si Ms. MAlu Fernandez ay dapat ding pasalamatan dahil sa kanya natuto tayong magkaisa pansamantala at mabigyan ng pagkakataon na maibulalas ang ating sintemiyento na tinatawag nilang mga bayani (kuno) pero sa totoo tayo lagi ang pinagsasamantalahan dahil alam nila mga pasensiyoso at ok lang tayo. Samantalang tayo ay nagpapakahirap kung paano kumita ng pera at ipadala sa Pilipinas ito naman mga Politiko na walang ginawa ay magpagalingan at umisip ng mga tatalakaying mga issues na walang kuwenta para maipakita lang sa atin na concerned sila pero sa totoo ang lahat ng ito ay para lang sa kanilang sariling kapakanan at di para sa atin (OFW), masa at Pilipinas. Ang totoo gumagawa rin sila kuno ng mga batas na ang pinoprotektahan ay ang kanilang sariling interes at di naman para sa atin. Hello, Garci! mahalaga ba yan kesa sa atin na OFW na madalas ay alipustahin at sinasaktan at nagtitiis para sa kanilang mga pork barrel na kadalasan ay kanila pang binubulsa imbes na mapunta sa dapat paglalagyan….Kaya Ms. Malu Fernandez dapat ang galing mo ay gamitin mo ng tama imbes na ang sarili mo ang purihin mo at pintasan kaming mga OFW bakit di ang mga “Buwitreng Politiko” na lumulustay ng mga pinapadala namin ang isulat mo at kaming lahat ay handang pumuri sa iyo. Kaya di ka dapat magresign gamitin mo ang galing mo sa tamang issue para sa ikauunlad ng mga OFW, masang Pilipino at Pilipinas gawin mo itong inpirasyon kung bakit ka nakatanggap ng masasamang reaksyon sa amin malay mo ito ang maging dahilan o instrumento para matulungan mo naman kami sa aming mga hinaing sa ating mga namamahala sa Gobyerno at mga Politikong walang ginawa kundi ang mag-usap ng mga walang kuwentang bagay. Sa mga magagaling nating Senador: 1.Legarda (wala subok ka na, di namin alam kung kanino ka talaga), 2.Escudero (asan ang galing mo? di namin kailangan ang madaldal kailangan namin resulta), 3.Lacson (sayang akala namin tunay kang lalake panay salita ka rin pala), 4.Honasan(wala bang susunod na coup? pahirap sa bayan), 5.Noy Aquino (sayang wala ka sa prinsipyo ni Ninoy), 6. Santiago (gamitin mo naman ang galing mo sa Bayan di sa talakan),7. Arroyo (asan ang pinaglalaban ninyo ni Ninoy nun wa epek na ba?), 8. Jinggoy (dapat yata Pelikula ka na lang kasi para kang laging umaakting), 9. Revilla (papogi ka lang yata ng Senado), 10. Cayetano P. (ano ka ba lalake o babae? gamitin mo ang daldal mo para sa ikakaunlad ng masa! malayo ka kay kumpanyero), 11. Trillanes (couplastikan lang ang alam mo), 12. Villar ( ang yaman mo tumulong ka naman), 13. Pangilinan (ano ka ba? buti pa si Sharon para sa masa ikaw saan ka?) 14. Angara ( nakuha mo rin lang bumaligtad sa amin kana sa mga Pilipino), 15. Cayetano Pia (tahimik ka, daig ka pa ni Peter palit na lang kayo ng pangalan?), 16. Biazon (ang tunay na Heneral matipid sa salita marami ang gawa), 17. Roxas (Presidente ng Pilipinas? patunayan mo sa gawa di sa salita ngayon pa lang), 18. Osmena (the great scape! pati yata sa amin umieskapo ka na), 19. Lapid (tagapagtanggol ng mga naaapi di lang dapat sa pelikula dapat sa Senado rin..kaya mo rin sila), 20. Zubiri (patunayan mo na di ka mandaraya kaya iangat mo ang Pinoy!), Yung mga natitira gawin ninyo trabaho ninyo wag ang baho ninyo.. Salamat sana mapublish ito first time lang ito.

Uh, ricardo lim love malu fernandez! yeheey!

I’m really upset with our government officials, members of congress and senate..actually they are all wolf dress in “barongs and amerikanas” sipped all bloods not belong to them but to all the Filipino people…I feel pity for all our beloved heroes who fight for our freedom but turn in the wrong hands pretending as they love our country but the truth all the good dreams turn into nightmares….mga masang Pilipino gumising kayo di ba ninyo alam na ang perang ibinibigay nila sa inyo ay konti lang kung itutumbas sa perang nanakawin nila sa inyo..ikaw pag nagnakaw ka ng 100 daang piso ang tawag sa iyo magnanakaw, habang sila milyon kung magnakaw ang tawag pa rin “Honorable” ang kapal nila ha…..!!!!

MALU FERNANDEZ IS A MAL-EDUCATED NO BREADING PERSON. LOOK WHAT SHE THINKS AND WROTE ABOUT OFW S. AN OUTRAGE FOR ANYONE TO READ.HERSELF MAYBE EVEN COMING FROM A RESPECTABLE FAMILY WHEREIN SHE HAS BEEN RAISED TO BE MODEST AND HUMBLE .DOESN T SHE DESERVED TO GO BACK FOR A RETRAINING AS A JOURNALIST/WRITER OR IS SHE PSYCHOLOGICALLY IMPAIRED.HOW COULD SHE POSSIBLY LOOK DOWN TO OFW S WHO S REMITTANCES MAKE UP THE BULK OF PHILIPPINE ECONOMY. MALAKING KAHIHIYAN ANG GINAWA MO MS MALU FERNANDEZ HUMINGI KA NG TAWAD KUNG HINDI SA IMPIERNO ANG BAGSAK MO..

It was never a question of freedom of speech. It basically boils down to it just being right or wrong, good or bad.

Malu Fernandez (us as well) had all the right to it, which she oviously practiced. Anyone can write anything they want, that is how it is in our country, that among other things makes us a free and democratic people. Unfortunately for us (and her… especially her), it was done in bad taste and bad judgement… it was wrong.

No one is questioning her rights, it’s just that what she writes are questionable.

Lomar

The writer obviously crossed the line. As a writer, she should know her responsibility. There is no excuse for what she did.

TSK! TSK! TSK! Sa dami ng comments baka nalusaw na sa kahihiyan yung bebot… Facial surgery kaya or magpalit ng apelyido…… para di na sya makilala….but on second thought, maybe its what she longs for…. recognition….well she will be forever be remembered in the cyber Hall of Shame!!!!
a conversation may go something like this….” hey, is that not M.F.?— Mother F***er?—No, Malou Fernandez.—- Ah, yung bachoy na journalist.—-Paano mo nalamang sya yun?—- amoy Jo Malone eh,—- Eh, bakit parang Karl Malone kung pawisan?—- Nasa economy section kasi….walang pambili ng First class ticket..” and the two pinoy VIP passengers who happen to be OFWs burst into uncontrollable fit of laughter…… Malou, i pity you girl, your name will forever be maligned…..

Irresponsible reporting. asinine and baleful insults to our OFWs. She should not only banned from the journalistic world but must work at the OFW’s recruitment center for 2 years without pay (her real hell). I agree that the publishers should be sanctioned as well. Boycotting to buy their papers not only glorify them but monetary damage should be collected to be used for building a museum (like Ellis Island) as memorabilia for our people who have woked abroad in the hope of improving their lives.

To: Leo

You showed more sense than all the rest of ‘em. I must admit, honestly, your piece had brought out some drops of watery crystals to my eyes, hu-hu-hu.

To Rod,

That I see the matter differently does not mean that I am a paid hack of Malu or her publisher. I have too much self respect to even consider being someone else’s apologist.

It just so happens that I have a different perspective over much of the bloggers here concerning Malu’s article. Sorry, but I can never join the lynch mob mentality all thirsting for Malu’s blood. She has written a terrible article as far as some affected segment of the population is concerned but that’s about it. She is entitled to her own prejudices in the same way that we have our own. Nobody forces anyone to patronize her magazine or her publisher’s other publications. No need to call for a boycott. Just do it.

She was condescending alright but there are so many Filipinos who are equally if not more condescending too. I won’t even refer to Filipinos in the Philippines but to OFWs also. Listen to how they make minced meat of South Asian as well as other foreign nationals when they congregate in malls, in workplaces and everywhere where the Pinoy crowd is dominant. Come on. Condescension by anyone is bad so let’s practice what we preach.

Malu is not an exception in the Philippines. She’s everywhere so I am not surprised that her ilk exists. What surprised me is the intolerance of many OFWs. The world does not revolve around OFWs alone so the earlier we realize that all kinds of people exist in this planet the better for us.

Let us not make too much an issue of our being an OFW because majority of us left the country voluntarily. Don’t give me the worn out cliche that there is no opportunity in the country that’s why we left. Most professionals were gainfully employed when they joined the exodus to other countries. Just because we left the country (and our families) in the pursuit of dollars does not entitles us with more rights or that we should have preferential treatment over the others. Where we are is our own choice in the exercise of our own free will so let us not appeal to the emotions of our being OFWs. Other countries have OFWs too but they are not as dramatic as Filipinos in the exercise of their rights. Or we just have this flair for drama?

Let us face the reality that not everyone out there appreciate the OFWs. Haven’t you read many bloggers here? Malu’s language pales in comparison. It just shows that many of us are actually clones of Malu but we unfortunately don’t have the publisher to put to print our own biases.

I think we should ALL MOVE ON beyond Ms. Malu Fernandez, and look at other more important things such as how do we get out of poverty, I am hoping that our government official and Financial institutions would promote MICROFINANCING, one org lending money to other 3rd world countries is http://www.kiva.org/about/partners/

Magandang umaga sa lahat ng OFW at kay Ms Malu
Dati din po akong OFW at ngayon ay isa ng Fil-Am pero pango pa rin amd I still consider myself 99% OFW dahil I send $$$monthly for my family sa bayan kong pinakamamahal. Pasalamat siya mababangong Pinay at Pinoy ang kasaybay nya sa plane, eh ako araw-araw mga mababantot na mga homeless sa Market St ang kasakay ko sa bus, pag mamalengke naman ako sa tsinatown , mga kabayang tsekwa na uber sa ingay tapos dahak/dura/kulangot at mga laway na nagtatalsikan ang aking nararanasan. pero noong umuwi ako sa Pil after 11 years ang kasabay ko naman eh sina DJVijay (courtesy of Michael V) kaya imaginin nyo na lang. Smile kayong lahat.

Comment by Lorena C. Marzan - August 21, 2007 7:24 pm

Hello….oo nga mga bagong bayani kami as in kami why? mismo isa akong expat OFW dito sa UAE, ayoko magyabang pero Im in a Professional category here, nairita rin ako sa naisulat ni Ms. Fernandez, but somehow totoo, well talaga namang kapag asa eroplano ang iba nating bagong bayani…(pero di nila alam, at yung iba pround and ready to use the term para sa sariling kapakanan ) ay kay iingay…magulo…may iba pa ngang nagtataas ng paa sa upuan mismo ng eroplano…minsan nagulat ako dahil pagbaling ko may paa sa gilid ng upuan ko…well gusto ko mag react pero ng makita ko kababayan pala…salaula…may pagkasalaula ang mga pinoy lets face it…should somebody train them before they allowed to work outside teh Phil. o talaga lang nasa pagpapalaki…di ko nilalahat at ayoko ring manglait ng kababayan…pero its true yung naisulat nya totoo yun…nagpapakakikay lang sya sa pagsulat kaya nakakairita….

O Lord, what a bunch of bloodthirsty bloggers. And all only because somebody wrote an article about a very disturbed flight where some passengers did not behave like passengers should do. I am sure that these bloggers would clap hands to such article if the misbehaving passengers would have been described as any other group of people than Filipinos. What an arrogance.
Do that bloggers really think that Malu Fernandez is the only one that complains about the manner of some passengers, Filipinos included, OFW’s or not, because they cannot check that.
Filipinos are known for their noise all over the world but can’t they hold their manner back until they are among them only and not being just a part of the passengers of a flight, with co-passengers that have another habit? Can they not imagine that other passengers maybe work the same hard in an industrial environment with extreme noise and therefore really would like to enjoy any time without such noise? How hard ever OFW’s are working, they are not the only hardworking kind of humans.
And about the permanent mentioned importance of their remittances, what has that to do with Malu’s poor flight experience? Is it not rather normal if somebody is more disappointed if the unpleasant disturbing people are the own countrymen?
Yes, freedom of speech has some limits. But if nothing is allowed which maybe anyone else would not like, then there is no speech anymore. All that bad words and really hurting bad wiches hurled at Malu, that is still within the freedom of speech? A very funny view of laws and rules and rights.
Boycott a publication because some few, yes few, people do not like one article? The same mount of arrogance. And thinking thet “the whole world” will read and applaud their hatred comments is already more than just arrogant, it is plain stupid. Do they really think the whole world, or even the millions OFW’s, has nothing better to do than reading their blogs? I know hundreds of Filipinos working abroad but very exactly those “hardworking up to 18 hours a day” like in Middle East have practically no chance and not even the desire to surf for these blogs, they just want to rest and sleep. Undisturbed, like Malu Fernandez wanted to sleep. And while sleeping well, she would not even have sensed the smell of lotions and perfumes.
If judging and accusing Malu, you should be well aware that you do not much more harm than she could have done, anyway not to just one of the bloggers.
Law, rules and good manners should always exist to all parties, not the one blaming another one do it in a manner which is ten times more bad. Maybe even bloggers who can hide their real personality should think about, or even more than Malu who “bravely” signed with her name.

….well…well…Ms. Fernandez is a DUDE…..doomed to be one of the cyberspaced mock personalities…

To Ahmad Jamal

Tou must have a bright phantasy, but still it is just phantasy that I am Malu Fernandez. Malu has been signing her article with her name, I think she would als use her name if she would blog here. But probably she does not even read it.
It looks like you cannot imagine that somebody else has another view of this blown-up matter than you have.

To DI Bendano EE

Hi,
you salute to the OFW’s that turn a flight into a carnival, circus, fiesta? And during your time as OFW you did the same?

Then you belong to a kind of people who are the same arrogant and uncaring about others than those who usually are accused of looking down on Filipinos or at least OFW’s.

What gives anyone, OFW or not, the right to annoy and disturb other passengers who want to enjoy a “normal” flight like what they had booked. If OFW’s want a party flight, then they should book a special flight where all passengers are OFW’s or at least Filipinos. But as long as one books a normal flight with other “normal” passengers around, he or she has to accept that he or she is passenger among passengers and nothing else. And therefore has to act like a normal passenger which means quiet, orderly and undisturbing to other normal passengers. Whatever OFW’s are, they are not exempted from obeying rules and good manners during a flight or even at the airportalready. Such bad manners are creating the poor image of Filipinos which then Filipinos make complaining and feeling putted down. For anyone, it’s always how you show yourself that gives the igood or poor mpression to others.

I hope she will be made the guest cover of FHM Magazine. As a bonus, the center spread too.

To: Rod

I’ll have to explain to you in details, Rod, because something in you seems to be dense that you don’t understand what Ahmed was trying to say regards this Malu Fernandez affair. Before I proceed however, please be informed that a person can say his side of any argument without having to be paid, a logical truth which you might not have the mental acumen to understand, so have to be explain to you in detail as well. Now, to Ahmed’s blog. Ahmed was trying to explain to us that some of you, now particularly you, hate Malu Fernandez because your kind think that you are so high up in the clouds such that you got so offended by being lumped together with the common worker on the ground, such as the dh, and that therefore, according to Ahmed, you are far worse than Malu Fernandez the Burgis. You are not actually symphatizing with the OFW, but displaying your egotism and bigotry, and your class prejudice against the lowly OFW workers. I hope that’s clear enough, Rod.

Ms M.F.
journalist/writer ka at malawak ang imagination mo sa pagkatha ng isusulat. kaya lang walang taste ang sense of humor mo. mabuti pa siguro humarap ka sa salamin at tingnan mo ang itsura mo marami kang maisusulat na katawa-tawa.
Kung hindi ka naman ba isang —-, parang hindi ka pilipino. Kung ibang nasyonaliti ang nagsulat ng sinulat mo medyo mas mababaw ang tama sa amin, kaso sa isang tabatsoy na pilipina pa manggagaling ang pagyurak ng pagkatao ng mga OFW. Oo nga’t magulo kami, lumalampas pa sa tamang normal na ugali bilang pasahero, maingay at mumurahin ang pabango. Kung malawak ang isip mo hindi nakakatawa ang pangaapi mo. Wala kang mararating pag ang laman ng utak mo ay pagmamaliit sa mga OFW na akala mo ba ay gusto namin maging OFW.
Payong kapatid subukan mong maging OFW, baka may pagasa ka pang maging seksi.

>you salute to the OFW’s that turn a flight into a >carnival, circus, fiesta? And during your time >as OFW you did the same?
>Then you belong to a kind of people who are >the same arrogant and uncaring about others >than those who usually are accused of looking >down on Filipinos or at least OFW’s.

WTF you are talking about? The OFWs were not talking out loud acting like clowns and doing some circus acrobatics from KSA to PH non-stop. And why would I be anti-OFW when I am OFW myself.

>What gives anyone, OFW or not, the right to >annoy and disturb other passengers who want >to enjoy a “normal” flight like what they had >booked. If OFW’s want a party flight, then they >should book a special flight where all >passengers are OFW’s or at least Filipinos. >But as long as one books a normal flight with >other “normal” passengers around, he or she >has to accept that he or she is passenger >among passengers and nothing else. And >therefore has to act like a normal passenger >which means quiet, orderly and undisturbing to >other normal passengers. Whatever OFW’s >are, they are not exempted from obeying rules >and good manners during a flight or even at the >airportalready. Such bad manners are creating >the poor image of Filipinos which then Filipinos >make complaining and feeling putted down. For >anyone, it’s always how you show yourself that >gives the igood or poor mpression to others.

Mr. Golez, you cannot control it. Yours are just statement if figurative assumptions. The noisiness like a fiesta or carnival took place specially on boarding time and when the airplane was not yet airborne. Those were an outlet of years with almost all your rights taken off from you by the employer. Though I was able to exchange few conversations with my fellow OFW seatmates it doesn’t bother me at all what the rest were doing. Again, do your actual homework before doing some preposterous assumptions. Perhaps take a flight from Damman(KSA) to NAIA(PH) via Saudia airlines to experience it firsthand. Or be an OFW in KSA.

I don’t know if you are related to the “Annapolis-educated lawmaker” and I supposed your argument of logic is as keen as your qualifications. But I don’t think so. Look, the main deliberations here was on a writer of a Philippine tabloid and on what she had written that irked and pissed a lot of OFWs like me. In consequence of that, was her apology and resignation enough? Shall her editor/employer be accountable to the publication as well. And should the governing body of broadcasters imposed disciplinary actions to her and her employer? Got it?

Just an unsolicited advice Mr. Golez, if you don’t want to be disturbed on a flight just avoid those airlines with connecting flights from the Middle East. And please, don’t take the economy class. You better off with business class at all.

TO Ricardo Lim

Please read once again what that Piggy has written. It was not meant to remind unruly passengers but insult to the OFWs preference of perfume and smell. Why did she has to mention the brands that she smelled if she was only complaining about their attitude. get out of the forum before somebody will find out that you are indeed that piggy.

Malu and Ricardo Lim is just one person. wala na syang mapagsulatan kaya dto na lng sya nagtatambay para ipagtanggol ang sarili nya. minamali pa nya ang spelling para kunwari di sya magaling mag ingles.style mo bulok

hoy ricardo este malu; lumayas2 ka nga dto ha, duon ka sa mga kaibigan mong matapobre magpaliwanag, bakit ka tyaga dto eh mababaho ang mga ofw di ba at di gamit ng jo malone.

si ricardo lim pakunwari na minamali nya spelling ng phantasy kasi halatado na sya rin si malu ha ha ha ha style mo bulok pare kasing baho ng pagkatao mo

You don’t have to be in a plane with OFWs to observe what Malu Fernandez did. It might be a characteristic of Asians to be loud by nature. This can also be observed among Chinese and other Asian people. I think however that the Pinoys have pushed the envelope too far.

Going back home on a flight by PAL from LAX is always an experience to remember. Before boarding the plane just hanging around the pre-departure area, one would feel that he is in a typical fish market back in the Philippines where everybody is talking all at the same time.

It is no wonder that more often than not I would prefer fying back home for vacation on any other airline except PAL.

Ricardo Lim wrote:
because they cannot check that.
Filipinos are known for their noise all over the world but can’t they hold their manner back until they are among them only and not being just a part of the passengers of a flight, with co-passengers that have another habit?

Cat sez: all over the world? wow, are you a jetsetter too?

Or you are fond of GENERAL ization.

So we can understand better what we’re talking about, this is the controversial article and the response to corresponding email complaints by Malu Fernandez from website:
http://blog.otistiksnest.com/marcopolo/2007/08/25/about-malu-fernandezs-article/

“However I forgot that the hub was in Dubai and the majority of the OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) were stationed there. The duty-free shop was overrun with Filipino workers selling cell phones and perfume. Meanwhile, I wanted to slash my wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane with all of them.

While I was on the plane (where the seats were so small I had bruises on my legs), my only consolation was the entertainment on the small flat screen in front of me. But it was busted, so I heaved a sigh, popped my sleeping pills and dozed off to the sounds of gum chewing and endless yelling of “HOY! Kumusta ka na? At taga sann ka? Domestic helper ka rin ba?” Translation: “Hey there? Where are you from? Are you a domestic helper as well?” I though I had died and God had sent me to my very own private hell.

On my way back, I had to bravely take the economy flight once more. This time I had already resigned myself to being trapped like a sardine in a sardine can with all these OFWs smelling of AXE and Charlie cologne while Jo Malone evaporated into thin air.

All in all, it’s been a pretty good summer. Jetting from the Aegean Sea to the Pacific may sound a bit pretentious until you wake up in economy class smelling like air freshener.”

_____________________________

Response By Marlu Fernandez

Understandably, The Manila Standard Today, received a few emails of complaint, so Malu Fernandez decided to respond.

“As I type this, I’d like you to know that it’s not about whining, complaining and bitching but just stating the facts. Just recently, I wrote a funny article in my magazine column and my friends thought it was hilarious. It was humorous and quite tongue-in-cheek, or at least I thought so, until the magazine got a few e-mails from people who didn’t get the meaning of my acerbic wit. The bottom line was just that I had offended the reader’s socioeconomic background. If any of these people actually read anything thicker then a magazine they would find it very funny. Most people don’t get the fact that they need bitches like me to shake up their world, otherwise their lives would be boring and mediocre. I obviously write for the a certain target audience and if what I write offends you, just stop reading.

Although it may sound elitist to you the fact is this country is built on the foundation of haves, have-nots and wannabes. One group will never get the culture of the other. Although I could mention that it is easier to understand someone who has a lower socioeconomic background that would entail a whole other page and frankly I don’t want to be someone to bridge the gap between socioeconomic classes. I leave that to the politicians in my family who believe they can actually help. Now I seriously ask you, am I being a diva or are people around me just lacking in common sense? Perhaps it’s a little of both!”

The issue in the blog is about the writer, editor, and publisher wherein a question is posed on readers who cares to give a feedback on accountability and responsibility.

Funny how people veer the issue away from the intended purpose of the blog they start attacking the victim in this case the OFWs and bloggers that reacted to the article belittling and insulting the OFW sector.

To: Rod again

As for me, Rod, I regard everybody as equal. That everyone is superior to me in one way, and that I respect him, I respect the dh, the common worker, the professional, the burgis, Malu Fernandez, and, including you.

Magandang araw po sa inyong lahat KABAYAN,
Matapos ko pong mabasa ang lahat ng komento sa naisulat ni Malou Fernandez, ang masasabi ko lang po na sana’y patawarin na natin siya bilang isang mabuting kristyano. Dahil dito rin po nakikita ang ating breeding. Kung siya’y humingi na ng paumahin na taos sa kanyang puso, dahil sa kanyang naisulat na nakasakit sa ating damdamin, nararapat naman siguro na siya’y patawarin. Sa palagay ko po, naging malaking aral na ito sa kaya. Palagay ko mas mabuti pa siya at nakahingi ng paumanhin sa atin sa kanyang naisulat, kaysa naman sa mga pulitiko na naglulustay ng kaban ng bayan ay wala man isang umamin ng kanilang kasalanan. Pinahihirapan pa ang mga OFW na makabalik sa kanilang pinagtratrabahuhang bansa. TAYO NA PO ANG UMUNAWA KAY MALOU DAHIL TAYO ANG MAY MALAKING PANGUNAWA.
LET’S MOVE-ON KABAYAN.
GOD bless us all.

Boss Chief Amo
Battlefield Iraq

Alam ninyo tama si Ahmed Cortes kasi siya boluntaryo siyang pumunta sa ibang bansa at di niya napapansin ang hirap ng buhay sa Pilipinas kagagawan ng mga Politiko na sumisira lang sa kinabukasan ng Bayan at ng mamayan. Ako ang pilit kong sinisisi ay ang mga Politiko dahil sila ang dahilan kung bakit naghihirap tayo wala sa namumuno kahit sino pa ang magaling na mamumuno kung lahat ng nakapaligid ay sobrang magagaling ay di tayo aasenso at ako’y naniniwala na anumang bagay ng may salitang “sobra” ay di maganda at walang buting idudulot gaya ng mga “sobrang magagaling nating mga Politiko!! Boluntaryo!! tama di ba? Di niya alam ay napupuwersa tayong umalis dahil kailangan. Yan ang taong nagugrupo sa mga walang pakialam at buti pa siya concerned kay M.Fernandes pumapayag siya kahit laitin siya ang di niya alam di lang bilang DH o Laborer OFWs in general ang pinag-uusapan.Kaya paano tayo aasenso, sa kanya ko nakikita ang isang uri ng mamamayan na pumapayag na yurakan at laitin at wala siyang paki at di concern sabagay ano bang mahihita niya di ba? at least siya pinipilit niyang baluktutin ang mali at ayaw niyang ituwid. Ang mali pag pinuna dapat lang tanggapin dahil sa mga maling yan dun tayo natuto at gawing gabay para ituwid. Kagaya rin ng mga Politiko na nagagawa na lang nating magbulagbulagan at hayaan o protektahan pa natin sila sa kanilang mga ginagawang katiwalian sa mga mamamayan at sa Bayan. Wala akong pinapanigan ang sa akin lang dapat sumunod tayo sa tama di ba? To be unfair di naman ganoon kaingay at kagulo ang mga OFWs pag nasa eroplano habang nagbibiyahe may respeto din kaya nga tayo ang gustong gusto ng mga Employer ng dayuhan dahil bukod sa masipag sa trabaho marespeto pa sa mga kasamahan pero once na inapi at nasa tama pinaglalaban. Ewan ko lang si Ahmed Cortes siguro kahit nilalait na siya pumapayag pa rin basta pinapasahod lang kasi in general ganun ang analisa ko sa kanya. Sori ha wag kang magalit di ito personal makisama at makisimpatiya ka naman wag sobra mali. Sa mga kapwa ko OFWs kung mali matuto tayong tumanggap pero pag nasa tama dapat lang tayong kumilos di tayo pwedeng magbulagbulagan at papayag na laitin na lang. Kaya sa mga magagaling nating Politiko alam ninyo kung ang iniisip lang talaga ninyo ay ang magandang kinabukasan ng Pilipinas wala sanang ganitong isyu ngayon. ANg kailangan natin tulungan at di pagalingan at pagpapatalsik sa namumuno kahit kayo ang pumuwesto diyan kung walang tutulong sa inyo wala rin kayong magagawa.Malayo tayo sa mga mamamayan dito sa Middle East dito pag ang isang mamamayan ay may narinig na kontra laban sa kanilang Hari o Namumuno di nila ito pinalalampas, agad itong kinokondena kaya ganito na sila ngayon..asensado.

Ricardo Lim? OFW o LFW (Lost Filipino Worker). Sabagay apelyido pa lang di na tunay na Pinoy. I feel pity for you coz you dont feel the sentiment of majority OFWs. We are not telling that our remittances help in the afloat of the economy or modern day heroes either it’s the government check by yourself ok and stop pretending !!!!

Wow, can that be true? A “doctor” wants to hang and skin MaluFernandez “like a pig”? What kind of doctor are you” A failed veterinary who now works at a slaughterhouse?
Then, other passengers should fly First Class, other routes or other Airlines? What these people think they are? If anyone has to fly separate, then those who want a flight where good manners are not needed and expected.
Those people with such a character are exactly those who create a bad image of Filipinos all over the world. And probably those who immediately cry foul, feel downplayed, tortured whenever an employer reminds them that they came for working, working like it is usual there where they are and not like in RP.
They are the people who near want to kill Malu but cry for mercy and homecoming like heroes of OFW’s that have been convicted and sentenced after robbing and killing in their host-country.
Real, serious OFW’s would not care much about Malu’s article, probably not even know about if not some “online activists” would spread complaints around the web. Those OFW’s claiming hard working up to 18 hours a day do not sit during their off-time at PC’s and read blogs.
It is also very interesting to check the sending times of blogs and eMails, because many of them would have been sent at a time when the blogger or eMailer has to work where he claims to be employed.
In any way, when anybody has been feeling hurt by that article, then it is much much more hurting, near criminal, what some bloggers wrote. They should first look in a mirror before they put blame onto others.

There seems to be a distortion of truth from Malu F’s friends here (thanks for the post Kabayan).
Read the article and be the judge, if it does not concern or bother you, then you’re a bigot like her (or I may say Ricardo Lim)!

To ronnie

if you think I’m Malu, you can meet me at 80008 Munich, Germany.
Malu mentioned those perfumes she could recognize and her own perfume, too. Using perfume, one should know that only drops are used, not like washing with perfume. And should also know that the resulting strong smell, mixed with other same stong smells, makes not a more nice smell but might often rather stink than smell. Mixing three or more smells does not create a double or triple nice smell.
It is fgunny that these people are complaining about being sounted as lower class but at the same time they classify the economy class of a plane like for low class people, even they fly there.

I think we should ALL MOVE ON beyond Ms. Malu Fernandez, and look at other more important things such as how do we get out of poverty, I am hoping that our government official and Financial institutions would promote MICROFINANCING, one org lending money to other 3rd world countries is http://www.kiva.org/about/partners/
Encounters with the illegally recruited

By Cynthia Patag
Inquirer
Last updated 01:21pm (Mla time) 08/14/2007

GAVE UP ON PATRIOTIC ACTIVISM years ago—weary and wary. Stopped hearing Mass, too. Found the Catholic Church’s anti-contraception, anti-divorce stance extremely oppressive.

I arrived in Iloilo in September 2005. A neighbor’s maid, Elena, was ecstatic, gushed she landed a good-paying job in Kuwait through Mother’s Way Overseas Manpower Specialist Corp. I gave her a pair of Reeboks and several pairs of socks thinking she would need them, walking around huge international airports, to begin with. Four days before her departure, she mentioned she wasn’t sure—she might be leaving to work as a domestic helper (DH) in Lebanon instead. I asked her to show me her work contract with the POEA-registered employment agency. “Wala, ’day” (None, girl).”

The next day, along with Elena, my mom and I went straight to the employment agency that had promised her “a good-paying DH job in Kuwait or Lebanon.” It was a hole-in-the-wall on the second floor of a decrepit building in the seedy section of downtown. There was a sign on the ground floor: “This way.” The arrow pointed to the street. Uh-oh.

To every question I asked, the manager had but one arrogant stock answer: “We’re not forcing anybody to leave for work abroad.” Elena’s demeanor was defiant — toward me. Futile, I realized. “Let’s go, Momi!” “What about Elena?” my mom asked. “I believe she can find her way home without riding in an air-conditioned, chauffer-driven car,” I fumed. Ay, bahala na siya—galit pa ’ata sa akin! (Let her take charge – seems she’s even mad at me!)

Nov. 5, 2005: On the morning of her departure by ship—third-class-bring-your-own- baon (food) is how DHs are sent to Manila, I was told—I ran to her employer’s home to make a final plea to her: “Don’t go, Momi has a friend who owns an employment agency who’ll give you a job abroad, you don’t know what the hell you’re getting into!”

This time Elena’s manner was unmistakably suplada (haughty). Retorted she did sign a contract, after all—guaranteeing to pay the employment agency P60,000 if she backed out of the overseas job while in Manila for “training.” I was stunned. “How much, what amount, will your anonymous future employer somewhere in the Middle East be paying you?” I sputtered. “P8,000 a month,” Her Haughtiness bragged. Susme (Oh, Christ…). “Do you know how much Perla (mom’s maid) is getting paid?!” I was incredulous, shocked, sickened.

She wanted to flee

Elena’s imperious silence said it all. “Pakialamera ka kuno (Says you’re a meddler) ,” another maid told me months later. Heard Elena had landed a job as a DH in Kuwait. Around six months later, I received a text message from her, a cheery greeting in Kinaray-a English. Relieved, I responded in kind, in Ilonggo. A week later, she wanted to know if she could find another employer. What’s written in your contract? I responded. (I toured the Middle East twice as a singer with the Fiesta Filipina Cultural Group, did a solo one-week lucrative stint at the Kuwait Hilton, refused an extension of my contract.)

Ominous silence from Elena. After three days, she spoke of her dire despair. “Husto ka gid, ’dhay!” (You were right!) she cried. The wife of her employer mercilessly beat her up every day; she had not received a cent for six months of slave labor. Her text messages accelerated with her despair. She wanted to flee.

And I had the flu. The night before, I sang the finale, “Iloilo ang Banwa Ko” (Iloilo’s My Land) in a musicale culminating the Heritage-Iloilo event. Had one rehearsal, received a copy of the lyrics and a cassette copy of the melody just a day before the performance. How could I possibly memorize the lyrics of a song in one day when I don’t understand Hiligaynon? All the other Ilonggo celebrities had backed out of the pro bono project. Couldn’t—Iloilo’s my hometown. Pulled it off, but the stress exhausted me immensely.

“I’ve spoken with a lawyer regarding your plight, he advised me to contact Migrante. The Philippines is a Third World country that relies on revenues from 10 million OFWs to stay afloat. Do you honestly believe the government will rescue one hapless DH from San Enrique, Passi, from an abusive employer in oil-rich Kuwait? This entire sordid mess is of your own creation!” Ay, santissima (In all that’s holy)!

Days later, I was told Elena had come home. “Sa Manila na si Elena, ma-abot na siya diri buwas!” (Elena’s in Manila already, she’s arriving here tomorrow!), her aunt Bebeng excitedly informed me later.

June 24, 2006: Elena clung to me like a child, a malnourished child. I called the OWWA-ILO chief to report her case. When he arrived at my cottage that same afternoon with two aides to document her case, I was on the phone with the POEA-ILO head regarding an E-World Resource Centers, Inc. “Many E-World enrollees have been asking about E-World. Its CEO/owner Norman Gibbs was arrested last March 31, 2006 in Davao by a joint operative of POEA-Davao and the CIDG, while conducting a ‘Passport to Teaching’ seminar, charged with illegal recruitment.

On April 3, Gibbs and his seven employees were released from jail, granted temporary liberty by a RTC-Davao judge, after paying P25,000 each.” Ha? But there’s no bail for illegal recruitment! “It takes three witnesses to file for illegal recruitment. Not one victim in Davao would sign the affidavit, just like in Iloilo. Baw, daw kagton mo ang imo siko” (You feel like biting your own elbow)! she exclaimed, exasperated. Uh-oh.

Arrested in Kuwait

Completely clueless about Gibbs’ recent arrest and subsequent incarceration in Davao, on April 10, 2006, I called up Norman Gibbs a.k.a. Norman Peter Gibbs or Norman Peter Gibbs Jr. or Norman Gibbs Jr.—whatever. (He has two passports, nasa Pilipinas on a tourist visa.) “Stop giving E-World enrollees false hope,” I implored. I personally knew of one girl who’s taken the EW assessment exam (P5,000) five times (P1,500 for repeaters), yet was enrolled in EW’s teacher training program. Nobody flunks. After six months of English proficiency computer lab (three hours a week, P5,000 a month), many still hadn’t left the introductory Test Mountain!

Present cost of enrollment: $650 for special education (K-12), $840, cost of “preparation resources” (teaching preparation materials) : pabay-i na lang. (Just let it be.) Cost of exam prep materials: uh, same.

In their desperate pursuit of the American Dream—the bottom line in every Gibbs “seminar”—my kasimanwa (countrymen) were sinking deeper in debt. It took an EW teacher training weekend, April 7, 2006 to be exact, for me to realize this alarming truth. The convention hall was packed with hopeful participants from all over Western Visayas—including remote barrios where there was no electricity!

Gibbs never mentioned the enormous cost of “resources” an EW/ABCTE program entailed during his nationwide recruitment “seminars” inundated with Bible scriptures. So fast, this Christian fundraising pro made it all sound so easy. I was stunned when Gibbs went berserk, direct to a vicious ad hominem. Pause. “What’s that?” he asked. “An illogical fallacy,” I answered. Pause. “What’s a logical fallacy?” (It’s what stopped your violent diatribe against me, you obnoxious jerk!) “A false argument attacking the character of the person instead of answering the points the person is trying to make,” I calmly explained. “I can’t play God, Norman.” “My-father-is-a-pastor,” he screamed savagely. Told him I didn’t want to go there.

Other DHs, other stories

“Don’t you think they weren’t already deep in debt before E-World?” Gibbs smirked diabolically. Inaykopo! (Oh, mother!) Who is this man? “Don’t tell me how to run my business, ok? I never want to hear from you again, ok?” Gibbs was totally hysterical, his voice an ear-piercing castrato. I was pathetically naïve. My timing couldn’t have been worse—or was it? Because that’s when I started googling this uncouth, sanctimonious hypocrite. Strange. “Norman Gibbs” showed up only in websites he himself had set up. There was one computer software luminary named Norman Gibbs and the guy’s dead! E, kung ako nasa Google (Even I am in Google) when I hadn’t placed one punctuation mark in there myself!

Elena related that she was arrested by a Kuwaiti policeman; transferred from one jail to another. Was she sexually abused? Indi kuno (No, she says). Once in their employers’ home, all the DHs were commanded to stand next to each other in one straight line, hands behind them —that’s how it was every day. This time, her abuser’s family was present in full force. Elena received a strong kick on one side of her pelvis, causing her to fall on the ground. Pero nasanay na daw, mabait naman ang asawa (She says she got used to it, the husband was kind anyway.)

The Kuwaiti brood ransacked all the belongings of the DHs; a brother of her abuser dragged Elena inside a room, poised to hit her with a golf club when — Stop! The Sri Lankan maid’s cell phone Elena used to send text messages was found. Upon reading my English text message, her employer decided she wasn’t worth the potential trouble, gave her back her passport, sent her to the Kuwait airport, paid for her ticket back to Manila.

She was called ‘animal’

At the OWWA office, she met other DHs who had worked in the Middle East. One claimed she had been a sex slave—sold by a Pakistani to 10 different men who sodomized her every day for a month; another had a broken leg, a broken elbow, one was in a daze, pasa-pasa (black and blue), etc. I phoned ILAC (Iloilo Legal Assistance Center), Migrante-ILO and Gabriela-ILO. Broke, with no contract, Elena needed all the help she could get. All agreed to help. All she wanted was her six months’ pay (P48,000). “Dimalas (unlucky) si Elena.”

Perla blabbed she knew of one DH who got her job in the ME through Mother’s Way, “Ok man, nagapadala siya sang kwarta sa pamilya niya diri kada bulan.” (She’s okay, sends money to her family here every month.) Unfathomable, this prevalent, unshakable belief in fate.

The night before the POEA hearing, Elena arrived in my home with one piece of paper. Declared all the other papers were unimportant, mysteriously forgot the Arabic word for “animal”— “Hayawaan!” (Arabic term for “animals”)- her name for six months in Kuwait. She had found work in a pancitan (noodle joint) was recently promoted from wrapping pancit to collecting pancit payment in the morning. Having worked abroad was a big plus. She wrapped pancit only in the afternoon.

Elena sauntered into my bedroom uninvited, announced it looked “nice.” While I was photocopying that one piece of paper, she strutted back and forth barefoot, wearing a stretch pink top and low-hip jeans. “Ang iba indi nag-surbibe kay man weak sila (Others didn’t survive because they were weak). I’m strong,” she proudly proclaimed. Is she saying the thousands of OFWs na namatay, pinatay, nagpakamatay, nabaliw—kasalanan pa nila (who died, were killed, killed themselves, went insane – and it’s their fault) because they were “weak”? Our “modern-day heroes” who ended up as modern-day slaves? Within two weeks, the old Elena was back; she hadn’t learned a thing.

Her grievous sin

Strong? Didn’t need anybody’s help, then, I told her. In the Bible, pride is a grievous sin. Early the next morning, I rang up ILAC, Gabriela, Migrante, to apologize for the bother since Elena was unworthy of their support. Told them why. Pabay-i (Let it be). Only Bebeng accompanied her to the hearing; the owner of Mother’s Way from Manila was present. Elena did not receive a cent.

Truth is, I filed a charge of swindling (estafa) against Gibbs and four incorporators of EWRC, Inc. and E-World Staffing Services. (Gibbs and his cohorts have layers of “companies,” several websites.) Mag-isa lang kasi ako noon (I was all by my lonesome then).

NBI-ILO (phone number: (033) 335-1731) chief lawyer Mario Sison assigned special agent Ronjun Hosillos to conduct an investigation of EWRC, Inc.

Tip of the iceberg: Contrary to Gibbs’s claim that E-World Resource Centers, Inc., is a career service development company which will train enrollees to become highly qualified teachers in the United States of America, Securities and Exchange Commission records of E-World Resource Centers, Inc.’s articles of incorporation revealed that “the purpose of this corporation is to engage in, operate, conduct and maintain the business of manufacturing, importing, exporting, buying, selling or otherwise dealing in, at wholesale, such goods as, communication equipment, personal computers … ”

Check the agency

See http://www.liveandearnintheusa. A US-based company located in the Empire State Building, New York City? Pilipinas lang ang ginagatasan (Only the Philippines is being milked); the NYC office does not exist!

How’d I get into this? Because of Corazon Lopez-Kabayao, international classical concert pianist. Her relentless daughter, Sicilienne, worked for EW (P1,000 commission per registrant).

On Jan. 2, I received a text message from EW saying the Iloilo office had closed; please direct all “correspondences” to Manila at (02) 914-3000, thank you.

In Region VI alone, NBI-ILO estimates at least 800 E-World registrants. Some have spent way over P200,000, taken five exams, lost their pensions, sold property, borrowed way beyond their capacity to pay. EW offers loans to registrants, too.

I moved back to Manila in June to prepare for a career change in a place where PE (physical education) is golf. Don’t need the distraction, cruel speculation, harrowing burden of court hearings in Iloilo against a bloated, blasphemous, low-grade Kano (American) and his accomplices—awash in hundreds of millions in blood money. Gibbs had bragged that EW maintained the services of a battery of high-powered lawyers in EW Manila, Cebu, Cagayan De Oro. For its defense team, EW hired an Oxales law firm. I don’t even have a lawyer.

In denial

Why? Most victims are still in denial. Undeserving. Kill the bearer of bad news! Why, when even the few Ilonggo victims who are no longer in denial still refuse to sign any affidavit attesting to this unconscionable fraud. Reason? Kahuluya! (It’s shameful!)

EW is nationwide. Inutang na nga ang pambayad, niloko pa. Binababoy sa sariling bayan (Paid with borrowed money, fooled on top of it. Humiliated in their own country) No! Why set myself up as a target of brutal pillory? Is it the painful memory of withered farm folks in EW-ILO forever seared in my psyche? Social justice na naman? Dios ko, pagod na ako! ) (Social justice again? God, I’m tired)

My sis called from California: “Back-out. You can’t carry the weight of the Philippines on your shoulders.” She’s right; I can’t. Could’ve filed swindling/estafa charge a year ago; backed-out in disgust. What a revelation! Lubog na sa utang, mayabang pa! Pabay-i. (Mired in debt as it is, still arrogant! Let it be.)

Heard an unwed Elena’s seven months pregnant. “Lahat daw ng malas nasa kanya (Says she got all the bad luck),” sighed a resigned Bebeng. Pabay-i.

I think we should ALL MOVE ON beyond Ms. Malu Fernandez, and look at other more important things such as how do we get out of poverty, I am hoping that our government official and Financial institutions would promote MICROFINANCING, one org lending money to other 3rd world countries is http://www.kiva.org/about/partners/
Inquirer Money - TOP STORIES

A way out of poverty, according to ‘Mr. John’
September 01, 2007
Updated 20:26:51 (Mla time)
Amy R. Remo
Inquirer

IT IS NEITHER A CURTAIN call for an old man nor is it for fame or fortune.

Taipan John Gokongwei Jr. humbly said the book written about his life and legacy was meant to “share my story in the hope that I may inspire even a single person to become an entrepreneur.”

His book, the “John L. Gokongwei Jr.: The Path of Entrepreneurship” written by Ateneo de Manila University’s Dr. Marites A. Khanser, tells the “riches-to-rags-to-riches” story of the taipan.

In the book launching at the Ateneo held Wednesday, Gokongwei himself admitted that entrepreneurship was not an easy path to take.

“But we have to start somewhere, however small, however difficult,” he said in his speech.

Gokongwei said he believes that entrepreneurship is a way out of poverty.

Teaching values

Published by the Ateneo de Manila University press, the book, according to him, encourages Filipinos to be fearless, push the limits, be resilient and take calculated risks.

It likewise teaches readers the values of frugality, tenacity and hard work.

According to the taipan, a budding entrepreneur should ask four questions before deciding whether to venture into a business.

“Is there a market? Do I have enough capital? Can I compete? And can I sleep at night?” he told the audience.

“You should never lose sleep over business risks,” he said.

These are just among the numerous lessons that can be gleaned from the book, as he shares “what I’ve gone through more than 60 years ago” from being a 15-year-old peddler of peanuts and other goods to be one of Asia’s most successful businessman to date.

“Being an entrepreneur then and now aren’t that different. We’re still fighting it out with the bigger, multinational corporations,” he said.

He noted that he, himself, has been fighting with the giants when he put up Great Taste, Cebu Pacific and Sun Cellular.

“Filipino entrepreneurs are braver, stronger and bolder,” he proudly said.

Fulfilled

With the book, Gokongwei says he already feels fulfilled.

As he lightheartedly told the audience, “a man fulfills his role in the world by doing three things: plant a tree, have a son and write a book.”

For her part, author Khanser heaved a happy sigh of relief and told guests at the launching that her two-year journey with the taipan had finally reached its finale.

Khanser is the director for the Doctor of Business Administration Program of the School of Business and Governance at the Ateneo de Davao University.

Eternal debt

Calling herself “Mr. John’s storyteller,” Khanser said she owes an eternal debt to Gokongwei for allowing her to write her “dream book.”

She also said she would miss the quiet dinners with Mr. John and Mrs. Elizabeth, the wonderful conversations as well as the fun.

“His charm lies in his being young at heart,” she said.

Despite encountering few difficulties in writing the book, Khanser said it was tenacity and passion that kept her going.

Two brands

She likewise credited her editors and nameless panels of reviewers for helping her with the book.

“This is not just a Gokongwei book, but also an Ateneo book. It carries two trademarks of two big brands,” she added.

“John Gokongwei lived the life to the fullest by going through the path of entrepreneurship,” she said.

Meanwhile, Rodolfo P. Ang, dean of the John Gokongwei School of Management at the Ateneo, said the book is one more way of taking the Gokongwei-Ateneo partnership to a higher level.

The partnership “goes beyond financial transactions” from 2002 when Gokongwei made a generous P200-million endowment to the undergraduate school of management, he explained.

The endowment had highlighted Gokongwei’s commitment to education, seen through the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation which maintains a Technical Training Center for engineering graduates and the Children’s Library, which offers free computer learning and other educational and entertainment materials to children up to 12 years old.

Aside from the Ateneo, the Gokongweis have also made donations to San Carlos University in Cebu, Xavier School, De La Salle University, Sacred Heart School and Immaculate Conception Academy.

Inspiration

With the book, Ang said Gokongwei provides inspiration to anyone who’d like to consider that path of entrepreneurship.

“The book is more than just a biography but an effort to get inside his mind [and] understand his business strategies,” Ang said.

Ateneo president Fr. Bienvenido F. Niebres, S.J. echoed the same sentiment in saying that Gokongwei had evoked such admiration among students.

He added that with the book, Gokongwei’s legacy will live on for the new generation he’s helping to become entrepreneurs.

©2007 http://www.inquirer.net all rights reserved

R.Tan,

You need to check your keyboard keys. Some of the keys probably stick. O kaya magtagalog na lang tayo, kaysa gumamit tayo ng wikang ingles na kunwari ay alam natin na gamitin.

What’s your first name anyway? Rambu? Kaga? Haru? Kalupi?

To Francis,

After your blog, I felt sad more than slighted at your infantile analysis of my post. Is it any wonder why Malu’s article generated such a storm among us OFWs? Because instead of digesting what the article is all about, emotions get the better over ones judgment. Very like you.

For skilled workers, the ME, Europe, the Americas require all applicants to have adequate experience. Most applicants have been employed in the country when they left for greener pastures. Simple. Everyone wants to earn more than what the local employer can or is willing to pay. In fact, the IT companies in the Philippines are complaining that their best software engineers are being pirated by Singapore and other countries by offering them higher salaries. Kaibigan, it’s the lure of earning more that is driving most professionals out of the country. And these people including you left voluntarily to earn dollars in rates that you can not imagine ever earning in the Philippines. Let’s not be hypocrite about this issue. Hwag na tayong mag iinarte ng kung ano ano pang kaek ekan to justify our being OFWs (I am referring only the the professional sector).

Why blame the politicians for the problems in the country? Who lives in the Philippines? Only the politicians? Who elected these do nothing politicians? The Europeans? Come on. We deserve the kind of government that we have by the kind of politicians we elect. Who elected these “useless” politicians? Instead of blaming anyone, why don’t you examine yourself first? You might have contributed to the problems in the country.

Ako walang pakialam sa Pinas? Come on. You don’t even know me yet you are so brave to pass judgment on my person. Kabayan, huwag mong ikumpara ang sarili mo sa akin at baka ni sa kalingkingan di ka umabot. Saka next time, when picking on someone make sure kilala mo.

Panahon pa lang ni Marcos eh nasa kalye na ako fighting the conjugal dictatorship para maibalik ang tunay na demokrasya sa bansa natin. In fact, when droves of Pinoys were leaving the country for the ME, I refused to join the bandwagon then (even if I have all the qualifications to do so) because freeing the country from the clutches of the dictatorship was far more nobler calling than lining my pocket with green money. I left only a year after Cory Aquino was installed as president.

Unlike many OFWs, I go home carrying only a small trolley containing my clothes. Walang chocolates, walang ginto, walang electronics o kung ano ano pa. Bakit? Kasi gusto ko sa Pinas binibili lahat para naman ang produksyon natin eh kumita at ng mapanatili ang mga namumuhunan sa bansa natin. Ikaw? Baka isa ka sa may sakit na “hepatitis” tuwing nasa eroplano sa dami ng ginto. And take note, naka sandalyas lang ako pag umuwi at simpleng Bench T-shirt lang kc ayaw kong bumili d2 ng Skechers o Caterpillar na sapatos, Sa Pinas ako bumibili. Tama si Malu, simpeng Mum roll on lang gamit ko at ni isang patak ng imported perfume eh wala ako.

Pag nagpapadala ako ng pera regularly, I always use the bank kc gusto ko ang dolyar na niriremit ko eh properly accounted ng Central Bank natin. Hindi ko ginagamit ang informal channels ng pagpapadala kc ayaw kong sa iba mapunta instead of sa bansa natin. Kc sa bawat galaw ko, iniisip ko ang kalagayan ng Pinas na halos bawian ako ng buhay sa pakikibaka noon. Ikaw ba? Naranasan mong paluin na armalite ng mga MISG o?
Metrocom?

Next time Francis, bumusina ka bago ka manghusga. Simple lang ang problema ng Pinas. Ikaw, ako, tayong mga Pilipino ang pinakaproblema ng Pinas at hindi mga politiko. Bakit? Kc wala tayong patriotismo at tunay na nationalismo. Puro lip service lang ang pagmamahal natin sa Pinas.

Dear Malu,

I sincerely think there is nothing wrong with your observations on your trip with our OFWs. For the most part they could be true just like being on the same plane with all the wowowee performers and staff on the same flight to the US, specially if it is their FIRST TIME TO BE ON A PLANE. They are so excited that feeds a lot of adrenalin to their hyper activities on board. This brings out a lot of noise and shouting between isles and seats that could obviously annoy someone who is trying to get some sleep.

I think what is wrong in my opinion is the way you describe the situation. What made it bad is using phrases like ” wanted to slash my wrist at the thought of being TRAPPED in the same plane with all of them (OFWs). What even made it worse is when you wrote “I thought I had died and God sent me to my own private hell”. This kind of comments I think should be confined to your own SMALL GROUP OF SOCIALITE FRIENDS who I think will have a ball in hearing about your miserable experience with the “masa” of our “God Forsaken” Country.

Next time I suggest, you should avoid the economy class at all cost and if your budget does not allow it, just stay home and look around you. I think you will have more “interesting” stuff to write about if you take a visit to the slum areas and tell everyone HOW LUCKY YOU ARE TO BE LIVING IN HEAVEN ON EARTH!

Ingat sa paggamit ng “Move on” kadalasan ang salitang ito ay ginagamit sa maling paraan katulad ng salitang “Noted”.

Naka-post na ang tunay na sinabi ni Malu. Kung talagana siya ay nagsisisi, maige kung gayon. Kung hindi, ay kailangan ng taospusong pagpapahayag ng paumanhin. Kung hindi pa rin, iwan na lang natin siya dahil wala nang ikakasira sa kanyang reputasyon. Balita ko na siya ay magsusulat muli, nawa maging maingat siya sa susunod.

Ito ay magandang leksiyon sa mga manunulat sa mga pahayagang may pambansang sirkulasyon. Huwag tayong padalos dalos sa kritisismo sa ating mga tinataguriang bagong bayani; ang mga tunay na nagpapaangat ng ating ekonomiya.

Mas nakabuti pa sana sa posisyon ni Malu bilang Lifestyle columnist na gumawa ng “Etiquette Tips” sa mga manlalakbay kaysa laitin niya ang isang sektor ng lipunan mismo pati kanilang pabango.

Check it out peopel!! that fat lady still writes an article for Manila Standard, that means the publication’s management sided on that fat lady and utterly disregarded the clamor by thousands of ofw for her to resign,she did resign just to pacify us but the magazine did not accept her resignation.

Boycott Manila Standard and People Asia!

what happened to my previous post?

Manila Standard has an article written by Malu Fenandez which means they did not accept her resignation and her intention was not sincere. If she really meant what she has written on her resignation, she would have made her resignation irrevocable.

This only shows that MS and MF do not give a damn of what we feel and for them business as usual. It is like telling us OFWS that our kind do not merit any favor from them. After all, they are the elite and we are not their target market but they use us and mock us in their publications. Is there justice in what they did? The ball is in our hands fellow OFWS.

Keep your mouth shut people, Malu’s just laughing at you because her publisher at Manila Standard stood by her. So who’s laughing now? oink oink oink oink!!

I think we should ALL MOVE ON and look at other more important things such as how do we get out of poverty, I am hoping that our government officials and Financial institutions would promote MICROFINANCING, one org lending money to other 3rd world countries is http://www.kiva.org/about/partners/
and on the Philippines, I found this website I think we should ALL MOVE ON beyond Ms. Malu Fernandez, and look at other more important things such as how do we get out of poverty, I am hoping that our government official and Financial institutions would promote MICROFINANCING, one org lending money to other 3rd world countries is http://www.kiva.org/about/partners/
I found this website, those of you who are concerned to our economic situation should check this out and maybe start introducing these programs to our very hard working teachers, nurses , and college graduates who are still looking forward to work abroad, losing hope that they can not provide 3 meals a day on their table. http://www.microfinancecouncil.org/citigroup.htm

AS I SEE IT
What ‘economic growth’ means to the poor

By Neal Cruz
Inquirer
Last updated 00:40am (Mla time) 09/03/2007

MANILA, Philippines - I was so overjoyed by newspaper reports that the economy grew by 7.5 percent (if President Macapagal-Arroyo is telling the truth) that I went to the window and shouted the good news for all the world to hear. One of those who heard me was my squatter-neighbor.

“What does it mean?” he asked in Filipino.

“It means,” I said, “that the GDP grew by 7.5 percent, the biggest growth in 20 years.”

“What’s GDP?” my neighbor asked.

“Gross Domestic Product,” I replied.

“What’s that?” he asked again.

“It’s the amount of goods and services produced by the country at a given time,” I explained.

“I still don’t understand,” he said.

“Goods,” I explained like a teacher, “are the crops that our farmers grew and harvested, the products that our workers manufactured in the factories, and thousands of other products. Services are those tasks done by our workers, like waiters, barbers, drivers, hairdressers, tailors, etc. They all have values and a government agency estimates these and adds them all up and comes up with the GDP.”

“I see,” said my neighbor. “But who verifies the estimates? How sure are we that the figures are correct?”

“Well, when the government says these are the figures, they must be correct, don’t you think so?”

“I don’t think so. They are just numbers. It’s so easy to change them or even invent figures.”

“Are you saying that the government is lying?” I asked, shocked.

“I am not saying that the government is lying. What I am saying is that how can we be sure that the numbers are correct. It could be deliberately lying or simply an honest mistake. In estimates, figures tend to be optimistic.”

“But they must have made long and careful computations,” I said.

“Then it must be the other. It is very hard to believe the optimistic figures. If the economy grew by that much why am I and millions like me still poor? Why can’t I get a job? Why don’t I have a house of my own?”

“But can’t you see those new houses over there?” I said pointing. “They have jobs.”

“Those people are OFWs. They earned what they have in other countries, not here.”

“Why don’t you work abroad then?” I asked.

“Why do Filipinos have to go abroad to get jobs?” he persisted. “Why can’t we have jobs in our own country?”

“Because we don’t have enough jobs in our own country,” I replied.

“What good is a 7.5-percent growth then, if it does not provide more jobs for us jobless? What good is a so-called robust economy if it does not put food on our table?”

“Well, it makes the factories and businesses earn more.”

“Businessmen earn more, yes, but aren’t they the rich ones already? So our economic growth only makes the rich richer and us poor poorer.”

“But can’t you see, when the businessmen earn more they can hire more people and therefore provide jobs.”

“Where are the jobs?” my neighbor asked plaintively. “I have been looking for a job, any job, for so long I must have worn out a dozen sandals.”

“Stop complaining and look some more,” I said, beginning to get irritated. “You won’t find a job by complaining.”

“I’m not the only one who can’t find a job. There are millions of others like me. They are all looking but can’t find any.”

“Why don’t you apply for a job abroad.”

“Don’t you think I tried? I envy those bragging about the good life abroad. When my neighbors turn full blast their stereos brought home by their husbands, my heart bleeds.”

“So why don’t you go to a recruiter?”

“I did. Not only once, but twice.”

“So what happened?”

“I was asked to pay so many charges: application fee, visa fee, processing fee, etc. The recruiter keeps asking for more and more fees. My father sold our carabao and farm in the province to pay for my fees. ‘Never mind, Tatang,’ I told him. “When I start earning, we’ll get it all back and more.’”

“So why are you still here?” I asked. “Why aren’t you working abroad?”

“Because my recruiter has disappeared.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. “You said you applied twice. What happened to the second?”

“Yes, I went to another recruiter. My father sold his house to pay for the new set of fees. This time I got as far as the airport.”

“What happened?”

“I wasn’t able to even set foot on the plane.”

“Why?”

“All my papers were fake!”

“So what did you do?”

“I went to the Department of Labor to complain.”

“And what did they do there?”

“They took my statement, shaking their heads and clucking their tongues, and told me to go home and they will have the recruiter arrested.”

“So they arrested him?”

“No.”

“No? Why not?”

“They said they couldn’t find him.”

“And that’s the end of it?”

“That’s the end of it. That’s also the end of our farm, house and carabao. My Tatang was furious.”

“Oh God, I’m sorry to hear that. Never mind,” I tried to console him. “With the growth in the economy, maybe you will get a job and you will get it all back”

“When? When I’m already dead?”

To Barok

Again and last time: Ricardo Lim is Ricardo Lim and not Malu Fernandez. If you people can not or do not want to accept that other people think different, not like bloodthirsty mobsters, then I really pity you. You think you are the center of the world and all has to think what you think. You call me bigot, do ever you know the meaning? I better do not mention here publicly what I would call you face to face.
Anyway, better to end this discussion to give you guys time to count the reactions of “the whole world”.

To francis

You are very wrong. I know the sentiments and the feelings of OFW’s very very well because I worked with them, even I’m not an OFW.
Regarding the importance of remittences, I also know it well and probably better than the government that for its own purpose manipulates the Dollar rate without caring how it hurts those they called “modern heroes”.
But generally, many OFW’s who claim to beskilled professionals would be very welcome in RP for jobs, and not bad paid jobs. So, it is their own, free will to go abroad, nobody forces them, and therefore they should not claim their bad, suppressed life and work abroad. They know well what will wait for them but still go, and even renew their contracts.
Only, many of them forget that Filipinos are not the only ones that work abroad,there are many many more people working out of their homeland. They also are often treated like second class but they accept it since near everywhere the citizens of a country will count themselves first. Which is very rampant in RP, too.
For re-reading Malu’s article, I would say that those who talk about “investigative journalism” are not even able to understand what is a column about a personal experience during a flight and real investigative journalism. Malu F. did not investigate the habits of OFW’s, she only relayed her not so joyfulfeelings. That those who annoyed her have been OFW’s is not her fault. As a passenger, no matter which flight class, one can expect that other pasengers behave like passengers, OFW’s or not. And to tell that, is anyone’s right.

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=86229

http://www.inquirer.net/verbatim/malu.jpg

http://www.inquirer.net/verbatim/retained.JPG

hoy malu fernandez hindi lang malaki ang mukha mo, sobra pa ang kapal ng mukha mo. marami na rin bansa akong napuntahan at nakilalang kapwa pilipino at ibang lahi mula sa iba’t-ibang angkat ng pamumuhay, ngayon lang ako nakarinig ng ganyang mga salita. habang karamihan sa mga tao sa buong mundo humahanga sa katibayan ng loob ng mga pilipino ofws, ikaw panlalait lang ang masasabi mo? isa kang taong walang budhi, sa mga pananalita mo halatang-halatang wala ka nang kaluluwa. ngayon pa lang magsisi ka na sa mga kasalanan mo.

The only thing we can do is to tell our relatives to simply not buy any of those irresponsible newspaper and magazine. THE MANILA STANDARD TODAY AND People Asia. Because these two newspaper don’t give a shit about the feeling of OFW and their families because they still allowing her to write for them, they using us to get more publicity. her article is not a question of why some of us behaved the way she described them, its the question of her insecurities and frustrations because she believed she is above the rest, but it was clear that she below us. We can’t say anything anymore because she don’t read these blogs, or better yet she already know what she look like, how she look like, how her parents made mistake raising her, or her pretentious socialite status claimed by her (trying to fit within the community of stiff noises by making them laugh at the miseries of others).So there’s no point, she not worth it!!!!

BOYCOTT manila standard…anyway who buys it…Its a rubbish tabloid!!!!

SINCE MALU IS IN WRITING AGAIN. …BOYCOTT MANILA (sub)STANDARDS and its SISTER PUBLICATIONS… (hehehe sorry i couldn’t help it) an if what they say is true..BOYCOTT THE PRODUCTS IN RUSTANS she helped design… I still can’t believe she was hired as a fashion consultant there!! tsk tsk

SINCE MALU IS WRITING AGAIN. …BOYCOTT MANILA (sub)STANDARDS and its SISTER PUBLICATIONS… (hehehe sorry i couldn’t help it) an if what they say is true..BOYCOTT THE PRODUCTS IN RUSTANS she helped design… I still can’t believe she was hired as a fashion consultant there!! tsk tsk

To Ricardo Lim,

If you know our sentiments why you dont understand us?
For your information we OFWs professional are not trying hard like you we came here to work and uplift our life, if you think there are works opportunities waiting for us there why others professionals like doctors even working as a nurse just to leave the country? Maybe you are right if you have connections because as I’ve experienced even you are already qualified for the position you are applying for they will still handed the job to the one who knows nothing but have connections. Here, we OFWs hired by our skills and not by connections ok. For you it’s vey easy to tell and explain all these things coz I think you are connected….Give us works and all OFWs will go back to our country….who like to be away from your love ones…actually you are not on the topic…..your mind is somewhere else…

http://cathcath.com/?p=3325
12 Comments »
meron ba siyang Tagalog version? Sana hindi niya sayangin ang kanyang talent at pinaghirapan pag-aralan, she can lead by example, sabi ko nga sa aking last comment, pwede siyang mag volunteer magturo sa mga college students to “how to have peace within our community” like the program they’ve started at Virginia Tech to prevent another physical act of violence. Pasalamat siya at mga Pilipino ang nasagasaan niya, tayo ay mapagpatawad at mapagpasensya. Sana wala ng sumunod na kaparehong insidente. Think before we open our mouths or write it in black and white.

Comment by Lorena C. Marzan - August 24, 2007 4:12 am
I think we should ALL MOVE ON and look at other more important things such as how do we get out of poverty, I am hoping that our government officials and Financial institutions would promote MICROFINANCING, one org lending money to other 3rd world countries is

Pls check out this website, a Filipino independent film maker who garnered awards in New York for his documentaries based on the Filipino people, I also liked his documentary of Japanese young adults volunteering at Payatas http://homepage.mac.com/eliafrica/PhotoAlbum25.html
http://homepage.mac.com/eliafrica/PhotoAlbum25.html

Alam mo MR. AHMED CORTES salamat sa pagpapakilala mo sa sarili mo pero di ako ipokrito siguro nga malayo at ni wala ako sa kalingkingan mo. Kaya ako naging OFW dahil sabi mo kagustuhan kong umalis tama ka pero kung sa Pilipinas lang sa palagay mo anong kahihinatnan natin dun.ANg tanong sinagot mo na para sa sahod (dolyar di ba?). Wag mong sisihin ang mga masa o mamamayan na kagaya natin ano sa palagay mo bakit sila binoboto at nananalo sa paanong paraan? Siguro nga wala ako sa kalingkingan mo at sorry sa mga bad experience mo. KAsi sad to say we Filipinos are emotional gaya mo ngayon what do you think? Kaya can you blame all OFWs to what M.F. wrote? I dont think so….If you are qualified and you think you are brave enough and you are superior we are looking OFWs who is fighting and support our rights.. my recommendation is yours and prove that you are with us and for our country…

To Rose:

yes, in a free society everybody has the right to say whatever they want for as long as they would not offend other people. Are you blind or plain dumb & stupid? Can you please read and re-read the article of Malu Fernandez if she had the right the innocent passengers who happened to be with her inside the plain? what about the OFWs working in Dubai airport? what right does she have to insult them ? did they do something wrong with her? If i insult your mother or your sister even if they don’t know me and i don’t know them, would you feel good about it??

Let’s stick to the issue, who started this brouhaha? who used her privilege as writer to insult innocent OFWS who were just going about their job in earning honest keep? Who used a publication to put down other people? Manila Standard, can you please answer these questions?

copied from MNSBC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036713

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(Click here to read more on the news story)

Filipino blogger renews call for newspaper boycott

By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 06:23pm (Mla time) 09/04/2007

MAKATI City, Philippines — Filipino blog Tingog.com, which previously called for the resignation of Filipino lifestyle columnist Malu Fernandez, has renewed calls to boycott the newspaper she writes for.

“Here it is, our stand, because Manila Standard Today has chosen to hide behind their term ‘protocol’ and issue a pardon to their most beloved columnist for all The Filipinos to see. This is a call to boycott, for the irresponsible behavior of Manila Standard Today, they have chosen to pass up the option of doing the right thing, and essentially show their true colors and the standards they are upholding,” the blog said.

INQUIRER.net called the Standard Today for a reaction to the boycott call but was told the paper was not issuing any statement.

Tingog was one of the more vocal blogs against Fernandez for a travel article she wrote for People Asia magazine and the newspaper that sparked outrage among overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Her earlier travel piece, which appeared in the June edition of the magazine and later in newspaper, recounted her encounter with some Filipino overseas workers while flying economy class.

“I wanted to slash my wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane with all of them,” Fernandez wrote in the article.

In quick time, the blogopshere was filled with posts denouncing the article as bigotry, hateful, and discriminatory.

Although she published a letter of apology that also announced her resignation because of what she called threats, hate blogs, and personal insults.

However, Fernandez resumed her Standard Today column last Monday.

“This is also to Malu Fernandez, which from the very beginning was obviously insincere, has indeed showed her insincerity by having Manila Standard Today make the decision for her to stay. As you know, Manila Standard did not accept her resignation. But why doesn’t she just step down? As is the case with individuals who are truly never repentant, they see no need for any accountability,” Tingog.com wrote.

“We are not to blame for this escalation. All we wanted in the first place was a fair shake for this story to get some coverage, for the involved parties to issue apologies, and for Malu Fernandez to be made accountable by being fired from both publications. But Manila Standard, was given a chance, and they blew it. They not only blew it, but they did harm to the many individuals who were hurt by the article of Malu Fernandez and her response in her Manila Standard Today column,” Tingog.com added.

Meanwhile, Anton De Leon, a former journalist and blogger who lives in Dubai, said the recent move to still allow Fernandez to resume writing her column has weakened some people’s “faith in our institutions.”

Calling himself a blogspot humorist, De Leon lamented, “as if nothing happened, here she is in her acerbic wit writing style talking about ugly things on your dresser.”

“I guess all this concerted effort to clamor has gotten us nowhere close to a whimper. Yep, we have achieved nothing except the fact that we have made her a byword. Well, it all goes downhill from here,” he said in his recent Slap Happy blog entry.

Deleon is a senior communications executive for a media conglomerate who “writes down his thoughts and views [with wit & sarcasm abound] from an insider’s point of view looking in from the outside.”

Hi Jun Pindot

sorry that you have been so irritated. Unfortunately, I am writing under circumstances where the power fluctuates so extrem that even the AVR can not follow up and that could cause some missing key strokes. It is only that I have been thinking we discuss about Malu’s article and that is still understandable even if there are some spaces missing, di ba?
And my name is Rodolfo, what is your real name?

I posted a couple of comments this morning at 6:00am San Francisco, Ca. time and when I checked at 10:00am, they were not there. Anyway, here is a name that has become so popular just like Ms. Malu Fernandez, DON IMUS. thats my 2 cents worth of opinion. Thank you

Why you guys fume now that Malu still writes? That her publisher want her staying? Ram your heads against a wall, maybe then you will realize that you are the main reason.
Why? You bragged that “all over the world” OFW’s complained about her article. This tells the publisher that his publication and Malu’s articles are read “all over the world”. No publisher would let such famous writer go.
But in reality, what really happened have been very few complaints, many just because somebody has been influenced to complain and I am very sure that most complaints are not even from real OFW’s. Knowing a lot of OFW’s, I never heard that they read so heavily Manila Standard online or via abonnement. Look at your blogs with Inquirer, how many OFW’s “all over the world” are among the bloggers? A dozen out of 8 million OFW’s?
Come on, let this matter there where it should be, past times. And next time you bragg about “all over the world”, show up first with at least 10% of OFW messages. All the oil and acid you try to put into the mini-fire is not creating a big flame…

To Jericho:
Pare..wag na taung umasa sa MST as they might think that this has helped them be popular.. Nagkamali nga ako to visit their website..hahaha pero i see no ads!! kung meron man..nagtatago =)) Good for them!! CONTINUE BOYCOTTING MANILA SUBSTANDARD TODAY

To Ricardo Lim.. Bat ikaw..masyado kang affected samen… kung nasabi mu na ung gusto mung sabihin..tapos..e kami ayaw pa nming matapos.. anu pang problema mu? we heard you.. leave..gets?

Skimming at the discussions thread here and there, it is obvious that MF and her MQ3 lover defender is disguising as somebody. Well, I don’t even damn care what’s on the “brighter side” on the latest news about her.

First, I don’t read nor buy Manila Standard Today newspapers and their whatever related companies’ cheap rubbish half-cooked products. And I don’t even know if they exist at all and even it they are thriving to advertise their existence, they are just a bloody garbage.

Second, who cares with Rustans and if MF really works there. I won’t be going there as well. What the hecking hell for?

Third, at least it is obvious now that either her employer nor the “philippines press club governing bodies” don’t care about OFWs sensitiveness nor manifestating concerns as well as being fair and unbiased to a derogatory article . Obviously, they are just after with the remittances of OFW’s blood money at all as evident in their adverts.

So, fellow OFW’s wherever you may be in planet earth reading this blog and MF’s article, you know now where to stand.

In restrospect, the main theme of this blog was silently answered and it was a success.

copies from LATimes

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-remit20apr20,0,3918689.story?page=1

The Overseas Class
template_bas
template_bas
Millions working abroad help their nation get by, but not prosper. It’s a life of lonely, risky sacrifice.
By Richard C. Paddock, Times Staff Writer
April 20, 2006
They nurse the sick in California, drive fuel trucks in Iraq, sail cargo ships through the Panama Canal and cruise ships through the Gulf of Alaska. They pour sake for Japanese salarymen and raise the children of Saudi businessmen.

They are the Philippines’ most successful export: its workers.

Interactive Feature
The New Foreign Aid, Part 3 of 4
(Flash)

Map
PhilippinesThree decades ago, seeking sources of hard currency and an outlet for a fast-growing population, then-President Ferdinand Marcos encouraged Filipinos to find jobs in other countries. Over time, the overseas worker has become a pillar of the economy. Nine million Filipinos, more than one out of every 10, are working abroad. Every day, more than 3,100 leave the country.

Philippine workers sent home more than $10.7 billion last year, equal to about 12% of the gross domestic product.

The current president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, calls them “the backbone of the new global workforce” and “our greatest export.”

Worldwide, these workers have earned a reputation for enterprise and hard work. They include some of the Philippines’ most talented people, well educated and multilingual.

But as a third generation leaves to work abroad, it is clear the system has not led to prosperity. Policymakers have focused on easing the flow of workers rather than harnessing their earnings for economic development.

Dependence on the export of people has become a formula for stagnation. Once one of the strongest in Asia, the Philippine economy now ranks near the bottom. The government invests little money in manufacturing, education or healthcare. The economy can’t create even the 1.5 million jobs a year needed to keep up with population growth.

“We have a middle class, but they don’t live in the Philippines,” said Doris Magsaysay Ho, head of a company that dispatches 18,000 workers a year to serve on ships around the world.

Filipinos work in every country except North Korea, said Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas, whose brother is a doctor in Orange County. More than 2.5 million work in the United States and nearly a million in Saudi Arabia.

The money they earn trickles into towns and villages, helping build houses, open restaurants and send children to school. But the absence of so many industrious and skilled people — mothers and fathers, engineers and entrepreneurs — exacts a heavy toll.

Across the Philippines, children are being raised by their grandparents. “Now children can buy a lot of computer games, but they don’t have a mother or father, or both,” Santo Tomas said.

For the sake of supporting their families, the overseas workers endure years of loneliness. Some, especially maids in the Middle East, suffer beatings and sexual abuse. In countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, they are jailed for running away. Yet the Philippines has grown so dependent on remittances that the thought of doing without them is frightening.

“Money from abroad is the only thing that keeps the economy in motion,” said Ding Lichauco, former head of the country’s economic planning office. “If you don’t encourage the employees to go overseas, you will have revolution.”

Providing sailors, maids, entertainers and other workers for a growing world market is a big business.

In this competitive arena, the Philippines has an advantage. Many Filipinos speak English. They are generally better educated than workers from countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Indonesia. And they have a reputation for being good-natured.

An entire bureaucracy has been created around them. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration helps find jobs in other countries, encourages workers to go abroad and processes some job applications.

The Technical Education and Skills Development Agency offers free training in welding, driving heavy trucks and other skills. The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration stations diplomats around the world to look after the Philippines’ foreign workers.

Those who bring or send their earnings home pay no income taxes. And the government offers returning workers low-cost equipment and tools to help them start small businesses.

With that level of encouragement, an industry has developed to match workers and jobs.

SINGLE PAGE 1 2 3 4 5 6 >>

copied from Metro Blogging
http://manila.metblogs.com/archives/2006/04/filipinos_are_t.phtml

Filipinos are the Overseas Class
posted by Peter at 12:50 AM on April 25, 2006
Richard Paddock of the LA Times offers a different perspective on the “Philippines’ most successful export: its workers.”

The Philippines has both benefited from cash remittances from OFWs. On the other hand, the exodus of doctors, the lack of teachers and the long term effects of migrant workers is a stop gap solution and undermines the level of poverty and hardship that many Filipinos left behind undergo.

What is your opinion on the matter? How do laws and government policies on Immigration affect countries that rely on this export?

Read More:
LA Times: The Overseas Class

To Francis,

The article of Malu Fernandez is a non-issue to me so how I can join you in your collective outrage when I don’t share your views?

I find her article in bad taste; very bad taste but the humor was not lost on me. The language used and how it was worded had an intended purpose and that is to elicit laughters from her readers whom she probably thought share her status. You know, writers sometimes use exaggeration to makie a point to their intended readers. The unfortunate thing is she wanted to humor her readers at the expense of the OFWs.

I only reacted to this issue after reading many blogs, many letters to the editors in many publications and in viewing the news. I find the initial reaction of many OFWs as worse than the article itself. They were angry because not all OFWs are DH & laborers.

Going back to Malu, I find her article distasteful. She was full of hubris. I don’t agree with her opinion but I will defend her right to say what she wants. That’s the essense of press freedom and right to free speech. I am sorry but I don’t subscribe to any means abridging ones right to free speech.

I don’t have a parochial view of things. I don’t look at issues as OFW based, gender based or whatever. I sink my teeth into issues which I feel has greater repercussions to our country’s situation. If the article was written by a cabinet official or any one associated with forming national policies, then, I would react very strongly.

But who is Malu? Except for her distorted sense of propriety, what else can she do? If not for the forwarded email in my inbox, I wouldn’t even know she existed. Her newspaper is probably the least read among the broadsheets. She’s a society page writer. In fact, many legitimate opinion writers are even more acerbic with their very corrosive language.

Earlier in my being an OFW, I joined my inconsequential voice to the clarion call of many “that no taxation without representation”. This was when the OFWs then were being taxed but we cannot vote. I react to issues similar to this and not to matters like Malu’s article. Anyway, the final say lies in my own hand. I can always stop patronizing her publisher. Rather than waste my time lambasting her which will not in any redound to any significant benefit to OFWs.

Lastly, I am sorry to say this. I am an OFW but I don’t believe we deserve more rights and respect than any other sector in the country. Every Filipino should have the same rights.

copied from Batjay, I think this sign is very appropriate to all of us

http://kwentongtambay.com/?p=1436

“Moving Forward”
“Be civilized and Polite”

As opposed to being barbaric and rude
« If your head explodes with dark forebodings tooI took a piss at fortune’s sweet kiss »As opposed to being barbaric and rude

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 2nd, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under SIGNS, CHINA, TRAVELER’S TALES. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

15 Responses to “As opposed to being barbaric and rude”
madbong23 Says:

September 2nd, 2007 at 5:25 am
hi unkyel, madami ganitong klaseng english sa engrish.com

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 2nd, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under SIGNS, CHINA, TRAVELER’S TALES. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

15 Responses to “As opposed to being barbaric and rude”
madbong23 Says:

September 2nd, 2007 at 5:25 am
hi unkyel, madami ganitong klaseng english sa engrish.com

Wow, there really must be something very wrong in the blog scene. Not only wanting MF hanged and skinned like a pig(read the laws for to know what legal trouble this one sentence could already create), but then calling to boycott a magazine and a newspaper, calling MF insincere etc. etc., not knowing that she should step down and be accountable etc. What a big, arrogantnonsense…

Just read and watch the media for the countless anomalies, graft, corruption cases where hundreds of millions are involved, has anyone of the accused businessmen or politicians ever resigned?

Would it not be much more important to push there for accountability, transparency, sincerity and lastly resignation than requesting that from MF and her publisher? But of course it is easier and maybe less dangerous to bang on MF than on a more powerful official who is accused of much more relevant wrongdoing. But not even such accused people cry for boycott, and nobody wants to hang and skin them.
It makes one really wonder how many true OFW’s, like in Middle East, would know about this matter, hardly reading the magazine and newspaper wherein it was published, if not some blogoist would have blown up it for rather their own grandstanding than really for the OFW’s.

There should be a public discussion where those poison sprinkling bloggers would have to tell the same personally and face to face with MF and herpublisher what they blogged in the safety of the web.

Too much had been said about this stinky pig. Some even portray her as a “human being” which she doesn’t belong anyway. Just ask Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago and she will tell you that this one-celled maggot really belongs to the “lowest life forms” in the sub-human kingdom. Well, she’s really a disgrace to the nation in general. What a crap. Do we have to boycott Manila Standard Today? I think there’s no need to do it. Who reads Manila Standard? It’s full of rubbish and it stinks just like one of their columnists (?) named Malu Pignandez este Fernandez. In my opinion, a lifestyle columnist must be sexy and beautiful but look at her picture that was circulated in the web. Oh my gosh! She/He looks like a gay. I found her article witty but do they have proofreaders/editors to correct her grammar in their publication? To sum it up I found this columnist very pig-ignorant and mal-educada which is not the very trait of a socialite (daw). Her article must be titled “From BOARacay to Grease” instead of “From Boracay to Greece” Thank you…..

My email address: cozuwerethere@yahoo.com

Hey Malu aka Ricardo Lim:

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/Bigot

Etymology: French, hypocrite, bigot
: a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance.

Problema kasi sa mga taong tulad mo na nasa alta sosyodad eh akala nyo nasa panahon pa kayo ng kastila. Ako naman kaya ang magtanong sa yo, alam mo ba ang ibig sabihin ng OFW?

Hey Lorena,

Well Don Imus got what he deserved, unfortunately in a country like ours, you even get promoted or get a pat on the back.

I hope we can learn to forgive Malu Fernandez. I wrote an entry about her article and I hope you can find time to read it. It’s entitled “One Voice (An OFW’s reaction to Malu Fernandez’s “From Greece to Boracay”)” and I posted it here: http://lestercavestany.com/?p=10

Ano PO ba ang masama sa isang OFW at ano PO ba ang masama sa isang DH? At bakit kailangan gawing biru ang kanilang kalagayan para lang maipakita na mas may antas sila tulad ng ginawa ni Malu. Masama mobang matanong ka sa airport na “Hoy DH karin ba?” , kaparehas ba ito ng mga tanong na “HOY MAGNANAKAW KARIN BA?’ o “HOY BABOY KARIN BA..oink?” Masama PO bang gumamit ng mumurahing pabango? Kung ang amoy ng pabangong ito ay masarap sa ating mga ilong. Kung HINDI, bakit nagiging katawatawa ito kay Malu. Hay nakuu ang mga biik nga naman, kahit anong damit at paligo gawin mo, pag laki, BABOY parin.

Hoy kabayang R. Lim, ikaw ha, naughty ka ha, kunwari galit ka sa mga blogs laban kay Malu, pero gusto gusto mo namang makisawsaw, hala ikaw rin, baka kasawsaw mo sa blog dito, may mapabayaan ka sige ka baka may sumawsaw dun, he he he.

Kahit 18 oras trabaho namin, nakaka internet pa rin kami ha, kaya nga OFW kasi mga resourceful kami, he he he.

Tama naman silang mga makapili, may karapatan naman talaga si Malu na magsulat ng gusto nya. Pero siempre may kapalit yun. Pwede naman tayo pumatay ng tao, pero siempre may kaukulang parusa.

I volunteer to supply mirrors to everyone who commented as well as M. Fernandez to allow them to clearly see themselves

Parang basang-basa ni Ricardo Lim ang feelings ni Malu. Parang alter-ego ano?

Well, Ricardo Lim, totoo lahat ang comments ni Malu. Maiingay talaga ang mga OFWs and parang carnival/ fiesta, sigawan, kamustahan and they don’t care that you are in the middle of their verbal volleyball. So insensitive and so bereft of social manners. Nalimutan mo bang DH sila? They have been subjected to freedom curtailment. Wala silang boses sa loob ng bahay na pinagtatrabahuhan nila. I can’t believe I’m explaining this to you.

I know you are above the rest in intelligence and it is quite an insult really to have to tell you what an OFW experiences and where they come from. You or Malu may have snorted out loud while reading this, if at all.

I think it would be better to leave the OFWs here to defend their own in the same manner that you defend each other, Malu and you. Yes, you are both broad-minded, intelligent no doubt, kaya nga kayo nagkakaintindihan e. I think you should limit your circulation around people like yourselves. Ika nga, birds of the same feather should flock together.

Dapat dun nyo iparating sa POEA / OWWA / TESDA na dapat isali sa pre-flight/PIDOS ang plane etiquette or social manners expected of OFWs. That way, nakatulong pa kayo sa edukasyon ng mga OFWs. Kesa manlait kayo, help them understand the way of the burgis!

hayyy…. i’m sure ricardo lim will have a colorful reply again to defend MF. Tignan nyo, mukhang di nya alam ang mga nangyari becoz he writes:
“Would it not be much more important to push there for accountability, transparency, sincerity and lastly resignation than requesting that from MF and her publisher? ”

been there..done that! Nagresign na sya but nde tinanggap ng MST. Tas, correct me if i’m wrong, naglabas pa ang MST na ng letter that they they are not accountable to what their journalists write. Well, kaya nga may editor, db? And now, she is writing again in the same TABLOID. Kaya we are now pushing for the boycott, gets mo na ricardo lim?

saka anu ba? the issue here is about malu fernandez. The anomalies, graft, corruption cases, etc you are talking abt are also discussed in other blogs, at least kung wala man mapakulong or maparesign na top officials, w/c is very sad, pero may boses tau. Same thing here sa issue ni tabachingching. We are making a stand here, why can’t u understand that. Freedom of speech is just AND COMES WITH A PRICE. Lahat ng sobra, even this could be dreadful if abused.

I am an OFW here in Dubai for a year now. I travelled 3 times back to the Philippines in a span of 1 year via Emirates. I believe Malou never flew emirates nor went to Greece. I am an IT analyst earning $70,000 a year here tax free. I am not a DH nor a labourer but I am outraged with Malou’s article.

OFWS may have taken this lightly if 100% of it is true.

with my total of 6 flights to and from manila-dubai in one year;

1) I have never heard of anyone being yelled at for having overweight hand carries. In fact when you are bound for manila from Dubai, at the gate waiting area, DNata employees even offer to check-in overweight hand carries without any charge. Even with my previous flights going to US via Pal and Northwest, I have never heard anyone get yelled at for having an overweight hand carries.

2) If everyone with overweight hand carries were yelled at, Malou should have been yelled at too because her 17KG hand carry is way beyond the 7KG weight limit for hand carries.

3) With 3 round trips in a year(a total of 6 flights), I never saw a single busted Flat screen on any seat.

4) It is not true there is endless yelling. Its not even that noisy in economy seats. Malou, please buy noise cancelling earphones in case you haven’t heard of them. so that you don’t hear things which are noise to you but not noise to others. Maybe you are just so high up there that you get irritated by things which are normal to OFWs or even frequent flyers like myself.

5) I am surprised you only had a 9 hour flight to get to Athens. Manila-Dubai flight is about 9hours and Dubai-Greece is about 5-6 hours. One more fact that Malou has never been into an emirates flight at all.

I guess if Malou would have stayed with the facts and not over exaggerate facts just to get her intended readers to laugh, she would have saved herself from any trouble.

to : lester,

madaling magpatawad kung ang taong nakagawa ng kasalanan ay tunay ang paghingi nito. at kay ricardo lim aka malu fernandez aka ahmed cortez, umalis ka na dto sa blog kasi alam naman namin na pilit mong inilalayo ang isyu upang iligaw ang mga mambabasa. tuloy ang boycott sa manila standard at sa babaeng nakakasuka nang banggitin ang pangalan

one Saturday afternoon on my way to the San Francisco General Hospital, I was on a #9 MUNI Bus San Bruno, I was wearing a t-shirt with the words “CAVITE” and a map of Cavite, I bought from SM Bacoor, may sumakay na Manong, tanong sa akin: Pilipino ka ba? sagot ko, MAnong, kita nyo na ngang pango ako, tanong nyo pa, tapos tawanan kami ng malakas sa loob ng bus. and that started our conversation….

the next day nakasakay ko na naman si Manong, suot ko t-shirt, nakasulat “BAguio”
narecognize ako ni Manong, conversation kami uli buhay sa Pilipinas at buhay dito sa America

hI bAROK, Klakazzmomma,

I do not claim to be “more intelligent, above others”, but do you think that endless blaming me to be MF or todefend her personally, is very intelligent? I do not know MF, I did not even know she exist, until I read some of the bloodthirsty blogs here.
I only do not believe that “all around the world” OFWs complain about this article because I also know and have worked with OFWs in Europe but never I heard anyone mentioning that he or she reads Manila Standard. The more not OFWs in Middle East. Can anyone imagine that those OFWs that claim hardworking up to 18 hours, humiliation, being downgraded etc. etc., sit in their off-time at a PC and read Manila Standard onbline? Look at this blogs, how many OFW’s are there, even if reallyall bloggers would be OFWs?
One may like MF’s article or not, but it is a super arrogant manner to blow it up to n “all over the world” matter. How many of the 8 million OFWs have complained,ten percent, one percent which would be about 80000? Or just some few who like to create problems out of nothing?
In any case, there have been statements and bad words hurled at MF that are much more hurting than anything she might have wrote, because it was hurled at a certain person. Some are not just out of any good manner but already violating laws, therefore those bloggers should not blame MF and at the same time be much more questionable than she.
And to theIT Analyst who proudly earns 70000 Dollars, even at Emirates, at least at Economy Class, you must have been very lucky if they checked-in overweight luggage for free. And even Emirates has good planes, there can be monitors or earphone connections that are not working, it happens at any airline. Maybe, as high earner, you anyway fly at least Business Class.
And lastly, read the today report “TESDA: Filipino sailors smell better than others”. What if now “all over the world” non-RP sailors would complain about hurting their feelings, downputting them,even racism?

copied from The Inquirer.

Filipino seamen smell better than others–TESDA

By Margaux Ortiz
Inquirer
Last updated 10:48pm (Mla time) 09/07/2007

MANILA, Philippines — The Filipinos’ love of baths has been advantageous to the country’s seafarers in terms of employment opportunities, according to a top official of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

“Filipinos are recognized for their exceptional hygiene and personal grooming,” Roger Peyuan, TESDA deputy director general for field operations, said in a press conference at the Department of Labor and Employment on Friday.

Peyuan added: “This practice of ours has not escaped shipping companies who appreciate nice-smelling employees.”

He quipped that Filipinos were well-known for their cleanliness, “in contrast to other nationalities who do not prioritize everyday personal hygiene.”

Peyuan also said that aside from their good grasp of the English language, Filipino seafarers are sought after because of their humility and respectfulness.

“Filipino seafarers are also cool-headed and do not figure in many fights or brawls,” the TESDA official said.

Peyuan noted that since 1987, the Philippines has been the leading supplier of seafarers to the international market, making it “the manning capital of the world.”

He said almost 20 percent of the 1.23 million seafarers worldwide are Filipinos.

“However, despite this large number, not enough of our seamen are able to occupy the position of ship officers,” Peyuan said, adding that most of the country’s 300,000 seafarers lack the qualifications to be considered for higher positions.

The TESDA official said of the total number of Filipino seamen, only 60,000 are deck officers.

He stressed that Filipino seafarers should begin to improve themselves by taking up additional units in school while on vacation from their jobs.

“There are fewer and fewer foreigners interested in seafaring, especially in occupying the officer positions,” Peyuan said, attributing the trend to the rapidly aging population worldwide and growing interest in communication and technology as opposed to traditional occupations such as seafaring.

He also disclosed that 6,000 new ships would be plying the oceans by next year, increasing the demand for seafarers.

To Lester,

Why don’t you just stop patronizing Manila Standard and its sister magazines rather than venting your ire to other people who don’t agree with your own point of view? Such intolerance is sickening.

Fact of the matter is, most bloggers here are not regular readers of this broadsheet. I don’t waste my time reading this newspaper since I am already satisfied with what I read in Inquirer, Philippine Star, Malaya, Manila Bulletin , Manila Times all online. I consider these newspapers as mainstream I am sure, most bloggers read theirs online too which means the publishers don’t get hard cash from us. How can I join you in your call for a boycott when this newspaper is not in my regular reading fare?

Granting I am a regular paying customer, I wouldn’t boycott just because one of their writers happen to be Malu Fernandez. There are more important problems that OFWs should expend their efforts than this Malu thing.

To Ricardo Lim”:

Know what, everything could have been fine if Malou only relayed her “not so joyfulfeelings” based on FACTS.

Ask every person or OFW you know who had flew to and from Dubai or even to any part of the world, Do they know anyone who got YELLED at for having overweight hand carries? Her 17KG hand carry is not overweight? wherein the weight limit for hand carries is only 7KG? Endless yelling in the plane? Maybe she was dreaming! She arrived in Athens in just 9 hours? She must have been in an F16 jet not in Emirates coz Dubai to Manila alone takes about 9 hours. And Dubai to Greece about 5 hours more.

Alam nyo, kung maghahanap buhay na lang kayo, sana yung malinis. Hindi yung gagawa-gawa ng salita para lang may masulat. And Mr Ricardo, siguro kailangan mong bumyahe ng minsan para malaman mong puros gawagawa lang ni Malou mga sinasabi nya. O eh baka trabaho mo lang yang ginagawa mo? Maski alam mong mali ang client mo eh nipagtatanggol mo pa rin?

Diba dapat eh ang publisher or editor ng isang papel eh may pananagutan rin kapag gawa-gawa lang ang mga nilathala ng isa nilang manunulat?

Malou did not only exaggerate but made up things just to have something to write.

Mabuhay ka! Palagay ko, ikaw si Malou eh. I don’t think anyone would like to be associated with Malou at this time.

Cheers!

…….”For re-reading Malu’s article, I would say that those who talk about “investigative journalism” are not even able to understand what is a column about a personal experience during a flight and real investigative journalism. Malu F. did not investigate the habits of OFW’s, she only relayed her not so joyfulfeelings. That those who annoyed her have been OFW’s is not her fault. As a passenger, no matter which flight class, one can expect that other pasengers behave like passengers, OFW’s or not. And to tell that, is anyone’s right.”

I suggest go to court. If you win you can already change that cheap concoction Malu smelled. Anyone can see the true picture of the Filipinos here and confirm the crab mentality. Everyone here is thirsty for blood without care that many innocent workers will go hungry. Why burn the whole house to rout a few rats?

To Mr. Ahmed Cortes,

Di pala issue sa inyo ito bakit kayo nakisawsaw yan tuloy pinuputakti rin kayo ng puna at sa palagay po namin matanda kayo sa amin dahil marshal law pa sabi ninyo andyan na kayo kaso kasagsagan ng laban kaya lumabas kayo ng bansa. How pity naman di niyo nakita ang pagbabago (pansamantala) at least ako andun ako ng mangyari yun at kasama ako ng mga milyong tao, people power! siguro nabasa na lang po ninyo. Kaya please dapat maging mabuti kayong halimbawa at wag panigan ang mali sabagay wala naman kami sa kalingkingan ninyong mga matatalino daw! Dahil di namin abot ang mga pananaw niyo at paninindigan ang manglait ng mga maliliit dahil above all superior kayo at tuldok lang kami at wala sa kalingkingan ninyo. Pero lahat naman tayo tuldok lang at tuldok din ang pupuntahan. Di ninyo gets ito dahil galing sa isang di intelihenteng tao na ni sa kalingkingan ninyo wala!

To Ricardo Lim,

Kung sa tingin mo di kami nakakaintindi at di abot ang mga paliwanag ninyo sa susunod wag kaming OFWs ang gawin ninyong katawa-tawa sa mga susulatin ninyo. Dahil kung talagang matatalino kayo (kasi ang bibigat ng mga English mo) talagang nagreresearch ka pa para ipakita sa amin na elitista ka rin, dyan ka na lang sa mga kauri mo makipalitan ng mga pananaw dahil di mo kami (OFWs) maiintindihan isa yung naiintindihan sa nakikisintimyento lang ok. Kaya please tigil na baka kasi makatanggap ka rin ng mga masasamang salita gaya ni MF at di mo rin magustuhan….kailangan natin pacifier at di magpapalaki ng gulo.

opied from The Inquirer
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=74422

VIEWPOINT
‘Age of migration alarm’

By Juan Mercado
Inquirer
Last updated 01:08am (Mla time) 07/03/2007

“While coasting on tourist visas, some seek foreigners to marry, preferably of similar national ancestry, so they can stay for good. Migrant money buoys the economy back home. Migrant departures split parents from children. And lofty talk of opportunity abroad mixes with accounts of false travel documents and sham marriages.”

Over eight million Filipinos today work in 162 countries. A number seek to marry foreign citizens, of Filipino ancestry, to get residence. Overseas Filipino workers’ (OFWs’) remittances topped $12 billion last year. And family abandonment cases are rising. So, the paragraph above is about the Philippines, right?

Wrong. This is an excerpt from a New York Times report on migration ripping West Africa’s Cape Verde. It also offers a glimpse of 200 million migrants worldwide recasting societies in a planet “where borders are closing.” An archipelago, like the Philippines, Cape Verde is Africa’s “Galapagos of migration,” writes Jason De Parle. Isolas de Galapagos (Islands of the Tortoises) are desolate Pacific islands, 600 miles west of Ecuador. British buccaneers in the 17th century used them as a base. But their plant and animal life enabled the naturalist Charles Darwin, in 1835, to shatter the old belief that “species remain immutable.” Galapagos showed that different species, over time, adapt to their environment.

Is the Philippines the “Galapagos of migration” in Asia? New York Times Magazine titled De Parle’s earlier cover story on Filipino OFWs: “A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves.” It tracked three generations of a Pasay City swimming pool cleaner’s family who became OFWs. “In no other sizeable country do remittances loom as large as 14 percent of national GDP… But no country ever broke free from penury just by remittances.”

Asians accounted for $53 billion of the $127 billion that migrants sent home in 2004. If one tacks on funds sent through “informal channels,” the total now probably exceeds $300 billion. That’s almost triple the world’s foreign aid budgets combined.

On average, the monthly OFW packet is $300, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) found. The money repairs run-down houses, buys subdivision plots, pays for medicine and tuition, etc. It also snaps up cell phones, fancy clothes and, in some instances, mistresses, karaokes and booze. “Sapagkat kami ay tao lamang.”

Nearly half of migrants from poor nations trudge to other poor nations, De Parle observes. Chinese shopkeepers chase markets on Cape Verde. As Zimbabwe crumbles from the Marcos-style governance of Robert Mugabe, it drives thousands next door.

For both “sending” and “receiving” nations, migration is front-burner issue. Immigration law reforms to cover 12 million illegals in the United States collapsed. Catholic priests from Poland flood into Ireland. British Broadcasting Corp. reports that last year, 3,200 out of 8,000 UK nurses flew to Australia, due to National Health Service budget cuts. Over 165,000 Malaysians cross the Johore bridge daily to jobs in Singapore. This is the “Age of Migration,” an academic says.

It’s also “the age of migration alarm,” De Parle notes. Even before Sept. 11, hurdles were growing, like the “3-S Strategy,” the ADB noted. Visas go only for “skilled workers for short-term employment in specific sectors.” Language skills are tested and visa processing is longer, costlier.

“European ships patrol African coasts to intercept human smugglers and new fences are planned along the Rio Grande between the US and Mexico,” he notes. “Countries that want migrant muscle and brains also want more border control … and fear bonfires of religious and cultural conflict.”

More migrants today are women. Marlou Schrover of Leiden University notes that in migration history, men, as well as the poor, the desperate and the exceptional attracted more attention than other migrants. And the “death of distance” due to the jet, Internet, telephone, etc. made cultural differences smaller.

The desire to experience migration’s economic rewards is “imploding.” That stokes the frustration of people desperate to migrate but who cannot. “What characterizes the world today is also the feeling of involuntary immobility,” says Dr. R. Carling of Oslo’s International Peace Research Institute.

Migration supplies rich economies with brawn and brains of migrants. Remittances feed and shelter the poor, underscoring family devotion. But the constant emphasis on departures also strains family bonds and erodes marriages. It increases inequalities between migrants and those who can’t leave.

A country that can’t hold its best and brightest compromises its future. Such countries find they must reinvent themselves as nations beyond borders. Migration drains the Philippines of essential skills, the ADB cautions. And spoon-feeding individuals or governments put off tough reforms.

“Relying on remittances — and the prospect of going abroad one day — can alienate,” De Parle notes. That alienation finds its expression in song. In Cape Verde, the song “Sodade” conveys “longing, longing, longing for my island.” And De Parle remembers Filipino OFWs in Dubai belting out, “It’s So Painful, Big Brother Eddie,” a 1980s Tagalog song “that immortalizes every Filipino migrant’s fears.” Since we never got our act, at home, together.

To Honorable Ricardo Lim

What legal trouble you are talking about. Are you a nutso? This (legal) trouble started when this pig-headed swine wrote some derogatory remarks about us. In the west, it is (something like) a racist remark(s) which has legal implications, of course. Now Mr. Lim, since you and your protagonist are just a by-product of a “Third World” one-celled maggot that is why it is very hard for you to distinguish what is legal and illegal, a xenophobic or not. The word “pig” can be translated into “greedy, dirty, comtemptible or unpleasant person. That’s what we see in her or even worse. The common adage “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” may sound legal for you? Just asking. Please move on Mr. Lim. In the west a pig has become a household pet, even though they are stinky, are of course pampered with high-end perfume like Jo Malone not the AXE and Charlie cologne we are using. Have some doubts? Please inqure my friend. Her name is Paris Hilton.

Mr. Lim

These politicians and businessmen will never ever resign because they don’t never ever know and understand the word “delicadeza”. They can’t find it in their Political and Business Vocabulary 2007 edition. The same thing happens to Lola MAL-edUcada Pignandez if she voluntarily resigns at the Manila SUB-standard Today because she can’t afford to buy those pricey makeup (is that 17 kgs) and the Adidas all-terrain from China at the sidewalks of Quiapo. She even forgot to mention the brand of her cellphone and sunglasses. Poor lady!!! Here in Jeddah you’re not “IN” if your Nokia is not better than N73. Now Mr. Lim, or whoever you are, (Do your really exist?) do you know why we are here and what makes our ego bloated?

copied from The Inquirer. I am adding these positive news

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view_article.php?article_id=87450

‘Lumad’ kids get help in schooling

By Aquiles Zonio
Mindanao Bureau
Last updated 09:48pm (Mla time) 09/08/2007

POVERTY AND ambition inspired a 24-year-old T’boli youth to enroll in Grade 1 last June.

His family owns several hectares of farm in the hinterland village of Kamaas, but this has not helped improve their living condition.

Tom Balatac, single and a T’boli, finally realized that only education can break their lingering poverty.

“Life is so hard when you are poor,” Balatac admitted. The third in a brood of seven, Tom dreams of becoming a lawyer someday. The other Balatac siblings are just high school graduates.

He doesn’t mind walking almost an hour daily from his home to Kipalkuda Elementary School in Barangay New La Union just to attend classes.

Three years ago, the school only had 90 students. But the school population posted a 220 percent increase to 349 this year due to the school feeding program that was started by an American missionary and his T’boli wife.

Daniel Lee Evans, a retired bank executive in San Francisco, California, USA, and his wife Aurea Desaville set up the Datu Wali Mission Foundation (DWMF) several years ago.

The mission’s main goal is to help poor yet deserving tribal children avail of quality education.

The Evans put up a vegetable farm for the T’boli pupils’ free lunch.

The former bank executive noted that the tribal pupils would go to school in the morning without breakfast. They have to walk four hours each way from their mountain villages daily “crossing forest, including seven rivers and streams” before finally reaching the school, wet and cold.

At lunch time, almost all the students begin the long, rigorous trek back home as they have no “baon (food pack).” This has resulted to absenteeism on the part of the students and demoralization on the part of teachers.

Classrooms were virtually empty during afternoon class sessions.

Through the school feeding program initiated by the Evans, the situation has changed.

Daniel, 54, believes education breaks the cycle of poverty.

The couple has led the program with the parents and teachers to provide lunch for schoolchildren during school days.

Parents alternately do the cooking to keep their children in school.

The foundation provides rice, clothing and transportation. Its truck, which the kids call their “school bus,” transports the students from home to school and vice versa every day.

“It’s amazing because, while the province has to extend the enrollment of some schools to get more enrollees, our school has more than doubled its population,” Evans said.

“We can’t help a lot of people, but, by coming to school, I hope that one day, some of our children will decide to come back as professionals and help their own people, and that’s when we know we have succeeded,” he said.

The couple bared there’s still a lot more to do to improve the condition and academic performance of Kipalkuda Elementary School.

This is the reason they are reaching out to the community and some friends in the US for help.

“Our challenge now is providing these children with more chairs and a place (classrooms) to study,” Evans said.

The provincial and municipal governments donated school supplies and used clothing. Mayor Elsie Perret claimed that the municipal government has been sourcing out funds to help the school provide quality education to the tribal students.

It has delivered 16 additional desks but these were not enough.

Here, it’s still a common sight to see four pupils sharing seats in one desk.

Two of Kipalkuda’s dilapidated buildings need repair and only four teachers are serving the 349 students from Grade 1 to 6.

Perret said she had already asked the Department of Education to assign additional teachers in Kipalkuda.

Despite all these, the mayor claimed that the school is one of the three top performing schools in Maitum.

Teacher in charge Aurora Mirayo, also a T’boli, managed to convince the children to go to school.

“Sabi ko walang mayaman dito sa inyo. Lahat mahirap. Ang tanging solusyon diyan ay pag-aaral. Kailangan mag-aral kayo. Walang bata o matanda sa pag-aaral hangga’t gusto n’yong matuto (I tell them there are no rich among them, all are poor. The only solution is education. They need to study. There is no young or old in studies, as long as they want to learn),” Mirayo said.

Correction:

My last post was in reply to Dennis and not Lester. My apologies to Lester.

Malu should have been more sensitive. I guess I would not send my daughter to the school she came from, Assumption ba? I travel almost every week on the HKG-MNL-HKG route, obviously I encounter noisy pax, but not necessarily from the Philippines. Recently, beside me were Two Blokes who wouldn’t stop their chats and boisterous laughter. I don’t have any inkling as to what Malu was thinking, but only to surmice that she wrote the rubbish article to gain prominence but at the expense of the suppressed OFW’s who are not able to express their joy except when they are out of their place of work. Malu, you are one stinking piece of rubbish! Now go a clean yourself. Use CD, Addict, Poison, Sensei, First among others! Shame on you!

Ah but let us not forget WHO popularized the insult towards OFWs by calling them “Toilet Bowl Cleaners of the World!”

To Rose:
Freedom of speech does not mean being “tactless” and “rude”.

Malu Fernandez = Don Imus… NOT!

Don Imus is a White who said something derogatory pertaining particularly to Black Americans.

Malu Fernandez is a Filipino who was bashing fellow Filipinos. She is worse.

The sad truth becomes apparent: Filipinos degrade fellow Filipinos. She is no different from wannabe politicians who claim failure on our health system on the doctors and nurses and not on poverty-level wages which the government and private hospitals would like to pay us.

If she had any Delicadeza she should have resigned from her daily and work elsewhere as her credibility is shot.

>>Don Imus is a White who said something derogatory pertaining particularly to Black Americans.

Malu Fernandez is a Filipino who was bashing fellow Filipinos. She is worse.

Malu and the Manila Standard are easy targets for the braveheart bloggers of da Pilipins.

But try taking onsome folks your own size or bigger.

hayy talaga nmn tsk tsk… Guys, I think we just have to ignore ricky reyes-lim and the other one. They say, they just agree with malu to say whatever she had to say since it is the essense daw of freedom of speech or maybe, just maybe there is a hidden agenda… they want the same fame, malu fernandez is getting now… hmmm.. pathetic, right?
I think God sent me into my private hell..just giving them some of my precious time and writing about them. Whew!

I m just copying malu, it is my right
to say they’re both pathetic, right?
WTF!! ok let us just ignore them

Whew! Ang haba na nito…that only means malalim ang sugat na iniwan ni Malu F. It’s like rubbing salt to a gaping wound siguro, not just to the psyche of the OFW (that as per Mr. Lim has no capacity nor luxury to spend time in front of the computer) but to the whole Filipino community.

Kahapon I read a back issue of People Asia (Nov2006) at Figaro and found an Malu’s column there. Her epiphanies there said that the upper crust of society including herself, may be living in a bubble. They have very limited space and they get easily bored. So one night she ventured into a pang-masa restobar and danced the night away. She said she enjoyed the newfound freedom but got turned off by “saboree” and “prendship” language plus the fact that a guy asked her if what she was drinking was milk. She was amused that he doesn’t know Baileys.

Thank God Malu’s other superficial and pretentious articles were confined in the expensive magazine, otherwise she would have caused others to go berserk and wring her dry long before the on-line article came out.

Haaaay… some people are just downright rude, overbearing brats who are so inconsiderate of others just because they have been slathered at home (most likely) with excessive praise and assurances. Their world revolved on themselves and their insecurities. Parang planeta sa laki ng ego.

Sana lang maging kagaya sa ibang nuknukan ng yaman na basta sa harap ng publiko, mayroon social graces and breeding at itago sa confines ng bahay at friends ang totoong kabastusan para di umani ng ganitong klaseng delubyo.

Sana lang.

Let me just commend Lorena for bringing good news to this forum

salamat Frederick, Mabuhay ang lahat ng mga Pilipino, OFW, Fil-Ams, seamen, Japayuki, nannies, basta para sa akin lahat sila mabubuting mamamayan ng Pilipinas,

i’ve sent it twice and is not posted

case against Don Imus dropped

the lady basketball player opted to MOVE ON, be productive and be the bigger person

Rutgers player withdraws Imus lawsuit
Updated 2h 12m ago | Comments 7 | Recommend 2 E-mail | Save | Print |

Enlarge Reuters file photo by Chip East

Don Imus won’t be facing a slander lawsuit from Rutgers University women’s basketball player Kia Vaughn.

Share this story: Digg del.icio.us Newsvine Reddit Facebook What’s this? NEW YORK (AP) — A Rutgers University basketball player on Tuesday withdrew a slander and defamation lawsuit she had filed against Don Imus and CBS Radio, among others, after the shock jock called the team “nappy headed hos.”
Kia Vaughn had contended in the lawsuit filed in August in New York state Supreme Court that the comments made by Imus had damaged her reputation. The lawsuit also named various media outlets that broadcast Imus’ show.

Marti McKenzie, a spokeswoman for Vaughn’s attorney, Richard Ancowitz, said in a statement that Vaughn had chosen to focus on her education at New Jersey’s Rutgers University as a journalism major and as an athlete with the basketball team.

“Her strong commitments to both have influenced her decision to withdraw the lawsuit at this time,” the statement said.

A lawyer for Imus, Martin Garbus, said his client had paid no money to Vaughn. CBS Radio did not immediately return a message requesting comment

Ricardo Lim/MaluF,

Your argument of numbers is immaterial here, whether 1% of OFWs complain or not. The fact is she wrote something derogatory, with bigotry to a certain sector of our society. It only shows you don’t care what ever she says because it doesn’t affect you. You said you worked with OFW, then what are you? You still hasn’t answered the meaning of OFW? For me it doesn’t whether you or Malu are different person, all I can see is the Malu in you… http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/9149/malamalu1ox9.jpg

and this is just simply what we call “games of the generals”

This is about the Philippine government’s ban (also called partial ban) on new OFWs to Nigeria.

The premise of the ban is that Nigeria is very unstable and stands side-by-side with Iraq and Afghanistan in terms of security risks. Their basis was the previous spate of kidnappings in the oil region of Nigeria which involved Filipino workers.

Yes, we agree that the government should ensure the safety of OFWs wherever they maybe found. To put a ban on countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda maybe justifiable. To put Nigeria on the same list is an ‘over-reaction’.

What is it in Nigeria that deserves this ban?

Nigeria is the largest and the richest of the West African countries. It’s primary source of wealth is now petroleum.

Oil is mostly found in the Niger Delta or the South-South of Nigeria. It is in this area that most Filipinos are found since majority of oil companies and support companies hire Filipinos.

That is why whenever there is a kidnapping, most likely Filipinos will be involved. But then, so are other nationals.

British, Americans, Italians, Chinese, Koreans and Lebanese have their share of being the object of kidnapping. The kidnapping has become a routine — kidnap-ransom-release — since the kidnappers are disgruntled citizens of the areas.

I work and live in Lagos. By far, Lagos is relatively peaceful. In fact, i can freely walk along the streets with my cellphone glued to my ear without fear of snatching. I surely won’t do that in the streets of Manila.

Is Nigeria really a dangerous country to work with?

I dare to say No. Like any other Third World countries - like the Philippines - it has its own share of crimes. But not as bad (or out-of-control) as Iraq.

Are these kidnappings in oil areas a mirror of the entire state of security in Nigeria?
No. outside of those oil regions, situation is generally peaceful and life is basically laidback.

As mentioned, foreign nationals have been kidnapped also (and some got killed) but their countries never slapped a ban on Nigeria, other than a travel advisory warning.

Home front

Looking at the Philippine security situation, it ‘maybe’ assumed that with the trouble in Jolo/Sulu, the entire Southern Philippines is unsafe for travel for expats. With the regularity and casuality of snatching and PUJ and bank robberies, Metro Manila is a very unsafe place to live.

Now, if the government disagree to that assumption, then it is safe to say the ban on Nigeria on the basis of kidnapping issue in oil areas is no longer tenable.

Heroes of the new millenium?

The ban on Nigeria is like a sentencing the applying OFWs to an indefinite life of hardship in the Philippines. Here is one country (Nigeria) gracious and willing to hire OFWs - -the heroes of the new millenium – and then here comes the Philippine government preventing the new OFWs their chance to help themselves and the economy.

The continued ban on new hires in Nigeria is a testament of the government’s seeming inability to make a consistent decision on the OFWs deployment. The government is more pre-occupied with politicking than in the realities of our nation’s economy.

Rather than coordinating with the Nigerian government for the protection of OFWs, the Philippine government sees it as more convenient to just declare a ban so that it will not find itself to blame if an OFW – legal or illegal - is put at risk.

If someday, 20 Filipinos get kidnap in Saudi, I doubt if the government will ever slap a ban against Saudi.

Kelu Shele

As they say here in Nigeria – “kelu shele?” — What’s happening? Well, nothing’s happening. Sorry for the New Hire (NH) to Nigeria.

I suggest New Hire to Nigeria still stranded in Manila write mail to their Congressmen or to some Senators to review this Nigeria ban.

ang pagbalik muli ni malu fernandez sa MST ay patunay lamang na pakitang tao at hindi sinsero ang paghingi niya ng paumanhin sa mga nasaktan nya - ang mga OFW’s. it’s just like adding insult to injury, plain and simple. siguro ang nasa isip niya at ng MST publishers ay madaling lilipas ang isyung ito. kung kaya makalipas lamang ang ilang araw hayun balik na naman siya sa kanyang column sa nasabing pahayagan.

at ang nakakalungkot pa nito ay maraming hindi makatanggap na ang mga OFW’s ay marunong ding masaktan o kaya magpahayag ng kanilang niloloob. ganoon na ba tayo kamanhid o kabobo sa paningin ng mga elitista, kuno? kung kaya ganon na lang kamangha ang mga kaalyado ni malu ng ang mga ofws ay magumpisang magreact. bakit, sino ba ang nagpasimula nito?

freedom of expression daw ang ginawa ni malu. ok fine, but at the expense of whom? do we not equally have that same freedom to express our views as well? Is she and her cohorts didn’t understand, that in every action there’s always an equivalent reaction directed against it?

not only that. some people can’t even believe their eyes that OFW’s knows how to blog - thinking that all of us here are just the toilet scrubbers they know about for long. they failed to realize that we are a group of people from the cross section of Philippine society - journalists, security experts, seamen, construction workers, domestic helpers (a number are qualified teachers and professionals that could not find decent employment at home), nurses, engineers, doctors, lawyers,etc and quite a number of them are well-respected in their chosen field and at par with the best of the world.

then how can somebody like the stature of MF (na napagkamalang DH - in fairness to my DH kababayans, na mas mukhang sosyal pa sa itsura nya, i swear) willfully malign and mock at these people? forget about the billions of dollars we’re sending home that pump prime the country’s economy and the unsolicited tag “new heroes”.

mind you, she even fantasizes herself as Diva! Pambihira ka naman Aling Malu di ka ba kinikilabutan sa itsura mong yan - DI BA? At ang lakas ng loob mong mangutya sa kapwa mo Pinoy - manalamin ka nga! To tell you no amount of jo malone nor those thick expensive make-ups could conceal that piggish look.

Meanwhile, let me join you mga kababayan in BOYCOTTING MANILA STANDARD TODAY AND ITS ADVERTISERS. BOYCOTT ALL ARTICLES OF MALU FERNANDEZ!!!!

MANILA, Philippines - Let me read an excerpt from the Philippine Independence movement of the 1890s,” said Felice P. Sta. Maria, Unesco commission chair for the social and human sciences. The passage shows why Filipinos wanted to manage their future themselves. Translated into English, the excerpt reads:

“The fruits of the struggle are the following:
“Lessened is the arrogance of the educated,
“Lessened is the cruelty of the strong,
“Lessened will be the ignorant,
“And increased is the beautiful radiance of the world
“Because the minds of the majority are open.”

“We were to lead a life of—and I use the words of Katipunan leader Andres Bonifacio—katwiran (reason and truth) in order to protect kalayaan (freedom), so that all our people might enjoy buong kaginhawaan (full contentment),” Sta. Maria continued. “Not just material contentment but full, responsible human development, a complete celebration of being. As promoted by Unesco, education similarly advocates goal-oriented literacy to lift people out of poverty and to help maximize civilization.”

sana yong mga nakatapos ng mataas na antas sa pag-aaral ay gamitin sa wasto at mabuting paraan ang kanilang mga napag-aralan para makatulong sa mga kababayan natin, imbes na pulaan ang mga nagsusumikap na makaahon sa kahirapan. salamat sa mga opinyon na nabasa ko dito sa at nabuksan ang aking isipan at marami akong natutunan

the comment posted below was copied from The Inquirer, I did not paste the whole item, but the first paragraph is very meaningful to us all

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=goodLife2_sept17_2007

Apparently… our favourite (note the sarcasm) self proclaimed “fashionista” and “socialite” is back.

And her “resignation” from the Manila Standard was just a farce to appease the mobs…

bleh!

PASINTABI PO AT IKA-CAPS KO LANG PARA MAGMUKHANG BASTOS DIN KATULAD NG BABAENG ITO. MGA KABABAYAN PAGPASENSYAHAN NA NATIN ANG BABAENG ITO (MALU FERNANDEZ) DAHIL LIKAS LANG SIGURONG BASTOS ITO AT SUPERFICIAL. DAGDAG MO NA RIN ANG TRIVIAL NA SALITA DAHIL ANG ALAM LANG YATA NITO NA IKINO-KONSIDERA NYANG PAMANTAYAN NG MAY-PINAG-ARALAN AY KUNG MAY ALAM KA SA MGA SOCIAL TRIVIALITIES KATULAD SA KUNG ALAM MO BA ANG “BAILEYS” O NAKATIKIM KA NA BA NITO. SA TINGIN KO NI HINDI NGA ALAM NG BABAENG ITO MAGMANIPULATE NG PARTIAL FRACTIONS AT HINDI RIN ATA MARUNONG MAG-INTEGRATE AT DIFFERENTIATE O SA MADALING SABI AY NAKAKAINTINDI NG CALCULUS. ANG PUNTO KO LANG NAMAN SA MALIIT NA PAGYAYABANG NA ITO KUMPARA SA MALAKING PAGYAYABANG NYA AY…HINDI LAHAT NG OFW AY PWEDE NYANG I-CATEGORIZE AS “PEOPLE WHO HAVEN’T READ ANYTHING THICKER THAN A MAGAZINE”. BASTOS KA LANG TALAGA MS. MALU AT MASYADONG TRIVIAL ANG IKINOKONSIDERA MONG ALAM MO. GODBLESS NGA PALA SA IYO. SANA LANG KUNG MAAARI AY HUWAG IPAHINTULOT NG DIYOS NA DUMAMI ANG TAONG KATULAD MO NA WALANG ALAM KUNDI MGA SOCIAL TRIVIALITIES.