Tag: Philippines

SEAF Rejects Pillippines Appeal For Gender Testing On Indonesian Female Volleyball Player

The SEA Games Federation (SEAF) medical committee has rejected an appeal by the Philippines to subject Indonesian volleyball player Aprilia Santini Manganang to a gender verification test.

On Tuesday (June 9) Philippines coach Roger Goyareb said Manganang’s power on the court was “like putting a male in the female division”, prompting his country’s contingent to lodge an official protest.

However, medical documents provided by Indonesia have proven sufficient for SEAF doctors to allow the 23-year-old to continue playing.

A statement from the Singapore Southeast Asian Games Organising Committee (Singsoc) read: “Singsoc has been informed by the South East Asian Games Federation (SEAF) Medical committee that they have reviewed the documents submitted by the Indonesian volleyball team and that the appeal has since been rejected.

“Singsoc also understands that Mr Shanrit Wongprasert, Technical Delegate for the volleyball team has been informed and has agreed to the decision.

“Both teams from Indonesia and the Philippines have been informed.”

The controversy appeared to have no effect on Indonesia’s volleyball players, as they notched a straight-set 25-22, 25-20, 25-14 victory over the Philippines in the Pool B volleyball match on Wednesday afternoon (June 10) at the OCBC Arena.

Source: www.tnp.sg

June 11, 2015
Filipinos Are United And Hungry For Jobs In Singapore

As the saying goes, “The hunger of a worker makes him work. His hunger drives him on.”

A post (‘PROOF THAT PAP ALLOWS FOREIGNERS TO SNATCH PMET JOBS!‘) on allsingaporestuff.com has revealed that Filipinos are united and hungry for jobs.

Apparently, a blog site called “Singapore OFW” was set up not too long ago this year. It has a corresponding Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/theSingaporeOFW.

The site helps to gather job information posted by some prominent companies in Singapore in one place so that Filipinos can easily search for job vacancies in Singapore.

This is what its home page says:

Here are the top 5 reasons why Pinoys go to Singapore for work:

1. Easier to apply
With the fast pace environment we currently face, technology is a helpful tool that makes our lives easier. Nowadays, many employers post job openings through their website or any job sites. This way, job seekers can readily upload resumes while employers can screen applicants through their submitted curriculum vitae. This is a great method of pre-screening potential hires.

Once selected, employers will directly contact the applicant for scheduled interviews. Singapore also just needs a few basic employment requirements, such as transcript of records, NBI clearance, certificate of employment, NSO birth certificate, and a Philippine passport. You sure have all these, right?

2. Better job opportunities and career growth
Singapore has numerous jobs offered to expats not only focusing on the corporate world. From finance and accounting to administration and human resource management, Filipinos possess the necessary qualifications and are highly skilled. In the medical field, a growing number of nurses and caregivers are needed in the hospitals. IT professionals such as web or mobile app developers are also in demand in Singapore. The hotel and restaurant industry never ceases its expanding multinational business. Filipinos are competitive enough to work here so, when opportunity knocks, grab that chance!

3. Location is just near the Philippines
Yes, it just takes an hour or two to get to Singapore, and Filipinos find this very convenient. During holidays or days-off, some would just easily book a ticket, fly to the Philippines and get back to Singapore for the working days again. Airlines are also offering low fares, so traveling is so quick that homesickness is minimized. As an OFW in Singapore, you do not need to miss your sibling’s graduation or your mother’s birthday, just because you work abroad.

4. Place is beautiful, clean and safe
You may be working all day long but at the end of the day, you will feel relaxed because the environment is simply amazing. During your free time, you can spend time wandering in the famous Universal Studios, Gardens by the Bay and many others. After all, you still need to preserve the work-life balance.

Cleanliness is also of utmost importance in Singapore. They are strict in implementing rules regarding littering, smoking, and others. Lesser crime rates are also reported in Singapore because not only are their people disciplined, but the government is serious of implementing its laws. How wonderful to work in a safe surroundings, isn’t it?

5. Good salary, benefits and privileges
Compared to other Asian countries, Singapore is one of the many that offers a competitive salary package. What’s more catching here is the fact that same privileges are also given to foreign workers. As a starter, you need to undergo probationary period lasting 3 to 6 months, similar with the Philippines. As years go by, you may even apply for citizenship following their requirements and regulations. Great opportunity, right?

On its Facebook page, allsingaporestuff.com goes through all the job postings in May 2015 made by prominent Singapore companies and organises them:

Clicking on a link on the website enables pinoy job seekers to see a list of jobs offered by that company. For example, clicking on the Singtel link enables one to see the following:

Singtel is hiring this month! Here are the job vacancies below:

Job Title: IT Project Associate – 12 months – Consumer Sales
Consumer Singapore | Contract | Singapore
APPLY HERE

Job Title: Manager, Regulatory
Group Corporate Functions | Permanent | Singapore
APPLY HERE

Job Title: Finance Manager
Group Corporate Functions | Permanent | Singapore
APPLY HERE

Clicking the “APPLY HERE” link takes the job seeker directly to the company’s job page.

In the comment section of allsingaporestuff.com. com’s Facebook page, one can literally see hundreds of follow-up comments with multiple tags, informing friends and relatives of the availability of jobs:

It can be seen that Filipinos are truly united, trying to help each other to get a high-paying job in Singapore for a better life.

The Singaporean who alerted everyone about “Singapore OFW” on allsingaporestuff.com asked, “When PAP say foreigners are here to create jobs for us or they are here to do the jobs Singaporeans don’t want to do, are you sure that’s the truth?”

One can’t exactly blame the Filipinos for trying to land a good job in Singapore so as to secure a better life for themselves and their families.

Whether Filipinos getting jobs in Singapore can help create more jobs for Singaporeans is a question that Singaporeans have a right to ask the Singapore government.

Assuming all the jobs in the links above go to Filipinos, do you think it will somehow benefit Singapore by creating more jobs for Singaporeans in turn?

What do you think?

Source: www.tremeritus.com

May 26, 2015
“Singapura: The Musical” Is A Cringe-Worthy Attempt At Encapsulating Singapore Culture

Though most Singaporeans are still uncertain about what constitutes our identity, we can immediately call out what a Singaporean identity is not.

At the Gala Premiere of Singapura: The Musical on 23 May at theCapitol Theatre, many Singaporeans found themselves cringing at Philippine company 4th Wall Theatre Co. in their attempts to understand Singapore culture, including their attempts to speak Singlish.

Despite expected extensive preparations and rehearsals, the cast of Singapura: The Musical were still unconvincing in their Singlish words and accent on stage, still very much laced with their own Filipino articulation of words. This attempt to be Singaporean by a Filipino company would have been entirely awful, if not for their saving grace of having accurate costumes and props that well represented pre-independence Singapore visually.

Throughout the musical, it just felt like they were trying to recreate Miss Saigon and Les Misérables while squeezing so much in, at the expense of character and plot development. We expected a lot more when they said during the press conference that they were using Singapore history just as a backdrop for people’s life stories, but the whole plot (or lack thereof) just fell short.

Peace threatened by chaos, check. Disobedient daughter who doubles as an excuse for feminist girl power heroine, check. Asian woman getting into a relationship with Caucasian soldier against the wishes of everyone around her, check x 2. Said Asian-Caucasian couple becoming estranged, check x 2; one of the white men dies in duty, the other gets sent to the same assignment as the previous man.

Sad Asian sidekick man having his affections repeatedly ignored until the end when Caucasian man gets sent to north Borneo and then the story ends and we see sad Asian sidekick man holding hands with the girl, check.

The strangest part was when the heroine’s mother dies, and suddenly we seeLee Kuan Yew’s world-famous crying scene at the backdrop. It was so random and it felt like they were trying to squeeze a metaphor out, as the sad Asian sidekick does repeatedly throughout the musical (heroine even gets blatantly compared to Singapore but the link was so tenuous).

However, despite arguable visual and cultural-interpretative letdowns, the musical numbers in Singapura: The Musical were undeniably lovely. Composed by Ed Gatchalian, songs like “Another Day in Singapore“, “At The Kopitiam“, “Be With Me” and “Tomorrow Begins Today” will leave audiences humming its tunes while leaving the theatre. Catchy and emotional, the original scores and talented vocals from the cast effortlessly stole our hearts.

Overall, we still applaud the efforts made by 4th Wall in this production. It definitely is not easy to encapsulate so much of Singapore’s culture and history in just one show. Unfortunately, we do not give gold stars for effort, for the reality is that the quality of a theatre production is judged in the end product – where Singapura: The Musical fell short.

–
All Photos: Singapura: The Musical

Dates: 23 May through 7 June 2015
Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes (with 15-minute intermission)
Venue: Capitol Theatre
Tickets: singapurathemusical.eventclique.com

Source: http://popspoken.com

May 26, 2015
Filipino Ed Munsell Bello Ello Charged For Publishing Two Seditious Comments

The nurse who allegedly made anti-Singaporean comments on Facebook was charged on Tuesday with sedition and giving false information to the police.

Filipino Ed Mundsel Bello Ello, who was sacked by Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), faces two charges of publishing a seditious comment on his Facebook account and three of lying to the police.

The 28-year-old allegedly said Singaporeans are “loosers” (sic) and vowed to “evict” them from their country and prayed that “disators” (disasters) strike Singapore and then he would celebrate.

He ended by saying that “Pinoy better and stronger than Stinkaporeans” in his Jan 2 post.

He also allegedly commented in another post that evening that he would “kick out all Singaporeans and SG will be the new filipno state”.

The charges, under the Sedition Act, say the publications have the tendency to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between Singaporeans and Filipinos in Singapore.

Ello is accused of lying to the police at Chong Pang Neighbourhood Police Post the next day that he did not post the comments on Facebook.

On Jan 4, he is said to have lied to a senior officer at at Ang Mo Kio Police Division headquarters that he did not post those comments and that his Facebook account had been hacked.

The last charge accuses him of giving false information to the same officer on Jan 5.

Ello, who was not represented, told the court he would be engaging a lawyer.

Bail of $10,000 was offered and his passport has been impounded.

A pre-trial conference has been set for April 21.

If convicted, he could be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed for up to three years on each charge of sedition.

For lying to the police, he could be jailed for up to one year and/or fined up to $5,000 on each charge.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

April 7, 2015
Fighting Between Police And Muslim Rebel Groups in Philippines Results In Death Of At east 30

MANILA – At least 30 people were killed in heavy fighting between police and Muslim rebels in the Philippines on Sunday, military and local officials said, threatening a year-old peace agreement and shattering a ceasefire that held for three years.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest rebel group in the Philippine south, accepted an autonomy offer in March 2014 from the government, ending 45 years of conflict in which 120,000 people were killed and 2 million displaced.

Under the deal, brokered by Malaysia, the Moro rebels were to surrender their weapons and disband after the government had set up a new autonomous government in the south and granted the Muslim minority wider economic and political power.

But Sunday’s clashes, which lasted nearly 12 hours near Mamasapano town, Maguindanao, are likely to be a major setback in the implementation of the deal as Philippine Congress deliberates a new law on Muslim autonomy.

Army sources said police had entered a Muslim community where MILF and its rival faction, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, are believed to be operating. The Philippine National Police did not give any statement.

Zacaria Guma, a MILF commander, in a statement said the police did not coordinate with a joint government and rebel ceasefire panel.

Police had wanted to arrest Zulkifli bin Hir, a Malaysian bomb expert who has a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S. State Department, an army spokesman said.

Local officials in Mamasapano said 27 police officers and five rebels were killed. Seven more police officers were unaccounted for and a further eight captured by Muslim rebels.

The death toll could reach 50 people, most of them from the police, the army sources said. Colonel Restituto Padilla said no army unit was involved but they were helping recover police casualties in the area. Nine had been retrieved.

Government and rebel peace panels are now holding informal talks to defuse tension and prevent the incident from escalating and spilling out and threaten the entire peace process.

The last time the MILF clashed with security force was in November 2011 when troops raided a supposed Islamist militants lair. The peace talks with MILF nearly collapsed then.

Source: www.todayonline.com

January 26, 2015