FILIPINO WORKERS HOSPITAL SOON TO RISE IN PAMPANGA, PHILIPPINES

Job Fair and Groundbreaking of the First OFW Hospital in Pampanga Highlights DOLE's Labor Day Activities
By: Ver Garcia (Lifestyle Blogger) & Teddy Cho (Photo Journ)

Director Rolly Francia Head of the Department of Labor Media Affairs with Lifestyle Blogger Ver Garcia.

Job and business fair in 31 sites across the country will signal and earmark the nationwide observance of Labor Day this week as per directives of Labor Secretary Silvestre  Bello III in a Press conference held at OSEC Conference Room DOLE Bldg. in  Intramuros, Manila.


Labor Secretary Bello reiterated that among the activities of the May 1st groundbreaking festivities of the OFW  Hospital was to showcase the Duterte administration's grateful recognition of the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW's) and the Filipino workingmen as a whole.


The nearby soon-to-rise OFW hospital will be financed by the OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) benevolent donors,  administered by the DOH (Department of  Health). The property was donated by by the Provincial Government of Pampanga. During the groundbreaking ceremony OWWA will award livelihood packages worth P 20,000 each to One Hundred (100)  OFWs under OWWA's program on Balik Pinas, Balik Hanapbuhay.

  
The Bureau of Local Employment indicated that more than 1,500 employers joined, who will be bringing with them more than 200,000 local and overseas jobs in the massive Trabaho, Negosyo, Kabuhayan (TNK) and Build Build Build job fair and business caravan.

The centerpiece site for the combined TNK-BBB job and business fair is located at the Kingsborough International Convention Center (KICC), San Fernando Pampanga, where initially 150 employers, 130 locally based and 20 overseas placement agencies, will offer available jobs locally mostly in the Construction Industry under the government's Build Build Build program, while both skilled professionals and English teachers bound for Thailand are open for job placement.

DOLE's Director Dominique Tutay of the Bureau Local Employment.

The same site will hold simultaneous learning sessions on topics such as: The Philippine Qualifications Framework by the Department of  Education; How to start a Business conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Skills demonstration by Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). In addition, they will also raffle-off 100 training scholarships.

DOLE Sec Silvestre Bello III in an interview with the Media regarding the upcoming Labor Day Celebration.

In focus as well, the National Reintegration Center for OFWs and the Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns will give a livelihood seminar for prospecting job hunters, a Pre-employment orientation by Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) with PAG-IBIG Fund providing information on how to avail the benefits of the fund.

Other job and business fair sites are the following:

NCR: 
Ayala Mall South Park, Muntinlupa City
Vista Mall, Tuktukan, Taguig City
City Social Hall & Sports Complex Parañaque City

CAR:
Baguio City High School - Main Campus

REGION 1:
Magic Mall, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan
Robinsons Ilocos Norte Activity Center, San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte
Pangasinan PESO Compound, Lingayen, Pangasinan (Night Job Fair)

REGION 2:
Cagayan Coliseum, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan

REGION 3: 
Bulacan Capitol Gymnasium, Capitol Compound, Malolos City, Bulacan (April 30)
Waltermart, Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija
Municipal Covered Court, Igulot, Bocaue, Bulacan (May 2)

CALABARZON:
Pacific Mall, Lucena City, Quezon
Robinson's Mall, Tejero, City of Gen. Trias, Cavite (May 2)

MIMAROPA:
Bulwagang Panlalawigan, Provincial Capitol Complex, Camilmil, Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro
Puerto Princesa City, Palawan

REGION 5: 
Pacific Mall Legazpi, Legazpi City, Albay
Municipal Hall, Oas, Albay
Sangguniang Panlalawigan Session Hall and Vice Governor's Office, Capitol Bldg., Kalipay, Masbate City

REGION 6:
Robinsons Place - Jaro, Iloilo City

REGION 7: 
Trade Hall, SM City Cebu, Juan Luna Ave.,North Reclamation Area, Cebu City
Mandaue City Hall, Centro, Mandaue City, Cebu
Social Hall, Cebu Provincial Capitol
Main Atrium, Robinsons Place, Calindagan, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental

REGION 8: 
Tacloban Convention Center, Tacloban City
Ormoc City Superdome, Ormoc City

REGION 9:
KCC Mall de Zamboanga, Gov. Camins Road, Zamboanga City

REGION 10: 
The Atrium, Limketkai Mall, Cagayan de Oro City

REGION 11: 
Gaisano Mall of Davao City

REGION 12:
KCC Convention and Events Center, General Santos City

CARAGA: 
Balanghai Hotel, Doongan Road, Butuan City

(VerGarciaBlogs)  

DPWH QUICK RESPONSE TEAM WERE DEPLOYED TO ASSESS STRUCTURAL SAFETY OF NATIONAL ROADS AND BUILDINGS AFFECTED BY EARTHQUAKES

Villar: All National Roads and Bridges Affected by Earthquakes Now Accessible to the Public

Secretary Mark Villar of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark Villar announced that all national roads and bridges affected by earthquakes are now accessible to the public. 

“The DPWH Quick Response Teams were able to assess, fix, and open various roads, bridges, and other infrastructure that were damaged by the recent earthquakes in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao,” Mark Villar noted.

Villar noted that immediately after the tremors, DPWH Quick Response Teams with equipment were deployed to undertake structural assessment and ensure safety of national roads and public buildings in Regions III, IV-A, National Capital Region, Eastern Visayas, Surigao del Norte, Davao Occidental, and Davao Oriental.

“As early as Wednesday afternoon, we were able to repair and open Consuelo Bridge in Floridablanca, Pampanga to light vehicles. Assessments of other infrastructure are also being conducted in the entire Central Luzon,” said Secretary Villar.

DPWH has also opened the East Lateral Mega Dike in Bacolor and the Sasmuan-Lubao Road.

In Metro Manila, the section of UN Avenue, in front of Emilio Aguinaldo College is still cordoned off to one (1) lane to prevent possible impact to passing vehicles of the leaning building.

DPWH has also conducted inspection on 275 national bridges, flyovers, and viaducts, 452 school buildings, and 142 other public buildings in NCR, following the April 22 quake.

Based on the DPWH-NCR Report, three (3) out of the 275 bridges that were inspected have sustained minor defects namely: Guadalupe Bridge in Makati City with crack on girder; and the Tinejeros and Tanza Bridges in Malabon City with minor cracks at railings.

Guadalupe Bridge is already up for major retrofitting under DPWH Unified Project Management Office, while Tanza Bridge will undergo second stage of inspection. The minor damage on Tinejeros Bridge on the other hand does not require immediate repair, as railings do not carry load.

A total of 53 school buildings in Metro Manila have also sustained minor defects that are mostly cracks on walls, columns, beams, and ceiling, but three (3) school buildings were recommended for immediate structural evaluation.

According to Secretary Villar, DPWH is coordinating with the Department of Education (DepEd) for the restoration especially of structures with major damage.

“We are working closely with other national government agencies and stakeholders to ensure that our disaster preparedness, response, and rehabilitation programs are efficient,” said Secretary Villar.

Among others, Secretary Villar said the Department recently developed an Equipment Prepositioning and Mobilization Contingency Plan that will facilitate immediate and effective response in the event that the “The Big One” occurs in Mega Manila.

DPWH Regional and District Engineering Offices that deploy Quick Response Teams in times of calamities, also continue to build more evacuation centers nationwide, complete with necessary facilities that can help displaced families cope with calamities. (VerGarciaBlogs)

REHABILITATION OF MANILA BAY UPDATE:

DPWH Targets Full Cleanup of 1.5-km Manila Bay by July 

Two (2) units of multi-purpose amphibious dredge Watermaster Classic 5 will contribute to the Department of Public Works and Highways’ effort of completing by July 2019 the removal of debris, plastics, other solid wastes and dissolved solids or the so-called muck with some traces of sand from the 1.5-kilometer area of Manila Bay along Roxas Boulevard.

DPWH Undersecretary for Technical Services and Unified Project Management Office (UPMO) Operations Emil K. Sadain said that the deployment of two (2) units of  Watermaster Classic 5 with cutter suction that offers combination of mobility and heavy duty dredging capacity will further fast track “Sagip Manila Bay” clean-up works between the area of U.S Embassy to Manila Yacht Club in preparation for the upcoming rainy season.

“Improvements as a result of DPWH activities can now be seen but we will not relax and instead we beefed up our operating fleets of two (2) crawler mounted land based, four (4) amphibious excavators, debris segregators, and among others”, said Undersecretary Sadain during an inspection at the “Sagip Manila Bay” operation together with Bureau of Equipment (BOE) Director Noel Ilao and Assistant Director Amador Andrada, and Project Director Patrick B. Gatan of UPMO-Flood Control Management Cluster.

Secretary Mark A. Villar officially launched recently the DPWH desilting operations in Manila Bay by deploying a fleet of equipment composed of amphibious excavators, dumping scows, dump trucks, debris segregator, street sweepers, and vacuum sewer jet cleaners.

The operation at Manila Bay Area was divided by DPWH into five (5) sectors each ranging from 200 to 300-meter long, until the entire 1.5-kilometer is finished. 

It is estimated that to date, the total volume of removed muck and silt from 20 meters distance from shore to bay and thickness/depth of two (2) meters is at 18,000 cubic meters.

DPWH's Bureau of Equipment with the assistance of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), has also been continuously conducting water quality monitoring and bathymetric surveying of the desilting sites to monitor the progress.

The average amount of dissolved oxygen level which is one of the primary parameters under the DENR water quality guidelines of around 4.7mg/L prior to the cleanup activity has improved to the minimum dissolved oxygen level of 6mg/L necessary for sustaining aquatic life.

With cleaner water, Manila Bay will soon be fit again for swimming and other contact forms of recreation, added Undersecretary Sadain. (VerGarciaBlogs)

SM MEGAMALL IN THE PHILIPPINES.. VENUE FOR ESPORTS WORLD FEDERATION PRESS CONFERENCE By: Ver Garcia (Sports Blogger) and Teddy Cho (Photo Journalist)

PRESSCON AT SM MEGAMALL.. ESWF Pres. Arniel Gutierrez Introduces Guests, Partners & Sponsors of ESWF. The goal of ESPORTS WORLD FEDERATION (ESWF) is unifying Global eSports from the grassroots.. that includes schools, universities and out of school youth. As a Global phenomenon, eSports has become the most exciting, creative and most successful form of entertainment and competition in the Digital transformation age. Now, that it has been included in the 30th SEA Games.. proves its crowd drawing capacities. Mobile, PC and console formats are the comprehensive digital platform on eSports. Games that are to be featured by ESWF are as follows MOBILE LEGENDS, AOV (Arena of Valor), DOTA,  STARCRAFT, TEKKEN, Fated Retribution, League of Legends, Clashed Royale, Hearthstone, Heroes of Warcraft, Pro Evolution Soccer. OUR LIFE OUR TIME OUR GAME (ESWF).

     Sports is an activity involving physical exertion and skills in which an individual or team competes against one another or others for entertainment purposes. 

Sports activity encourages and inspires people from all walks of life to overcome challenges in their lives and when young people are introduce  early in sports their intellectual and physical prowess are enhanced. In order to overcome the daily challenges of stressful life experiences at home, school and in workplace, they engage in pastime or competition. Hence the lure to more lucrative digital competition or eSports. 

eSports although trivialized and criticized by some sectors has established it's grassroots level connection permanently. That's why Schools, Universities and LGU's are the indispensable partner in the propagation of eSports. Sports events and activities will be digitalized in the future, especially when Olympic formats 

are adopted to regulate eSports.

There are however, systems design, that might create exclusivity and inclusivity. For example, persons with disabilities(PWD) or special abilities, left handed people and different age groups which includes the out-of-school youths. Ethics, the complexities of the cybercrime laws, tricky issues of the intellectual property rights and the Artificial Intelligence (AI) are just some of the potential hot spots in the digital realm.

The goal of ESPORTS WORLD FEDERATION (ESWF) is unifying Global eSports from the grassroots. As a Global phenomenon, eSports has become the most exciting, creative and most successful form of entertainment and competition in the Digital transformation age. Now, that it has been included in the 30th SEA Games proves it's crowd drawing capacities. Mobile, PC and console formats are the comprehensive digital platform on eSports.

Esports  strategically partnered with Philippines Collegiate Champion League (PCCL), Philippine Inter Schools, Colleges and Universities Athletic Association (PISCUAA), these are local government schools with capabilities to train students. 

Among its international partners were : FIM Asia ( also known formerly as Asian Motorcycle Union ) with 28 nations in its wings, FIM Asia Esports Commission as recognized by ESWF and a member of Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF); Timezone Philippines, the country's leading family entertainment  center (FEC) with 50 branches nationwide, which is based in Australia owned and operated by The Entertainment and Education Group (TEEG).

Vivian Yap of ASAP Properties as one of the sponsor giving away some of the prizes.

International Federation of Esports and Healthcare Professionals, Americas E-sports Federation Organization, Europe Esports Federation (registered in Bulgaria), Organization  Africas  Esports Federation(registered in Nigeria) as of now are applying for alliance with ESWF.

Games that are to be featured by ESWF are as follows:

1.) MOBILE LEGENDS  2.) AOV, Arena of Valor  3.) DOTA 2  4.) STARCRAFT  5.) TEKKEN 6.) Fated Retribution  7.) League of Legends  8.) Clashed Royale 9.) Hearthstone, 10.) Heroes of Warcraft  11.) Pro Evolution Soccer.

Cocktail was served.

Additional Games to be featured and aimed for the eSports World Cup 2020 are also included :

1.) Pump  2.) 5DX PLUS-- With inclusion of Arcade Games. 3.) FIM Asia  4.) REAL BOXING , Manny Pacquiao -- Mobile Proposed Traditional Games.(VerGarciaBlogs)

PHOTO GALLERY:

Photos Credited to Teddy Cho (Photo Journalist)

DOLE-OWWA GIVE RECOGNITION TO THE OUTSTANDING OFWs MARILAG AWARDS FOR 2019

In photo: Owwa Administrator and DOLE Sec. Silvestre Bello III hands over cash and thropies to the chosen outstanding OFWs for the Marilag Award 2019.

DOLE -OWWA  Announces 10 Outstanding Women OFW's for the Prestigious Marilag Awards 2019
By: Ver Garcia & Teddy Cho

The audience at the Marble Hall of the Bureau of Treasury witnessed the awarding of 10 outstanding women beneficiaries of DOLE-OWWA's

OFWs were all smiling at the DOLE-OWWA MARILAG Awards 2019 held at the Marble Hall in Ayuntamiento De Manila, Intramuros, Manila.

Reintegration Programs who became the MARILAG AWARDEES. MARILAG is a Filipino term for magnificent, beautiful and splendid aptly describes the remarkable accomplishment of our women migrant workers and the women OWWA employees. In line with the celebration of National Women's Month the Bureau of Treasury together with DOLE-OWWA gives a fitting recognition to the achievements of the 10 outstanding MARILAG awardees and to future accomplishments achieved through hardwork, industry, discipline, moral integrity, social integrity and last but not the least Meritorious and exemplary accomplishment.

Undoubtedly Marilag awards 2019 aims to give recognition and amazingly emphasized the not only the OFW's but masses as well and create an awareness that various DOLE-OFW reintegration programs such as the Balik Pinas, Balik Hanapbuhay (BPBH) program, business loan program, the Balik Pinay, Balik Hanapbuhay (BPBP)  and Sa Pinas, Ikaw ang Ma'am at Sir (SPIMS).

Of the 10 OFW's awardee, three (3) were entitled winners for the most outstanding  BALIK PINAS BALIK HANAPBUHAY Program beneficiary namely:

1. Marites Lambino Benito from Benguet.
2. Felipa Cortes Maldora from Bohol.
3. Cynthehia Racaza Labor from Bukidnon.

There were also two (2) winners for the most outstanding OWWA business loan beneficiary they're
as follows:

1. Antuza Wanason Refalda from Kalinga.
2. Gina Balagot Nesperos of Sultan Kudarat.

Three(3) awardees of SPIMS Beneficiaries given recognition as well namely:

1. Veronica Nicolas De Vera of Nueva Viscaya.
2. Melinda Godinez Lapingcao of Lapu-Lapu City.
3. Madelyn Bahala De Guzman of Davao City.

Two(2) winners as the most outstanding BALIK PINAY BALIK HANAPBUHAY beneficiary, are as follows:

1. Mirasol Sta Maria Baquiran of Isabela.
2. Rosalie Robles Espino of Koronadal City.

The winners received medallion and cash prizes were awarded by Secretary Silvestre Bello III and OWWA Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac.

“We are honored to be part of your journey. Your hard work, discipline and exemplary achievements make you our nation’s most revered modern-day heroes and partners in nation building,” said Labor Secretary and OWWA Board of Trustees Chair Silvestre H. Bello III.

“I am proud to say that through the Marilag Awards, in a way, we are breeding another batch of outstanding Filipinas. Your successes validate that our programs and services truly change lives.  Let your story echo and resonate not only in this amazing hall but also in the entire country, as well as to other countries where there are OFWs showcasing the economic opportunities in our country and keeping our family members together,” said OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac.

The following criteria's were observed and implemented based on the sustainability of their enterprise, impact to their community, skills application and innovation.As for the SPIMS beneficiaries it was based on their contribution in the area of public school education in reference to their respective districts.

A complimentary event at the Marble hall with the ceremonial MOA signing and AVP presentation and the 1348 Launching.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) launched its Hotline 1348 today, 29 March 2019 at Ayuntamiento de Manila, Intramuros, Manila during the agency’s culminating activity for the Women’s Month. This project is in partnership with the ePLDT Inc.

The Hotline 1348 is OWWA’s strengthened response in providing faster and more responsive service to client calls requesting assistance on various OWWA programs, services, and benefits including issues on employment contracts, repatriation assistance, and other OFW-related queries and concerns.

“With the Hotline 1348, clients can easily reach the OWWA 24/7 Operations Center that is responsible in monitoring and endorsing OFW-related concerns to appropriate OWWA offices or government agencies for immediate action. This is our way of adhering to President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s mandate to improve government programs and services for our OFWs and their families,” said Labor Secretary and OWWA Board of Trustees Chair Silvestre H. Bello III.

The Hotline 1348 is available 24/7, Monday to Sunday, including holidays. Clients will simply dial 1348 using landline or mobile phone. As for clients outside Metro Manila, they may dial (02) 1348 while international clients may dial 0632-1348.

“We want the OFWs, their families, and the public to be able to connect with OWWA with as much ease as possible. Thus, our Hotline 1348 is staffed by dedicated live agents trained to respond to calls, provide information, and gather requests for assistance from our clients,” said OWWA Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac.

In addition to the partnership, Smart, which is also under PLDT, will be providing free 30-minute WiFi services to OFWs visiting or transacting business within the OWWA building. (Teddy Cho Blog)