As I watched the President's speech for the 43rd ASEAN foundation day, I admit in a way he delighted me. He lay down the policies that we Filipinos can expect from his administration. Unlike in SONA where he just mentioned all his rants about the former administration. He stated that the Philippines under his administration will fulfill its international commitments w/o undermining and forsaking its national interest. The Philippines will be a country attractive for investment.
PNOY also stated that our country is a predictable and consistent place for investment. And that our neighboring countries can expect the support and help of our country. And the legacy of the ASEAN charter itself. Devoted to the rule of law, seek harmony, nurturing our environment. He believes that the ASEAN charter is more of an aspiration than a reality nowadays. But PNOY promised that his administration will do its best and will take part in fulfilling the objectives of ASEAN guided with its 3 pillars:
Political Security
Economic and Socio cultural
Phil. will continue to take part in discussion about peace and security.
Increase employment and FTA to enhance capital product and people.
With the policies that he lay down. I hope that this will not be another bluff and Im hoping that the Philippines can rise again and prove the world that we are capable of improving our country
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY (AM SESSION)
Last Saturday, we were asked to attend 2 seminars as part of our make up class. 9:05AM after I got my EAF in the school registrar, together with my classmates we were in a hurry so we went right away in the auditorium thinking we were already late.
In the registration area, I noticed some of my block mates ID107 was part of the SEMCDA class, as I wrote my name we exchanged our hi-hello's. I asked them if the session already started and when they said not yet we went down to eat breakfast.
When we came back, JD told me that the seminar is about to start. I should say that we have the best seat. On top of me is the router for the Wi-Fi internet connection and right accross us is the air-condition. And that promise a cozy and comfortable seminar. One of my batch mates Boy, came to me and told me that he is so worried since out of the 6 or 7 speakers they requested, only one was able to attend.
The seminar started the speaker was from the Department of tourism, when the seminar started he told the crown that he would rather speak spontaneously than to prepare for a slide show of discussion for us.
The topic was about Public Diplomacy. The session lasted for I think about 45 minutes only and that gave a long time for the open forum. As expected, most questions was about the hostage taking tragedy. On how the Dept. Of Tourism is planning to promote our country again after what had happened. I remember Sam one of my classmates in PHIFOCY class asked the speaker on why is it that traveling to the Philippines or within the Philippines is more expensive than traveling abroad. Sam, being the creative girl that she is even made an image/ drawing about the forum.
The best quote that I will always remember from this forum was:
You are the BEST and NUMBER ONE Ambassador of your country.
and yes, we are. and we will be
ASSIGNMENT RE: VFA COUNTER-ARGUMENT
Last meeting in class, we were asked to read an article the class was divided into two groups. One group is on the positive side of the VFA agreement and on our group we have the negative side. At first I was glad that I have the negative side article but on the end of the class we were asked to take the positive side and to argue the negative effects of this agreement.
On my opinion, Philippines as a developing country can really benefit on having agreements with developed countries especially the United States. The US being the hegemon in our time, implicates power, security and authority. And with the proposal of the Visiting Forces Agreement and its vision, the Philippines will be towards development. This RP-US partnership has been evident since history can remember and this partnership/relationship helped the Philippines rather than helped the US towards economic stability, security, growth and tourism.
When it comes to recent issues that contradicts this agreement. Yes, it is the responsibility of the government to protect its people. That's why being allies with the UNITED STATES is one of its way to further enhance territorial security.
This partnership will always be evident within this 2 countries. Filipinos should consider the VFA agreement as an asset as a developing country. Besides, in a Filipinos everyday life US' image and influence is always present. No matter what
On my opinion, Philippines as a developing country can really benefit on having agreements with developed countries especially the United States. The US being the hegemon in our time, implicates power, security and authority. And with the proposal of the Visiting Forces Agreement and its vision, the Philippines will be towards development. This RP-US partnership has been evident since history can remember and this partnership/relationship helped the Philippines rather than helped the US towards economic stability, security, growth and tourism.
When it comes to recent issues that contradicts this agreement. Yes, it is the responsibility of the government to protect its people. That's why being allies with the UNITED STATES is one of its way to further enhance territorial security.
This partnership will always be evident within this 2 countries. Filipinos should consider the VFA agreement as an asset as a developing country. Besides, in a Filipinos everyday life US' image and influence is always present. No matter what
Human trafficking in Eurasia (Group Work)
ONE OF OUR ACTIVIES IN CLASS (GROUP ACTIVITY)
Miss, please try to double check if Lindsey include my name, I was the one who did the OWWA Part. I still have it saved on my sent item on my yahoo mail.
Human trafficking in Eurasia (Group Work)
LADY LINSEY S. YANG
JOY ANNE DELACRUZ
ARMAND PARUGUING
JASPER CAGUILA
NIKI ALVES
YARA DESTURA
PROTECTION OF NATIONALS: HUMAN TRAFFICKING OF FILIPINOS IN EURASIA
We as a student of Consular and Diplomatic Affairs will attempt to formulate foreign policy program(s) that will hopefully avoid human trafficking, support the lives of the people as well as to avoid future victims of it. We focused our study on Human Trafficking in Europe as an exemplary for our formulation of foreign policy. Before going to our proposal, we would want to define first human trafficking. According to Article 3 paragraph a of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, it defines Trafficking in Persons as “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” Wherein exploitation include, at a minimum, forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, oppression or performs similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.
On a brief Background of Human Trafficking of Filipinos in Europe, According to The US department of state human rights report, Philippine men, women, and girls from our country were trafficked for labor and sexual exploitation to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Africa, North America, and mostly in Europe. The government and NGO estimates on the number of women trafficked range from 300,000 to 400,000 and the number of children trafficked range from 60,000 to 100,000. Many Filipino men and women voluntarily migrate to work abroad but later coerced into exploitative conditions. The Philippines has also Internal trafficking of women and children from rural areas, particularly the Visayas and Mindanao, to urban areas, such as Metro Manila and Cebu, for sexual exploitation or forced labor as domestic workers, factory workers, or in the drug trade.
Bigger efforts to battle human trafficking both locally and international should be prioritize by increasing public responsiveness activities and strongly prosecuting those abusing the victims as well as prosecute and convict public officials who profit from or are involved in trafficking itself. In accordance with this paper, NGOs, international organizations as well as Philippine Agencies ought to be responsible to this serious matter because “it is a form of the increasingly mounting problem of organized crime that violates human rights and public liberties” (Younes, 2010) . In preventing this scenario, we include NGOs and agencies such as POEA, and PCTC. International Organizations such as the Solidarity Center - USAID - Trade Union Congress of the Philippines Anti-Trafficking Project, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and lastly, the European Union Commission against Human trafficking.
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
The Solidarity Center-USAID- in cooperation with the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and other local NGO partners, we support a “counter-trafficking awareness program” that includes a project website and development of a trafficking database to track the people who come and go to the country with sufficient proof of their identity and building capacity at the level of local government and not only acknowledges the key role of local governments in service delivery but also the obligation, per the anti-trafficking Law, for the operation of Interagency Councils against Trafficking in Persons at the local level . Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC), in terms of information exchange and database development promotes, develop and establish a shared database with the PCTC as the lead agency, Compile relevant laws also with the PCTC as the tasked agency, a directory of contact persons and focal points. The idea is to develop a directory of personal and identification addresses of pertinent groups and individuals. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), as a member of the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking, assumes to deliver education, information dissemination campaigns and free legal assistance to victims of trafficking in persons in the guise of overseas employment promotes the Drafting of laws punishing the acts of trafficking. The group believes that this concern falls under the GOs and the NGOs. As such, it is recommended that the deregulation and amendment of RA 8042 which is the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 or An act to institute the policies of overseas employment and establish a higher standard of protection and promotion of the welfare of migrant workers, their families and overseas Filipinos in distress, and for other purposes, is needed in order to include Trafficking In Persons (TIP) and Illegal Recruitment.
The European Union Commission acts as the international organization responsible for this issue of human trafficking in Europe. EU commission proposed EU rules that would oblige EU Member States to act on the three fronts of prosecuting criminals responsible for trafficking human beings, protecting the victims and preventing the offences. The proposal would increase reliability among national rules on crimes and penalties. Offenders should face their charges even if they did crimes abroad. Inspective tools should use to fight organized crime and must be made available to authorities such as through police and judicial power. On the other hand, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) aims to do more ways to prevent human trafficking; the proposal envisions rising awareness of potential victims on the risks of falling prey or victims to traffickers, and for public officials to distinguish cases of trafficking and deal with them.
In summary, our Policy recommendation encourages sanctions against to individuals, groups or organizations that knowingly hire or buy services from trafficking sufferers, the compilation of data and the use of inspecting strategies were also some of our main goals in acting and preventing human trafficking. This paper promotes the integration of local governments to a bigger scale, because we believed that for a certain movement to achieve its success it must first focus on a smaller scale and once it is achieved in that sense, it can successfully move into a bigger scale which is in the international arena in combatting these crimes and it would also establish bodies in Member States to monitor implementation of these actions.
REFERENCES:
2006 US department of Human Rights Report
2006 US Department of State Human Rights Report
2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
OWWA. (2010). Retrieved July 17, 2010 from Syria issues anti-human trafficking decree: http://www.owwa.gov.ph/news/2010/02/ syria-issues-anti-human-trafficking-decree/.
Patrick Belser, Michaelle De Cock, Fahrad Mehran, ILO Minimum Estimate of Forced Labour in the World, ILO, Geneva, April 2005.
POEA. (2010). Retrieved July 17, 2010 from Role of the Organization: http://www.poea.gov.ph/.
UNODC. (2010). Retrieved July 17, 2010 from Human Trafficking: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/ what-is-human-trafficking.html#what_is_human_trafficking.
Miss, please try to double check if Lindsey include my name, I was the one who did the OWWA Part. I still have it saved on my sent item on my yahoo mail.
Human trafficking in Eurasia (Group Work)
LADY LINSEY S. YANG
JOY ANNE DELACRUZ
ARMAND PARUGUING
JASPER CAGUILA
NIKI ALVES
YARA DESTURA
PROTECTION OF NATIONALS: HUMAN TRAFFICKING OF FILIPINOS IN EURASIA
We as a student of Consular and Diplomatic Affairs will attempt to formulate foreign policy program(s) that will hopefully avoid human trafficking, support the lives of the people as well as to avoid future victims of it. We focused our study on Human Trafficking in Europe as an exemplary for our formulation of foreign policy. Before going to our proposal, we would want to define first human trafficking. According to Article 3 paragraph a of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, it defines Trafficking in Persons as “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” Wherein exploitation include, at a minimum, forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, oppression or performs similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.
On a brief Background of Human Trafficking of Filipinos in Europe, According to The US department of state human rights report, Philippine men, women, and girls from our country were trafficked for labor and sexual exploitation to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Africa, North America, and mostly in Europe. The government and NGO estimates on the number of women trafficked range from 300,000 to 400,000 and the number of children trafficked range from 60,000 to 100,000. Many Filipino men and women voluntarily migrate to work abroad but later coerced into exploitative conditions. The Philippines has also Internal trafficking of women and children from rural areas, particularly the Visayas and Mindanao, to urban areas, such as Metro Manila and Cebu, for sexual exploitation or forced labor as domestic workers, factory workers, or in the drug trade.
Bigger efforts to battle human trafficking both locally and international should be prioritize by increasing public responsiveness activities and strongly prosecuting those abusing the victims as well as prosecute and convict public officials who profit from or are involved in trafficking itself. In accordance with this paper, NGOs, international organizations as well as Philippine Agencies ought to be responsible to this serious matter because “it is a form of the increasingly mounting problem of organized crime that violates human rights and public liberties” (Younes, 2010) . In preventing this scenario, we include NGOs and agencies such as POEA, and PCTC. International Organizations such as the Solidarity Center - USAID - Trade Union Congress of the Philippines Anti-Trafficking Project, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and lastly, the European Union Commission against Human trafficking.
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
The Solidarity Center-USAID- in cooperation with the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and other local NGO partners, we support a “counter-trafficking awareness program” that includes a project website and development of a trafficking database to track the people who come and go to the country with sufficient proof of their identity and building capacity at the level of local government and not only acknowledges the key role of local governments in service delivery but also the obligation, per the anti-trafficking Law, for the operation of Interagency Councils against Trafficking in Persons at the local level . Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC), in terms of information exchange and database development promotes, develop and establish a shared database with the PCTC as the lead agency, Compile relevant laws also with the PCTC as the tasked agency, a directory of contact persons and focal points. The idea is to develop a directory of personal and identification addresses of pertinent groups and individuals. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), as a member of the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking, assumes to deliver education, information dissemination campaigns and free legal assistance to victims of trafficking in persons in the guise of overseas employment promotes the Drafting of laws punishing the acts of trafficking. The group believes that this concern falls under the GOs and the NGOs. As such, it is recommended that the deregulation and amendment of RA 8042 which is the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995 or An act to institute the policies of overseas employment and establish a higher standard of protection and promotion of the welfare of migrant workers, their families and overseas Filipinos in distress, and for other purposes, is needed in order to include Trafficking In Persons (TIP) and Illegal Recruitment.
The European Union Commission acts as the international organization responsible for this issue of human trafficking in Europe. EU commission proposed EU rules that would oblige EU Member States to act on the three fronts of prosecuting criminals responsible for trafficking human beings, protecting the victims and preventing the offences. The proposal would increase reliability among national rules on crimes and penalties. Offenders should face their charges even if they did crimes abroad. Inspective tools should use to fight organized crime and must be made available to authorities such as through police and judicial power. On the other hand, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) aims to do more ways to prevent human trafficking; the proposal envisions rising awareness of potential victims on the risks of falling prey or victims to traffickers, and for public officials to distinguish cases of trafficking and deal with them.
In summary, our Policy recommendation encourages sanctions against to individuals, groups or organizations that knowingly hire or buy services from trafficking sufferers, the compilation of data and the use of inspecting strategies were also some of our main goals in acting and preventing human trafficking. This paper promotes the integration of local governments to a bigger scale, because we believed that for a certain movement to achieve its success it must first focus on a smaller scale and once it is achieved in that sense, it can successfully move into a bigger scale which is in the international arena in combatting these crimes and it would also establish bodies in Member States to monitor implementation of these actions.
REFERENCES:
2006 US department of Human Rights Report
2006 US Department of State Human Rights Report
2007 US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report
OWWA. (2010). Retrieved July 17, 2010 from Syria issues anti-human trafficking decree: http://www.owwa.gov.ph/news/2010/02/ syria-issues-anti-human-trafficking-decree/.
Patrick Belser, Michaelle De Cock, Fahrad Mehran, ILO Minimum Estimate of Forced Labour in the World, ILO, Geneva, April 2005.
POEA. (2010). Retrieved July 17, 2010 from Role of the Organization: http://www.poea.gov.ph/.
UNODC. (2010). Retrieved July 17, 2010 from Human Trafficking: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/ what-is-human-trafficking.html#what_is_human_trafficking.
Friday, August 6, 2010
AUGUST 2, 2010 SESSION
AUGUST 2, 2010 SESSION
Tonight’s session was great. We discussed about VFA (Visiting forces agreement). The first part of the class we were given an article to read and study. 2 different articles. For the ones seated on the left and the one seated on the right. Luckily I was seated on the right near the door. Our article was about arguing and negating the VFA. Which is great because I can feel the rant of my author. It's like he's putting my rant in his writings. The feeling was mutual. Our professor said that the topic was boring. But I personally think its fun. And you get to be nationalistic because of the issue.
I think VFA is about exploitation. Its about taking advantage of the Philippines. Just like the famous case of Daniel Smith, its a question of your nationals or the US? I remember my professor repeating the same question most of the time in the discussion. Many people can lay down the benefits of this agreement to me but I am still against it. This agreement clearly violates the sovereignty of the state of our country, of the Philippines.
With VFA, for me it’s a question of importance. Importance of connection with your country’s allies or importance of your country’s most treasured investment, your people.
Tonight’s session was great. We discussed about VFA (Visiting forces agreement). The first part of the class we were given an article to read and study. 2 different articles. For the ones seated on the left and the one seated on the right. Luckily I was seated on the right near the door. Our article was about arguing and negating the VFA. Which is great because I can feel the rant of my author. It's like he's putting my rant in his writings. The feeling was mutual. Our professor said that the topic was boring. But I personally think its fun. And you get to be nationalistic because of the issue.
I think VFA is about exploitation. Its about taking advantage of the Philippines. Just like the famous case of Daniel Smith, its a question of your nationals or the US? I remember my professor repeating the same question most of the time in the discussion. Many people can lay down the benefits of this agreement to me but I am still against it. This agreement clearly violates the sovereignty of the state of our country, of the Philippines.
With VFA, for me it’s a question of importance. Importance of connection with your country’s allies or importance of your country’s most treasured investment, your people.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
ASSIGNMENT FOR AUGUST 2
last meeting we were asked to do a compare/contrast 2 President's State of the Nation Address. And we were given 4 choices. I chose PNOY and GMA's SONA.
I searched in Google for former President Arroyo's copy of SONA and the 2009 SONA popped in. I scrutinized the copy of her speech since I listened to PNOY's SONA last week I dont need to criticize it that much.
ON GMA's SONA one thing that I really noticed is her appreciation and redundant praise to the congress. For some reason, in political view, GMa is already pleasing and appeasing the congress. Constant sarcasm is also present in her speech. " To those who want to be President, this advice: If you really want something done, just do it. Do it hard, do it well. Don’t pussyfoot. Don’t pander. And don’t say bad words in public."
With such GMA stated the projects that her administration had encountered and those formulated policies for the success of this projects. Just like every other president Arroyo enumerated all her administration's accomplishment and what they did for the country.
Moving on, I personally think that listening to Arroyo's state of the nation address was listening to a government who took time to formulate a domestic and foreign policy which the administration will all agree about and something that can be easily implemented.
This SONA emphasizes the importance of policy making. And implementing it.
ON PNOY's SONA
Last monday, before I come to class, I was with my dad, watching the SONA. Using my iPad I was online and logged in to twitter to see the streaming and reactions of the mob. Most people was mad right after the SONA and maybe even in the middle of the speech. And most were impressed with PNOY's SONA. For some reason, I think they were wrong to be impressed though.
PNOY's speech focused on his rants about the past administration. Which I think was wrong the impression for me was he was playing it safe. NO policies were raise and was mentioned. Yes, he did stated some of the things that his administration had done for the past week. But his speech is about rant, complain and in short negativity.
But since it was his first SONA, there's still a room for error. I hope that in the next SONA he will be able to lay down his policies and plan. In his last SONA I felt like he was still campaigning.
I searched in Google for former President Arroyo's copy of SONA and the 2009 SONA popped in. I scrutinized the copy of her speech since I listened to PNOY's SONA last week I dont need to criticize it that much.
ON GMA's SONA one thing that I really noticed is her appreciation and redundant praise to the congress. For some reason, in political view, GMa is already pleasing and appeasing the congress. Constant sarcasm is also present in her speech. " To those who want to be President, this advice: If you really want something done, just do it. Do it hard, do it well. Don’t pussyfoot. Don’t pander. And don’t say bad words in public."
With such GMA stated the projects that her administration had encountered and those formulated policies for the success of this projects. Just like every other president Arroyo enumerated all her administration's accomplishment and what they did for the country.
Moving on, I personally think that listening to Arroyo's state of the nation address was listening to a government who took time to formulate a domestic and foreign policy which the administration will all agree about and something that can be easily implemented.
This SONA emphasizes the importance of policy making. And implementing it.
ON PNOY's SONA
Last monday, before I come to class, I was with my dad, watching the SONA. Using my iPad I was online and logged in to twitter to see the streaming and reactions of the mob. Most people was mad right after the SONA and maybe even in the middle of the speech. And most were impressed with PNOY's SONA. For some reason, I think they were wrong to be impressed though.
PNOY's speech focused on his rants about the past administration. Which I think was wrong the impression for me was he was playing it safe. NO policies were raise and was mentioned. Yes, he did stated some of the things that his administration had done for the past week. But his speech is about rant, complain and in short negativity.
But since it was his first SONA, there's still a room for error. I hope that in the next SONA he will be able to lay down his policies and plan. In his last SONA I felt like he was still campaigning.
Friday, July 30, 2010
July 26 Session
July 26 Session
I usually leave my crib around 4.30pm to come to my 6pm class. But since it was PNOY's first SONA. I don’t wanna miss it and since we were also asked to listen to his speech. I tried to scrutinize every discussion he mentioned.
I was watching the SONA with my dad. My dad being a lawyer, can’t hold his thought about what the President was stating. Some of our maids who were also watching the SONA was amazed, I remember one of them commented how Noynoy became a strong and confident speaker which he is not known for.
On analyzing the SONA me and my dad share the same opinion. His SONA is all about complain and pin-pointing the former administration. For me, PNOY was playing it safe by blaming the Arroyo administration. I am not an Arroyo administration supporter just to make it clear. And I didn’t vote for Noynoy as well. So I’m not taking sides on anyone here.
I just hope that the President could’ve lay his policies. So that we Filipino’s will know what to expect in his administration in his cabinet members. Rather than blaming the other administration. With conviction all I want to say is “Now is not the right time to pin-point anyone, we should work together and put a clear image on the Philippine government.”
I usually leave my crib around 4.30pm to come to my 6pm class. But since it was PNOY's first SONA. I don’t wanna miss it and since we were also asked to listen to his speech. I tried to scrutinize every discussion he mentioned.
I was watching the SONA with my dad. My dad being a lawyer, can’t hold his thought about what the President was stating. Some of our maids who were also watching the SONA was amazed, I remember one of them commented how Noynoy became a strong and confident speaker which he is not known for.
On analyzing the SONA me and my dad share the same opinion. His SONA is all about complain and pin-pointing the former administration. For me, PNOY was playing it safe by blaming the Arroyo administration. I am not an Arroyo administration supporter just to make it clear. And I didn’t vote for Noynoy as well. So I’m not taking sides on anyone here.
I just hope that the President could’ve lay his policies. So that we Filipino’s will know what to expect in his administration in his cabinet members. Rather than blaming the other administration. With conviction all I want to say is “Now is not the right time to pin-point anyone, we should work together and put a clear image on the Philippine government.”
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