PNP destroys P90M worth of
marijuana
POLICE uprooted some P90 million worth of marijuana plants at the boundary of
Ilocos Sur and Benguet Tuesday morning.
Ilocos Region police director Chief Supt. Leopoldo Bataoil said 320,000 fully
grown marijuana plants were discovered in a three-hectare plantation in the
mountains of Alilem, Ilocos Sur and Cayapa, Benguet.
Bataoil said policemen engaged a group of armed men believed to be the
marijuana cultivators in a brief firefight before they uprooted the marijuana
plants. - Raymond Africa
NLRC junks nurses' case
against Sentosa
THE National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) has dismissed the cases filed
by 31 immigrant nurses against Sentosa Recruitment Agency, its foreign
principals and seven health care facilities in New York, for illegal dismissal,
non-payment and underpayment of salaries and other money claims.
Executive labor arbiter Fatima Jambaro-Franco said the 31 nurse-complainants
themselves violated their contract and the local Labor Code when they failed to
serve the required two-week and one-month notice, respectively, before
submitting their resignations.
She said the nurses also resigned which means they cannot claim illegal
dismissal.
Franco said the pay slips of the nurses also showed that they were not
underpaid as claimed, that their contract set their salary rate at a minimum of
$22 but they were paid $24, as well as overtime pay and vacation leaves.
The NLRC decision is the third consecutive case lost by the nurses against
Sentosa. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration earlier dismissed for
lack of merit the nurses' case alleging violation of recruitment rules and
regulations. It also withdrew the order for Sentosa's preventive suspension.
In the US, the nurses have not fared better, with some of them having been
indicted for conspiracy, criminal solicitation, endangering the welfare of a
child and a disabled person. The US Department of Justice also dismissed the
group's case for alleged discrimination filed against Sentosa in 2007.
TECO, local NGO to sign MOA
on
inter-country marriage project
THE Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) will formally sign a
memorandum of agreement involving inter-country marriages between Taiwanese
nationals and Filipinos with the St. Mary Euphrasia Foundation Inc. Center for
Overseas Workers on Feb. 26 at 10 a.m.
Signing for TECO is consul general Wang Chia-Chi and Sr. M. Bernadette C.
Guzman, Religious of the Good Shepherd executive director, for St. Mary
Euphrasia.
The objective of the MOA is to assist Filipino spouses of Taiwan nationals to
clarify their motives, understand and appreciate the value of an intercultural
marriage, orient themselves to the culture and customs of Taiwan, enhance their
love and relationship with their spouses and strengthen their commitment to
their spouse.
St. Mary Euphrasia, a non-stock, non-profit pastoral and social service
organization ran by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, is presently conducting
inter-country marriage seminars for US and Korean nationals too.
To date there are almost 3,000 Filipinos married to Taiwanese. There were 233
inter-country marriages in 2005, 401 in 2006, and 336 in 2007. In 2006, TECO
held a pre-departure seminar for Filipino spouses twice a month. The Taiwanese
government has also set aside US$65,000 to provide assistance to its citizens'
foreign spouses from Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.
