O.F.W. CONCERNS

URDANETA CITY, Pangasinan — Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO ) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Amadeo Perez Jr. said here yesterday that there are now over 90,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Taiwan, making the Philippines the third largest supplier of foreign labor in the territory, behind Indonesia and Vietnam. Perez said the major concern now of most of the OFWs working in Taiwan is that they want a lowering of the placement fee which currently ranges between P90,000 and P150,000. Last November, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz went to Taipei to negotiate with Taiwanese authorities for the lowering of the placement fee to around P60,000, said Perez. (Liezle Basa Iñigo)

URGENT RELIEF

SARIAYA, Quezon — Immediate relief assistance is now reaching victims of the fire that hit the public Market here last Thursday afternoon. Mayor Rosauro “Boyet” Masilang and Quezon Governor David C. Suarez visited the affected portion of the public market that burned almost 50 stalls and met with the stall owners and their salesladies yesterday morning. As an initial move of the government, fire victims were given cash assistance while authorities are still evaluating the situation that would be a basis on how to extend more needed assistance to the victims, said Masilang. (Danny Estacio)

C.I.S. CLOSE TO 100,000 MEMBERS

With the continued outpouring of support from the public, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group's Community Investigative Support (CIDG-CIS) membership is soon expected to hit 100,000. Only recently, some 800 new recruits from Central Luzon took their oath before Director Samuel D. Pagdilao Jr. inside the jampacked Stotsenberg Hotel in Clark, Angeles City. Most of the new members were doctors, businessmen, barangay officials, newsmen, and other professionals who will contribute in intelligence gathering and monitoring of lawless elements. (Mar T. Supnad)

GOV’S GRATITUDE

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — Pangasinan Governor Amado T. Espino Jr. expressed gratitude yesterday to all his provincemates, especially those who have been loyal and supportive of him and his family amid the issues that have cropped up against him. “We are supposed to celebrate Christmas with utmost happiness but for the past 10 days so many things happened which is caused by dirty politics. Despite all these, my family and I are thankful of the continued support that Pangasinenses are giving us,” Gov. Espino said. Faced with accusations of protecting jueteng in his turf, Espino promised to continue service the people’s interests. (Liezle Basa Iñigo)

WORKERS’ CODE

TABUK CITY, Kalinga — Hotel and restaurant owners in Kalinga formulated their own standards towards the promotion of good industry practices and agreed to promote both the rights of workers and employers. This was highlighted in the “Code of Voluntary Compliance and Good Industry Practices” of the Provincial Industry Tripartite Council (PITC) recently crafted to complement existing mechanisms of government in areas of labor management relations, labor standard enforcement, social protection, employment security, and employment generation. Avelina Manganip, provincial Labor officer, said the voluntary code laid down basic agreements of the hotel and restaurant industry foremost of which is their compliance with labor laws to ensure that workers’ rights are upheld at all times and healthy competition within the industry is promoted. (PIA)