by magnolia_eic | Apr 7, 2011 | Headlines, National News
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reiterates its appeal to all Filipinos to avoid accepting
offers from individuals or groups to carry illegal drugs in their luggages or in their person when
going abroad in exchange for money, as harsh penalties await them in their destinations.
This is in light of a Filipina apprehended by the Indonesian Customs and Excise Officers at the
Adi Sumarmo Airport in Solo, Central Java for possession of 1.193 kilograms of class I type of
heroin. The Filipina was arrested on April 3 upon her arrival there via Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
Based on the initial interrogation conducted by local police authorities, the Filipina was sent
to Indonesia by a Filipino who is a member of an international drug syndicate in exchange for
US$8,000.
The Philippine Embassy in Jakarta is providing assistance to the Filipina to ensure that her rights
are respected.
The Philippine Government has a strong anti-illegal drug policy, and is closely cooperating
with law enforcement agencies in other countries on efforts against anti-drugs trafficking. It is
undertaking comprehensive and proactive measures to address the drug mules issue and to
prevent the further victimization of Filipinos by international drug syndicates.
The DFA has been working closely with other concerned on drug trafficking cases.
There are 73 Filipinos in China who were meted death penalties with two-year reprieves, which in
Philippine legal parlance is equivalent to life imprisonment. In China, drug trafficking of 50 grams
or more of illegal drugs is punishable by 15 years in prison, life imprisonment or death.
In most Muslim countries, drug trafficking is punishable by death. (PIA)
by magnolia_eic | Mar 2, 2011 | Headlines, National News
THE Department of Foreign Affairs and the National Bureau of Investigation are working to
get the medical and dental records of 11 Filipinos still missing in the magnitude-6.3 quake
that hit New Zealand last month.
Officials from the DFA and NBI requested the relatives of the missing Filipinos for fingerprint
and dental records so a Philippine Embassy team can help identify bodies, or survivors,
recovered from the rubble.
“[Philippine] Charge d’Affaires (CDA) in Wellington Giovanni Palec has reported the New
Zealand police are gathering pieces of evidence including personal belongings to verify
identities – through DNA testing – those who perished. New Zealand authorities would not
release the identities of those who perished unless and until they have recovered the bodies
and verified their identities,” the DFA said in a news release posted on its website.
The Philippine Embassy team in Christchurch and the DFA’s Office of the Undersecretary
for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA) are presently coordinating with the NBI in Manila to
facilitate and gather the records.
So far, the DFA-OUMWA has forwarded to Christchurch the information about the missing
Filipinos that it gathered from the DFA Office of Consular Affairs database.
For its part, the Embassy team is directly and regularly in touch with the relatives of the 11
Filipinos who remain missing. (PIA)
by magnolia_eic | Feb 22, 2011 | Headlines, National News
GITAMBAGAN sa Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) ang mga Pilipino nga i-oktaba una
ang pag-biyahe sa Yemen, Libya ug Bahrain kung dili importante ang ilang lakaw.
Matud pa sa tigpamaba sa DFA nga si Ed Malaya, mahimo nilang i-rekomenda sa
Department of Labor and Employement ang deployment ban sa mga Overseas Filipino
Worker (OFW) sa maong mga nasud sa Middle East hangtud molinaw na ang sitwasyon
didto diin may mga nahitabong bayolenteng demonstrasyon.
Kagahapon, gibarugan sa Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) nga dili pa kinahanglang
ibakwit ang mga OFW’s nga naa sa Libya, Yemen ug Bahrain.
Matud pa sa DFA, nagpabiling luwas ang may 26,000 ka Pinoy sa Libya , 1,400 OFWs sa
Yemen ug may 31,000 pa sa Bahrain.
Nagbutang ang DFA og 24-hour crisis monitoring team sa mga Embahada ug Konsulado nga
sakop sa maong tulo ka Arab nations.
Gisiguro usab ni Vice Consul Jose Garcia, ang Phl Consulate sa Libya nga andam na usab
ang ilang contingency plans alang sa mga Pinoy nga napiit sa kagubot sa maong lugar.
(ecbPIABohol)
by magnolia_eic | Feb 9, 2011 | Headlines, National News
Ang unang hugpong sa 27 ka mga Pilipino gikan sa Egypt gitakda nga moabot dinhi sa nasud karong Sabado petsa 5 luwan sa usa ka chartered evacuation flight tungod sa panagsungi sa mga mipabor ug misupak ni Presidente Hosni Mubarak, matud pa sa Department of Foreign Affairs kon DFA.
Ang embahada sa Pilipinas didto nakadawat usab ug tabang gikan sa International Organization for Migration kon IOM offices didto sa Cairo diha sa paghimo ug mga pamaagi sa pagpauli sa mga Pilipinong naipit sa kagubot.
by magnolia_eic | Feb 6, 2011 | Headlines, National News
GISIGURO gahapon sa Department of Foreign Affairs- (DFA) nga tulo ka ruta ang ilang
giandam nga evacuation areas alang sa mga OFW’s sa Egypt kon kinahanglan na silang
ibakwit.
Matud pa ni Foreign Affairs Usec. Rafael Seguis, nakipag-tambayayong na sila sa Libya ug
Jordan kon kinahanglan nang ibalhin ang may 6,500 ka OFW’s didto sa higayong mo grabe
ang sitwasyon sa Egypt.
Si Foreign Affairs Usec. Esteban Conejos niingon usab nga naggahin na ang DFA ug OWWA
og P50-M standby fund nga gamiton alang sa evacuation sa mga OFW’s.
Matud pa ni Conejos, mahimong ibakwit ang mga OFW’s sakay sa barko paingon sa Tripoli,
Libya ug Amman, Jordan gikan sa Port sa Alexandria o mahimo usab kini pinaagi sa by-land
travel. (ecbPIABohol)
