Gabriela unyielding

On the subject of immigration and deportation, stories of travelers to foreign countries being stopped at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport are not uncommon, said Immigration Commissioner Alpio Fernandez.

Ferdinand Sampol, head of immigration at the two terminals, said travelers are accosted on the basis of what is called "profiling". Meaning, if they act unusually uneasy, or the contents of their baggage are not fit for their stated country of destination (like a trench coat for a tropical country, or very light clothes for a country with freezing weather), they are likely to go as undocumented workers. In such cases, Atty. Edgardo Mendoza, chief of immigration regulation division, said the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration is contacted and the workers are not allowed to leave. When travel documents are suspected as "spurious", BI turns over the travelers to representatives of embassies in Manila.

It’s true the talk of money changing hands at the BI. Al clarifies by saying that the BI is one of the government’s revenue-raising centers. The revenues come mostly from alien registration fees. Last year, the bureau turned over P1,080-billion to the national government, and in turn, it was given a budget of only P300-million. With more efficient systems at work, Al projects an increase in the bureau’s earnings by 15 to 20 per cent.

The GABRIELA Women’s Party isn’t about to give up on the Napoleon Quince Años billboards and radio ads. Three weeks ago it lodged a complaint with the Advertising Board of the Philippines against the use of those commercials‚ degrading and offensive catch phrase, "Nakatikim ka na ba ng kinse anyos?"

A press statement from GABRIELA national president Liza Largoza Masa said the party "believes that the advertisement, by promoting a culture that glorifies men that are able to hitch younger women and girls, degrade women and minors, thereby increasing the vulnerability of women and children to violence."

The AdBoard has responded favorably by ordering the immediate pullout of the ads, but Destileria Limtuaco, manufacturer of Napoleon, has refused to comply. In fact, they have filed cases against the AdBoard, the GABRIELA Women’s Party, and Liza, who is currently a sectoral representative.

Undaunted, GABRIELA has launched a nationwide campaign to boycott Napoleon.

In 1982, an American couple, Dr. Bill Magee and his wife Kathy, began a medical mission in Naga City. They performed cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries, but had to turn away 350 children. They vowed to return and have done so every year except in 2003, when an all-Filipino team conducted the mission in three sites.

The Magees started what is now known as "Operation Smile International". The work has energized medical and paramedical volunteers to perform surgeries on 14589 patients since 1982. This year, from February 19-28, three missions were held simultaneously – in Naga City, Cebu City and Davao City. A total of 877 patients were screened and 604 were operated on. Forty nine volunteers from the different mission countries of Operation Smile International joined this year’s mission. Two hundred local volunteers participated.

The hospitals were the Bicol Medical Center in Naga City, the Don Vicente Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City, and the Davao Medical Center in Davao City.

The main sponsor of the missions was Operation Smile Philippines, and co-sponsors were the Social Concerns UCCP Foundation in Davao for the 9th year, the Mariquita Salimbangon Yeung Charitable Foundation in Cebu for the 7th year, and the, City Government in Naga for the 2nd year.

Operation Smile Philippines Board is composed of Edith Villanueva, president‚ Jojo Querubin (president of UCPB), chairman; and Gerry Ablaza (president of Globe Telecom), Nina Aguas (of Citibank) and Bert Manlapit (vice-president, San Miguel Corporation), members.

Owners of ALAK-LAKAD plates are exempt from the Metro Manila Development Authority’s vehicular color coding system. With the commemorative plates, motorists can be on the road on their color-coding days and not be fined by traffic officers – this upon the official directive of DILG secretary Jose D. Lina Jr. who has officially written PNP Director General Hermogenes E. Ebdane Jr. about the exemption. The plates, which will be good until Nov. 16, 2004, were timed to come out on the 31st founding anniversary of ALAY-LAKAD Foundation Inc. (Alfi), which has been funding 600 projects with more than 50,000 out-of-school youth beneficiaries nationwide. For inquiries, call Alfi secretariat executive director Raffy Cosuco at tels. 523-1559 and 522-6134.