PIA Dispatch - Saturday, December 13, 2008

RP and Qatar expected to reach consensus on six proposed bilateral agreements

DOHA (via PLDT) -- The three-day official visit here of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is expected to breathe new life to pending negotiations for Philippine-Qatari agreements on various issues to further strengthen the relations between the two countries.

The pending agreements cut across a range of issues of mutual interest, including investments; economic and technical cooperation; tourism; educational and cultural cooperation, and combating transnational organized crime.

An “overview” of the two countries’ relations issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) showed that since the establishment of diplomatic Philippine-Qatar relations in May 1981, the two countries have forged seven bilateral agreements.

Among the existing accords are those on air services; economic, commercial and technical cooperation; Filipino manpower deployment; establishment of joint ministerial commission for bilateral cooperation, and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on mutual recognition of certificates in accordance with the International Convention on Standard of Training, Certification and Watch Keeping for Seafarers.

The latest agreement -- an Additional Protocol to the 1997 RP-Qatar Agreement on the Regulation of Filipino Manpower Employment in the State of Qatar -- was signed here in October this year.

With their relations heightened by the existing bilateral accords, the Philippines and Qatar are moving forward toward forging of more substantive agreements.

Under negotiations are proposed agreements on the reciprocal promotion and protection of investments; avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income; commercial protocol to the 1997 RP-Qatar agreement on economic, commercial and technical cooperation; educational cooperation; and cultural cooperation.

Also still under negotiations are a proposed memorandum of agreement (MOA) on health cooperation; MOA on cooperation to combat transnational organized crime; agreements on the waiver of visa requirements for holders of diplomatic official and special passports, and a MOA on agricultural and fisheries cooperation.

Negotiations for the proposed agreement on the reciprocal promotion and protection of investments were held on Jan. 21-23 this year in Manila, but both sides failed to resolve differences over the draft accord.

Negotiators for both sides agreed to consult their “respective authorities and to continue negotiations via an exchange of notes.”

Likewise, the proposed agreement on avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income has yet to be concluded. But in all cases of the pending agreements, the two governments to pursue efforts to reach a consensus and, finally, come up with the accords, signed and sealed.


RP stands to benefit from its relations with Qatar in all levels

DOHA (via PLDT) -- The Philippines stands to gain enormous benefits from its growing friendly relations with oil-rich Qatar, the fourth top country destination of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) worldwide and the third among Middle East nations, after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Fueled by its natural gas and oil revenue, Qatar’s economy is booming and needs manpower from foreign countries to sustain the massive economic surge.

Qatar owns the third largest natural gas reserves in the world after Russia and Iran, among its outstanding economic statistics. Its economy is rated as the second most competitive among Middle Eastern countries aside from having one of the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in the world at $US 61,895 as of 2006.

The constitutional emirate is also pouring billions into private and foreign investments in non-energy sectors in tandem with the development of its non-gas reserves.
At an estimated 25 trillion cubic meters, the country’s natural gas reserves constitute roughly 15 percent of the world’s total.

In her meetings with Qatari officials and business leaders during her three-day official visit here starting today, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will have a ringside view of Qatar’s unprecedented building boom and a boardroom-kind of insight into the prospects and possibilities open to the Philippines stemming from the heightened friendly relations between the Philippines and Qatar.

Estimates of OFWs in this country range from 150,000 to 200,000. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has taken the more conservative estimate of 150,000 based on its records as of Dec. 2007. The DOLE figures were culled from the records of Qatar’s Ministry of Labor.

The number continues to grow. Last year, DOLE deployment statistics showed 56,277 new hires, up by 22.89 percent over the 2006 figure of 45,795. Of the new hires in 2007, the bulk of the workers belonged to the service, transport ant and production groups.Other hires consisted of administrative and managerial personnel, agricultural workers in such fields as husbandry, forestry and fishery; sales workers; professional technical and related works.

The DOLE said Filipino workers face bright prospects in energy projects, which would require the services of engineers, controllers, inspectors, professional and other skilled personnel.

In the midst of an unprecedented real estate boom, Qatar needs engineers, architects, interior decorators/designers, mechanical, electrical and plumbing personnel, and marble, granite and ceramic tile setters, DOLE said.

The country’s tourism/hotel and retail sector is also beacon. “Due to growing population and high levels of income, the tourism industry in Qatar is progressing and the construction of hotels as well as franchised restaurants is a sign of the country’s desire to become a major force in the hospitality industry that would mean the need” for hotel personnel and service crew, DOLE said.
But some kinks in Qatar’s hiring policy needs to be threshed out. “The policy of host country on sponsorship being practiced by employers pose a hindrance for the employment of our professional and skilled workers in the labor industry. This must be therefore addressed by our government and the host government with dispatch to improve the well-being and opportunity of our workers and their retention by the host country for their much-needed quality services,” the DOLE report said.


PGMA leaves today for a three-day working visit to Qatar

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo left this morning (Saturday) for a three-day official visit to Qatar on the invitation of His Highness Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of this Middle Eastern State of Qatar.

The President boarded the Philippine Air Lines flight PR001 at 7:20 a.m. after the traditional military honors accorded to the Chief Executive by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The President together with her lean delegates is expected to arrive in Doha, the capital of Qatar at 5:30 p.m. (Manila time), for a meeting with top Qatari business executives.

Dressed in all gray business suits, the President was seen off by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Press Secretary Jesus Dureza and Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Alexander Yano at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Centennial Terminal 2.

Executive Secretary Ermita said the visit of the President in Qatar is an opportunity to strengthen the Philippine’s ties with Qatar at all levels and on all fronts, especially in the critical areas of energy, telecommunication, tourism, agriculture, and labor.

“The President will push for the success of significant trade and business prospects involving both countries, see to the signing of two agreements that bear on taxation and on economic, commercial and technical cooperation, and meet with members of the Filipino community,” Ermita said in a statement.

With the current requirements in Qatar’s surging construction sector, Ermita said the President visit will underscore before key Qatari proponents the Philippines capacity to provide necessary resources and highly skilled technical manpower.

On top of this, the President’s team will delve into opportunities for venture partnerships in energy and telecommunications, he said.

To complement current efforts to spur growth in Southern Philippines, Ermita added that President Macapagal-Arroyo will also seek broader discussions on the possible flow of Qatari investments in Mindanao’s agriculture sector for the export of products from the area for the Qatari and Middle Eastern markets.

Ermita also said that tourism will also be among the visit’s priorities as the President envisions an increase in visitor arrivals from Qatar to the Philippines, and vice versa, with the maximization of Qatar’s strategic location as a hub of civil aviation in the Middle East.

The President visit will be capped by a meeting with representatives of the 150,000 strong overseas Filipino workers at the Sheraton Dohal Hotel and Resort, her official residence during her Qatar official visit.

“The President will keep our countrymen and women over in Qatar abreast of positive developments in the country, even as she will reiterate our peoples and our country’s deep appreciation of and gratitude for their work and continued contribution to our economy,” Ermita added.

Earlier, Palace said the President is also scheduled to meet with Philippine ambassadors in the Middle East countries, and touch on the impact of the global economic debacle on Filipino job placements abroad.

Presidential peace process adviser retired general Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the Philippines sees Qatar as an "international guarantor" in talks between government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Esperon said the MILF had been calling for international guarantors in the peace process and Qatar could be one of them.

Malacañang believes that informal talks between the government and the MILF are expected to start shortly after the President’s official visit to Qatar, possibly by Dec. 22.


Dureza twits Roxas

Malacañang deplored today the use of expletives by opposition Sen. Mar Roxas in yesterday’s rally in Makati to express his anger against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and moves in the House to revise the Constitution through a Constituent Assembly (Con Ass).

“We are saddened that he (Senator Roxas) stooped so low in his tirades,” Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said in a statement.

“We don’t think his crass language will help in his desperate drive to catch up with the popularity ratings of other leading presidentiables,” Dureza said.

Dureza -- who just arrived in Manila from Shariff Kabunsuan where he represented the President in the distribution of livelihood assistance and gift packs to the poorest people in Cotabato -- added.

“May 7,000 nag-rally sa Makati -- sama-sama na lahat puwersa nila. Pero sa Shariff Kabunsuan na pinuntahan ko kahapon, mahigit 5,000 ang nandoon.”


DA to invite int’l health groups to conduct “risk assessment” on Reston case

The Department of Agriculture (DA) will invite international health organizations to conduct a risk assessment on the presence of the Ebola Reston virus in the country in line with the government policy of transparency on this issue and the concerted efforts to engage global authorities in containing this infection, which has so far been detected only in a few hogs in certain parts of Luzon.

DA Secretary Arthur Yap said the risk assessment will determine the extent of a potential risk or threat of the Reston virus to animal and human health in the country. The reemergence of the Reston virus, which has been detected in just two hog farms, is considered by international and local health authorities as only an animal health issue because this particular strain “does not pose a significant public health risk”

“While we are currently carrying out a similar effort, we are opening our doors to scrutiny by independent, globally recognized health organizations to show that the Philippines is a responsible member of the international community and that it continues to act in the spirit of transparency and cooperation,” Yap said.

The risk assessment, according to Director Davinio Catbagan of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), could be conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) or the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) or World Animal Health Organization.

Officials of these international health institutions earlier commended Yap and Secretary Francisco Duque of the Department of Health (DOH) for their respective offices’ quick or “appropriate action” in containing the latest resurfacing of the Reston virus.

The DA and DOH, along with these international health institutions, have pointed out that the Reston virus has shown no evidence so far of being harmful to humans since its discovery in 1989. This particular strain of the virus was first discovered in the Philippines 19 years among crab-eating macaques or monkeys that the Laguna-based Ferlite Farms had been exporting to the US-based Hazleton Laboratories in Reston , Virginia .

Officials of the WHO, OIE and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) who attended a marathon consultative meeting hosted by the DA at its Quezon City office last Wednesday told over 20 industry leaders this latest resurfacing of the Reston virus in the Philippines is just an “animal health issue and (they) do not consider this a significant public health concern at this time.”

These officials are Anthony Hazzard, WHO regional adviser for Food Safety; Carolyn Anne Coulombe, WHO technical officer (Risk Communications) Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response; and RITM director Remigio Olveda.

The Reston virus is entirely different from the three other Ebola subtypes, which are all potentially fatal to humans. Unlike the Zaire , Ivory Coast and Sudan strains, the Reston strain has not been found to be fatal like the three other strains or to have caused illnesses to humans in contact with the infected animals.

Yap had also revealed that the DA is preparing a support program to assist hog producers in farms where the Reston had been detected and to provide incentives to other growers to encourage them to participate in the concerted government program to stamp out this virus.

This planned support program will include the purchase additional laboratory kits needed to check the presence of this virus among local swine as well as assistance to livestock growers whose infected hogs will be culled or destroyed by BAI-led, quick-response government teams led to prevent the spread of the Reston disease among animals.

At the end of the nine-hour consultative meeting with livestock industry leaders at the DA last Wednesday, WHO country representative to the Philippines Dr. Soe Nyunt spoke on behalf of OIE and FAO in thanking Yap and Duque for their efforts in immediately addressing the Reston issue.

AGAP partylist Rep. Nicanor Briones, who represented the subsector of small livestock stakeholders during the consultative meeting, also thanked Yap, Duque and WHO officials for educating the public about the Reston virus.

Earlier, Yap said that after finding out the presence of the Reston virus in the quarantined farms, 28 pig tissue samples taken from different locations in four different periods—May, June 4 and 26 and September—were sent to Center Disease Control (CDC) Plum Island for testing. Only six (6) samples were positive of the virus.

Additional samples sent to the RITM after those earlier tests were all found to be free of the Reston virus. As of 6 pm last Wednesday night, the RITM, which is the accredited laboratory in the country to conduct such tests, reported to the DA and BAI that, based on preliminary test results, the additional 94 samples collected from the pigs in the identified pig farms all tested negative of the virus.

WHO experts led by Dr. Nyunt and Dr. Julie Hall, team leader of its Emerging Infectious Diseases Division, have confirmed during the Dec. 10 consultative meeting at the DA that, based on historical evidence, the Reston virus has been found to be “non-pathogenic” and does not cause illnesses to humans in the past.

Yap said the WHO has also declared that pork that is properly handled, washed and cooked is safe for human consumption because heat from adequate cooking kills viruses, including Reston .
He pointed out that although “no current reports of unusual illnesses nor deaths in pigs have been reported, the DA and the DOH have engaged stakeholders in the hog industry, local and international health and animal experts, to assist the government in the pro-active eradication of this virus” and in the interest of transparency in government.

Besides tissue samples taken from pigs in the affected areas, Yap said tests were also done on the handlers in the farms where the virus originated; and even the butchers in the slaughterhouses where the animals were usually sent, as a precautionary measure. All the tests conducted on human samples yielded negative results for the presence of the Reston virus, he said.

Tests done by the RITM confirmed that the disease discovered in the affected hog farms cannot be transferred from pigs to humans.

As a precautionary measure, Yap had also suspended all Philippine pork exports until further notice.

The presence anew of the Reston virus in domestic swine was discovered this year when the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) was testing tissue samples that the PCSP, in coordination with BAI, sent last August to check the presence of the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PPRSV) and determine its strain. (DA-PRESS OFFICE)



OFW deployment still robust despite global crisis - DOLE

Davao City -- Deployment of Filipino workers for overseas jobs in various destinations remains robust amidst the global financial crisis.

Department of Labor and Employment in a statement said there is still no massive displacement of Filipino workers abroad.

Labor secretary Marianito D. Roque said the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) continues to process the deployment of close to 3,000 overseas Filipino workers or OFWs who leave the country for their overseas employment on a daily basis.

Roque also assured the public particularly OFWs and their families that the displacement of over half a million OFWs due to the financial crisis as reported in the media would not occur based on the number of OFWs who returned to the country over the past months.

He explained that the reported over half a million OFWs projected displacements was based on a worst case scenario which was crafted in an effort of the DOLE to prepare appropriate responses to the impact of the financial crisis to OFWs.

He said the number of OFWs who, so far, lost their jobs overseas due to the financial crisis and had already gone home is not that alarming as they only constitute part of an average of 1,000 OFWs who return to the country every month. The returning OFWs, he said, also included those whose employment contracts abroad had expired.

Roque said OFWs' employment termination this year including those adversely affected by the financial crisis is at the same level as that of 2007.

He said that while almost 3,000 OFWs are deployed everyday, only about a thousand OFWs return home every month indicating that the trend of OFW retrenchments in the midst of the financial crisis is within the normal level. (PIA)