Sunday, September 16, 2007
~ 3:07 PM ~
September 15, 2007
Today was a good day! It started out with an outreach program John Lim and I volunteered. It was supposed to help students in the Ateneo community draw knowledge and perspective from the different sectors and fora of our society. Angie, unfortunately stood us up in the name of academics.
We were assigned to the "A day with the Congresswoman". It was a healthy dose of politics. We had some clue on what are the main agendas of the lady legislator. Her priorities as well as her plans for her constituents. Issues were also tackled a little. It was a big tiresome which was compounded by the lack of organization on our part. We were not prepared. And it caused such tremendous irate on my part. I may not be obsessive on form and show but I certainly maintain a certain level of organization and control. To give you a glimpse of my predicament earlier, no introduction for the congresswoman was made. To say the least no background investigation on the team's part was done. Que Horror! Makahuya lang!
Its a good thing, Mike Saavedra, Chief of Staff, had some templates ready! Must have been Godsent or something. In any case, that was a lucky strike!
The short program ended with a good cheer and without and commotion or problems. Thank God!
As the afternoon was approaching, Henry called. He "offered" (term is used loosely) me a chance to debate. Well, after a long while, that offer did not sound too bad at all! I missed debating. Checked my previous post here.
In any case, it was a total blunder for me! Eww! I can't recall any moment (to the best of my knowledge) that I had an undertime. It was a mock debate for crying out loud. I frackin' screwed it up! My goodness! Debate skills (ahem!) are out of the window. It was then I was praying for a chance of redemption. Luckily, there was another round. God must be answering my prayers today, I thought.
The second round was a good round. It was a better round compared to the first one. I was not undertimed but I was overtimed. I gave myself some credit. It came to my attention that my partner was a new debater, fresh from the seminar yesterday. I had so many things to say and so little time to juggle as a tutor and a debater. Oh well, second place for that round was not that bad.
Evening came. Badminton session with the barkada. By this time, I was totally fatigued. Mental fatigue is by far worse than the physical one. I was like a mindless zombie (zombies are mindless, Ellery. You idiot!). I kept on missing shots. I must have missed more than 5 times. Crappy performance. So demoralizing.
The 2 and half hour session made me hungry. I had no further budget. I was flat broke. Emmy must have been sensing that (Bless her big heart!) and offered to pay for our snacks. Thanks Mimie, it was much appreciated! I love you very much!
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There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.
-Lord Amiah
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Friday, September 14, 2007
~ 1:14 PM ~
by: Lord Amiah
The employment discrimination cases that have been filed against Sentosa, a New York-based recruitment agency by 27 Filipino health professionals, 26 nurses and 1 physical therapist, was dismissed by the United States Department of Justice (US DOJ) last August 31, 2007.
In a letter dated August 31, Katherine Baldwin, special deputy counsel of the US DOJ Civil Rights Division, said: "Based on its investigation, this office has determined that there is insufficient evidence of reasonable cause to believe the injured parties were discriminated against as prohibited by 8 U.S.C. § 1324b."
The title 8 law deems any form of employment discrimination based on national origin and citizenship status as an unfair immigration-related employment practice.
The case started last April 6, 2006 when the nurses filed discrimination charges against the Sentosa Care LLC of New York as well as against Bent Philipson, Sentosa's legal counsel in the Philippines, and Francis Luyun, Director of International Recruitment for Sentosa. The 27 Filipino health care professionals also accused Sentosa of breach of contract, as they were assigned to work outside the scope specified in the contract.
For more information you may read these articles:
http://www.pnanewyork.org/articles/sentosa.html
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=86770
http://www.balita.com/xshell.php?id=1858
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There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.
-Lord Amiah
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