OFFBEAT MAIL

What a great news for many overseas Filipino workers to work in Australia. This came after an employer's group there opened the idea of subsidizing the deployment of professionals and skilled workers to Down Under. The move would surely create a great relief for many Filipinos who have been hankering to leave the Philippines to look for greener pastures elsewhere. And this is an opportunity for them to prove their mettle in Australia, in partnership with MAB International Services, a manpower agency duly registered with the Philippine Overseas Employment Adminstration (POEA). With this, professionals and skilled workers, who don't have the opportunity to advance or improve their lives in the country may now the choice to bank their luck on seeking jobs that fit their qualifications and experiences. For sure, the exodus of medical professionals will be hard to prevent. At least, the immigration intricacies and the licensing requirements to practice in that country are not so te...

Letter-writer Mr. Kingsley Smith (The Economist, Aug. 4) wrote to praise Hong Kong for its continued economic progress. However, it has failed to recognize the thousands of domestic helpers from the Philippines and Indonesia, who somehow contributed to Hong Kong's economic development for many decades now. Before the eyes of Hong Kong government, the migrant workers, who have been living under tight restrictions, are eyesores in its society. Of all places in Asia, discrimination is a problem that haunts the memories of migrant workers, whose only objective in life is to earn an honest living, doing servitude to people who seemed to be stone-hearted and insensitive to accepted humanitarian virtues. This only happens in Asia, which is supposed to be for Asians, except that Hong Kong, an autonomous region of China, is not part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN ). Nobody is certain if it is still dreaming of being the Crown Colony that it once was after it was ...