Transit Lounge at NAIA: You can Rest While Waiting for Flight

For all OFWs and travelers, this is now the answer for your exhausted travel. You don’t need now to worry about your accommodation upon arrival in the Philippines. An affordable, cozy and awesome lounge accommodation is waiting for you.

The NAIA Terminal opened a transit lounge where they called “The Wings Transit Lounge” right inside the airport that can accommodate up to 100 passengers every day. Its location is at NAIA Terminal, 4th Level of the Mall Area.

The lounge has stretchable seats where they could be also turned into flat beds. You can lie down in these seats to ease the pain you have in your body especially at your back from the uncomfortable seating of your long travel. The Wing Transit Lounge also offers foot scrub, manicure, and pedicure while seating and having your rest. The sleeping lounge cost P500 for 5 hours, P700 for 7 hours and additional P600 if you want to have foot spa, P300 for manicure and P300 for pedicure. For foot spa with manicure and pedicure, it also cost P1000.

The types of room are available for single person, duos and for family good for 4 people. The single or capsule type cost P1000 for 7 and half hours. Each of this room has a sliding shade which can be adjusted if you need some light or not even. It also equipped with a security box and reading lamp where you can totally rest. The twin type of room also cost P1800 for 7 and half hours. This is an ideal room where two persons can stay together but if you are 3 in a group and wants to avail this room, then charges may apply for the 3rd person except for 3 feet and below (it’s already free of charge).  For the family type, the room fee is P3200 for the same duration of time and the 5th person who wants to stay may also be charge (3 ft. and below are free of charge).

The Wing Lounge is also offering massage service for all interested passengers. We all know that massage therapy is good for reducing stress, pain and muscle tension so if you want to have a complete relaxation you can reward yourself with their package. The Wings Massage rates are P650 good for 60 minutes, P550 for 50 minutes and P350 for 30 minutes.

5,000 Jobs in Qatar Soon To Open with 23K to 80K Pesos Monthly Salary

Another good news for our Filipino jobseekers is the opening of almost 5000 jobs in Qatar. AQs reported by the Philippine Overseas Employment Association (POEA), the economy of Qatar is strongly developing though the country is experiencing a diplomatic crisis between its adjacent countries in the Middle East.

The said country needs skilled position including electrician/ship electricians (1389), mechanical engineers (497), carpenters (313), laborers (266), masons (220), welders (151), foreman (61), mechanics (61), plasterers (24) and nurses as the most in demand and with biggest number (1882).

Besides on the positions mentioned above, there are other job opportunities in Qatar which are 4,875 in total based on POEA official website.

Mr. Ronald Gabing who was a Filipino jobseeker and unfortunately was bankrupt on his business who worked in Saudi Arabia before and has a 4 years’ experience as welder has now his chance to apply in Qatar as a welder as it is one of the in-demand jobs there today. It is around 1,700 Qatari Rials or amounting to P23,000 and above the salary of a welder and other construction workers in Qatar. For a mechanical engineer or electrician, it is also almost P80,000 and above or 6,000 Qatari Rials is their salary monthly and  for nurses which has the highest demand can receive 3,200 Qatari Rials or P40,000 and above.

The country of Qatar will have a continuous job opening. According to POEA, there is numerous project to be established because of the preparation of Qatar for the upcoming Fifa World Cup on 2022 which will be held in the country.

However, the diplomatic crisis between Qatar and other four Gulf countries which remains unresolved caused doubts to others that the planned projects will not push through but Qatar said that it wouldn’t affect the economy of their country since there have a lot of job employment.


POEA advised all the job applicants that it’s no longer necessary for them to go directly to their office to check or inquire about Qatar jobs but they can access now the POEA official website in order to know the details about the hiring including the accredited recruitment agency who handles the job opening.

source: ABS-CBN news

How Much an Annulment in the Philippines?

The case of annulment in the Philippines is very rare. The main reason why is because of its very expensive cost. Most of the Filipinos choose to be practical and not everyone could afford to apply for it. Maybe even a rich man would double his mind before applying for annulment unless he has really the strong desire to void the marriage.

From the beginning, what is first an annulment? Are they similarities with divorce? In the Philippines, divorce is never been applicable because it is not in the book of law but an annulment could be. Annulment is a legal process where the courts declare a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to invalid from the very beginning. To simplify it, a marriage has never happened. There were no husband and wife unite together, ever. 

A marriage could be declared void according to Art. 45 of the Family Code of the Philippines thru annulment on the following grounds. The lack of parental consent if either party is at least 18 but below 21 years old, the involvement of fraud, the consent for marriage by the parent but obtained by force, intimidation, or undue influence, the impotency or physical incapability of consuming the marriage, for having serious sexually transmitted disease and the most common ground used as a defense is being psychologically incapacitated by your partner. All of these grounds, when proven by the court, could annul the sanctity of a marriage. It can also lead a family to be miserable especially for children where at the first place, the spouse use only the process of annulment for his own interest. 

According to Att. Raymund Fortun, he revealed in an episode of “Bawal Ang Pasawa Kay Mareng Winnie” that annulment in the Philippines could cost around P450,000. Fortun said that he gave one of the lowest expected amounts because there are bigger firms that may charge by the hour and the final bill could easily double the figure he gave.

Aside from the money, the length period of time for processing should also be considered. Att. Fortun said that the duration of years for his longest case was 3 years. This is due to several factors. A typical case can last up to 1 year and 2 months. 

Atty. Fortun and Pro-Divorce PH Chair Asliyah Limbona bring out a message during the show to mandate the office of the Solicitor General to protect the sanctity of marriage as another factor complicating the process. Abolishing this mandate could change the constitution, Att. Fortun said.

source: GMA news

LOOK: NCR Wage Board Approves P21 Wage Hike

The private sector workers in Metro Manila who are receiving minimum wage will soon be getting an additional rate of P21 daily in their salaries. Based on Wage Order No. NCR-21, issued by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB), the salaries of these workers in NCR with minimum pay will increase from P491 to P512.

This may not be a big increase but an early Christmas gift for almost more than 6M minimum wage receiver in 17 cities and municipalities of Metro Manila.

As stated on the Wage Order No. NCR-21, the additional wage rates per day will only apply to all minimum earners in private sectors in the region of Metro Manila regardless of their designation, position or the status of their employment. This will benefit the minimum wage receiver for non-agriculture workers in the region to P512 from P491 starting the end of September. Those in the agriculture sector, small retail, service and manufacturing establishments will get P475 from the previous P454.It is then concluded that domestic workers, employees of Barangay Micro Business Enterprises and even person under personal service of another are not covered by the P21 hike.

Photo credit: ABS-CBN youtube

The big question mark now is that, does it really enough to sustain the daily needs of these minimal receivers? Allan Tanjusay, the spokesman of Associated Labor Union (ALU) said that the P21 salary increase for minimum-wage earners is not sufficient to alleviate the current situation of our workers.

The P21 increase in daily wage remain insufficient for families to cope with rising prices of goods and increasing costs of goods. The P21 is only 4.27% of the current P491 so it obviously did not lift workers out of poverty. Workers do not deserve this very small amount,’’ he said.

The effectivity of the wage order will take effect within 15 days after its publication in general newspaper.

BPO Automation will Open 700,000 Jobs to High-Skilled Workers

The new automated system in business process outsourcing industry will open almost 700,000 new job opportunities to our high-skilled Filipino workers but unfortunately may eliminate 40,000 jobs for low-skilled workers including receptionist and clerks in the country.

According to the Director of IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines, Alex Tined, their committee needs to teach the workers new jobs. The challenge now is to make sure to have enough manpower to do the mid and high-skill jobs. In order for this plan to pursue, the BPO will open thousands of jobs sooner to establish high-skilled workers.

 
Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines’s Chairman Lito Tayag accepted the new challenges set forth by automation and the effort that may affect workers on the new set of skills specifically the use of cloud, analytic and mobile application.
focal goal of the ‘’ASEAN Community in 2015’’ which the ASEAN Country Regions has convened to form last 2007.


 
‘’We are working closely with Industry, Academe, and Government in terms of preparing our skill or pool of talent for the next set of skill,’’ Tayag said to ANC.
 
For the present days, the BPO industry is one of the highest producers of jobs in the Philippines. Their operation is nearly 15 years where they earned their reputation and gained as the leading provider of outsourced service. Meanwhile, their industry is expecting to have 1.8M employees by 2022 from 1.14M workers today. They also aim to reach the $40B target in annual revenues by 2022.
focal goal of the ‘’ASEAN Community in 2015’’ which the ASEAN Country Regions has convened to form last 2007.



’We have articulated this in our Roadmap 2022 that we want to bring this industry to 1.8M people in 6 years, making us one of the biggest job suppliers in the country together with other multiplier effect in real estate, transportation, and food,’’ Tayag said.

During the previous years, the BPO industry added a high impact to the economy thru the dollars that enter the Philippines because of the different businesses involving BPO.  Currently, our country ranks as the 3rd top BPO destination worldwide.

source: businessnews.com.ph

The Importance of ASEAN integration in the Philippines

The Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN) Integration is one of the major pillar and ultimate goal of the ASEAN Community. It is the focal goal of the ‘’ASEAN Community in 2015’’ which the ASEAN Country Regions has convened to form last 2007.



The Philippines as one of the members of the ASEAN countries is an active contributor to the organization since its creation in August 1967 which is expected to expedite their social growth and other aspects of living through a support from the Association.

 According to an expert at the Punongbayan And Araullo CEO Business Forum in Makati City, Philippines is ‘’on track’’ with efforts to integrate its economy with those of its co-member in the Association of South East Asian Nations. Asean Integration as the major pillar of the ASEAN Community will really a big foundation that could help the Philippines to strive more when it comes to trade and finance. Although the Philippines compliance with integration targets through policies and tariff rules decreased to 74% in the 2010 to 2011 review period from 94.55% in 2008 to 2009, the country is still ‘’on track’’ and have chance to play a key role in seamless registration trade, travel and banking, ASEAN Deputy Secretary-General Dr. Lim Hong Hin said.



The ASEAN Integration in 2015 aims that the Region’s 10 member countries including the Philippines be transformed into a single market and production base that is highly competitive, and fully integrated into the global economy.

As Ayala Corporation Chair Jaime Augusto Zobel De Ayala stated in an interview, Philippines should play an active role in pursuing the integration of Southeast Asan economies. Contrary to fears that the Philippines could lose out in a regime of tighter market competition in the region, Zobel opined that the country actually had comparative advantages that should make integration beneficial to Filipino businesses.

ASEAN Integration would help to lower the cost of living. “Goods produced domestically may not be the cheapest option for the value you want,” Ronald Mendoza, Dean of the Ateneo School of Government, told Rappler on Tuesday, April 25. “If we open up our borders to trade, this is a possibility for us to lower some of the costs that we are faced with, and in a way, what we’re doing here is increasing the purchasing power of the population.” The ASEAN Economic Community aims to minimize or negate levies incurred between countries, which will let the prices of goods to go down. This will now end to a Filipino citizen into a salary which he will really feel its value because he can be able to afford the low cost of services and foods.

ASEAN Integration would also help to boost investment to develop industries in the country and to increase the foreign investment by removing restrictions and adopting international best practices. Another goal of ASEAN Integration is to facilitate the free flow of skilled labor. This would allow the national from ASEAN countries to seek and apply for work abroad. It’s aiming to facilitate the visas and employment passes for professional and skilled workers which will really compensate them and would increase their productivity in work.

The chance to go abroad to work is not only limited for workers but also for students who want to study. ASEAN universities are augmenting their cooperation which will allow increased movement for students in the region. Why is this important?

“Our young people are able to experience going to ancient sites in Myanmar and Cambodia, and going to school in places like Singapore and Indonesia, making friends not just with Filipinos but those of many other nationalities with many other religions, that will hopefully make the next generation a lot more open minded and stronger than this one,” said by Ronald Mendoza.

“They will be much more capable than ours will ever be because of the limitations of what we grew up with. So this I think is what we’re building here,” he said. “When you open up to something like this, and you have a vision of what that can do especially to your young people, it's going to make them a lot stronger. That’s really what we aspire for.”

One thing more, through the ASEAN Integration, member countries support each other in preventing the rampant piracy, terrorism, and drug trafficking which is actually happening at the moment.
 ASEAN integration makes it quicker to achieve these goals by working together, rather than individually. Finally, with their strong determination helping one another and full of cooperation, Philippines, and other South East Asian nation will soon turn to a more and better nation.

source: rappler

New Zealand Announces 5,000 Job Openings For Filipino

Another great opportunity is waiting for our Filipino workers. According to Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), New Zealand has announced that it needs 500 servicemen or skilled workers to work in their country. Due to the major earthquake that affects the whole nation in the year 2011, it creates big chaos to them. Now they are needing of manpower to rehabilitate their country, especially in the construction industry.

In a report on ABS-CBN News, the country of New Zealand is currently looking for 1928 Carpenter, 499 masons, 427 farm workers, 397 filter tyre/tech, 361 scaffolders, 329 drivers, 309 pipe fitters, 226 machine operators, 201 painters, 167 laborers and 100 auto technicians.

Once they hired, they could earn as much as 3520 New Zealand dollars and if we are going to convert it to Philippine Rate, it would be a rough equivalent to P131,000 (P37-1NZ Dollar) for laborers, machine operators, masons, and drivers. The carpenters could also earn slightly lower than 2,400 New Zealand dollars, or P89,000.

However, due to many nos. of applicants, New Zealand will be strict on their screening. Not everyone is qualified to apply because one of their qualification is to only accept applicants who have also work experience abroad. He/she should work for more than 3 years in other country and familiar with the modern equipment they are using.

According to the Philippine Association of Service Exporters Incorporated (PASEI), they surely verify the applicant’s background about his work experience. They call up their previous employees in order to know the reliability of the applicant.

The processing of New Zealand jobs could take around 3 months before the employer give his approval to the applicant so, despite the longer period of processing, there is no placement fee required for the application. One thing more, hire skilled workers could make a petition to bring their family and be a citizen of New Zealand after a year of working in the country.

How To Check POEA Job Order by Country, Position and Agency

The Philippines Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) is an agency of the government of the Philippines which is mandated to open benefits of the overseas employment program of the Philippines. It is the main government agency assigned to check and monitor recruitment agencies for Filipino workers who will work in our country and in abroad where Filipinos rights are protected.
In order to know the available jobs in other countries and its legitimacy, you can open the POEA website to know furthermore.

The first thing to do is to go to POEA website link (www.poea.gov.ph/cgi-bin/jobvacancies/jobsmenu.asp) where you can check the jobs order. Once clicking the link, the page will now start to load and there will be 3 links to appear where you can search available job orders by country, position or by recruitment agencies. Select one which you know will give you what you are looking for.

If you decide to open the link ‘’search available job orders by position’’ you can enter your desired job position in the toolbar. After it, you can now sort the result by date, country or agency.

For the next option, you can check POEA Job orders by country. Of course, here you can search your job position through countries which will appear in the drop down selection. By clicking the submit button, all the available job positions will appear in the specific country you selected.

The last choice you can be able to check the POEA job orders is by agency. If you wanted to open the link on ‘’search available job orders by agency’’ it will take you to the page where you can also choose the job position available under POEA licensed recruitment agency from all the choices.

If you plan to look for a job, you can always use the website of POEA to save you from illegal recruiters in the future and where you can be also able to save more money and efforts.

Benefits of an "Online English Teacher" for Filipinos

Online English Teaching is one of the trending and popular job today not only in the Philippines but in the whole world. This kind of work doesn’t need an institution or school where you will conduct teaching, your home can now be your workplace.

For just like professional teachers who are teaching in an institution and accept a high range of salary, you can also be more like them. You can be more like them in the sense that you have many privileges and benefits to gain.

If you have to work at home as online English Teacher, you have all the freedom. All that you need is a stable connection of internet and ideas about your lesson for you to have a good communication with your student abroad.

Even if you are hired by an agency, you can be still the boss of yourself. You can decide whatever plans regarding your teaching works. You manage your own time, decides how many hours you will a lot of your work and can change your schedule whenever you want. That is a very cozy feeling.

For those people who love to sleep long length of hours in the evening till morning, you don’t need to be worry and wake up early every day to work on time. Since you’re the manager of your time, you can wake up in your desired hour before your schedule. No dress code needed, just face in front of your computer, wearing a formal attire with a slipper and no heels needed. It’s a very comfortable way of working.

If you ever taught in a school, there are many issues about discipline to face on. Maximum tolerance is really important for hard headed students and abundant lessons to prepare. But in online teaching, you don’t need to be exhausted and be bothered about those issues anymore because you have the complete concentration you wanted and the good aura or your workplace. One thing more, your benefits of being an online teacher is to have lesser work. It’s no longer necessary to make any lesson plan, check test exams and give grades. What just you need is the lesson you will teach in your every schedule of work.


As a passionate teacher who really dedicates his life in teaching, you’ll be happy seeing the fruit of your efforts. Your student’s interest and willingness to learn in every part of your lesson has a big impact on you as their motivator. Of course, it will help you to lower your tension and in the end of your discussion, you will realize that you are a productive worker.

source: ABS-CBN news

Pinoy Work From Home, Earns P20,000 to P40,000 a month.

One of the trending work today is the home-based job.  Nowadays, it is where a lot of Pinoys spend their time and efforts in this modern and productive way of living.

Now, you can work at home and earn money from the different social networks and websites on the internet as long as you have a stable connection.

Working at home is really very convenient. This helps home based employees to become more flexible on their time and reduce tension or stress thinking to pass their reports on the scheduled time. Working at home is also very useful because it helps you to save your money.  There are no longer hassle transportation, no allowances to budget, and no decent clothing and foods to prepare.  If you have small children to take care, you can still do it while working. There are really numerous advantages when you choose to stay and work at home.

According  To Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), they estimate that there will be 2.5M telecommunicating jobs to be made available in the next 6 years for Filipinos. Because of the tremendous demand for such jobs, a bill was passed, waiting for the approval in Congress where it aims to protect the rights and provide benefits for workers in the home.


From a report, ABS-CBN news revealed that remote workers in the Philippines can earn around P20,000 to P40,000 a month.

A virtual assistant worker for an Australian company, Bheng Celon said that she earns around $3 to $10 per hour. As a working mom, Amber Lupena, 22-year old, can also earns P20,000 to P22,000 monthly as a social media manager and marketer for 2 clients based in the U.S. She prefers to stay and work at home to have more time for her family.


If working at home, keep in mind that you also have to invest money on stable Internet connection, electricity, community devices and other equipment.

OFW MUST READ: Things That Should Prepare Before Going Home

The life of being an OFW is not that so easy. The scenario that you are far from your family is like the feeling that you are in the outside world. As a parent, you need to sacrifice more for your family. You need to look for a job where it can sustain their needs and save big earnings for your children’s future but from your first day abroad, you need to already strictly set your plan if when will you turn back in the Philippines and how long will you stay in your workplace?

As stated by a successful businessman who is a 0FW before, ‘’It is a long range plan so OFWs must have their own plan too. And the plan must start with increase capacity to reduce expenses by himself at the job site and his family, they augment with increased effort to save monthly’’. This is the one reason why most OFW fail. They thought that working in abroad is everlasting so they really enjoy the benefits of earning. Later when they realize this fact, they are out of time to catch up. They ended up going home without savings, money or any. Before thinking of going home in your country, you must consider a lot of things.

When you realize that it is now your perfect time to leave your work abroad, make sure that you already have enough money for your daily life in your country with your family. You must be practical in all aspects thinking that you would not want to go home with a budget that will last for only a month. Make sure that you can continue to support and provide the needs of those people who depend on you. Try to consider for any alternative business or job in your country. You need to take a rest after years of tiring work abroad buy o need to have a continuous source of income for your family.


As your time goes by working in another country, you also need to apply for any medical or health insurance where you can cover your family as your beneficiaries. Even though you can’t use it abroad but time will come, you and your family will be benefited to them in the future. It will help you to lessen your expenses, also try to apply to other insurance that will really help you a lot in time of emergency.

Think wise and more than twice. The hard life of being an Overseas Filipino Worker is really aching. They left their family in the Philippines, let their children grew up without their proper guidance and protection. They choose to embrace to work alone and depart from their love ones so as an OFW, you should be vigilant in planning and saving your earnings. Soon, you will come back to your original life you left in the Philippines without anything that will bother you. There are no regretful things to ponder of because you believe that you had made the best and right decisions.

source: jbsolis

Register PhilHealth Online: Guide and Tutorial

PhilHealth is a mandated program created by the government to ensure that all qualified Filipino citizens, whether direct beneficiary or dependents will avail cheaper expenses in the hospital and medical bills. The government’s goal is that every Filipino should exercise this opportunity but how can an individual be benefited from this government program?

First and foremost, a Filipino citizen should register first to get his PhilHealth Membership ID Number which is to be presented during any transactions to public/private hospital or clinic. The government created an online processing which is very helpful and convenient to everybody in order to secure your PhilHealth Number. Unlike to other way that you need to go directly to PhilHealth agency just to pass the PhilHealth Membership Form. In online registration, you can also process the requirements needed through an email.

The online registration can avail by any employee, self-employed, overseas Filipino worker and retirees in either under the government or private sector. Bear in mind that in processing your online application, it is important to always remember and save your email address, password and other pertinent information regarding your log in details. It is your duty to always keep your PhilHealth Identification Number so that you can’t lose it. Take note that you can only avail one permanent PhilHealth Number and it is for a lifetime.

In order to get your PhilHealth Identification Number online, there are steps to do on how to enroll. The first step is you need to open the PhilHealth eRegistration page, read the terms and conditions and check the ‘’agree’’ box afterward then hit the accept button in order for you to proceed to next step. What you need is to fill out about your personal information, contact details, address, dependent’s information, guardian in formation, membership category information, upload section and by entering a captcha.

When it comes to your dependents, for singles, the qualified ones are your parents who are 60 years old and above. For married, they can list their spouse and children as their dependents. You need to attach the supporting files like valid IDs and birth certificate in the upload section. Before that, you need to scan them first in a clear and readable photo. Birth Certificate is one of the most necessary documents needed as part of the requirements to verify the age of your dependents.

Once you finish fill outing all the needed information, review them and attach all the needed documents to have a smooth flow of processing and get the immediate approval. Wait until you will receive an email from PhilHealth Agency successfully confirming for your application online. For now, PhilHealth Card is considered to be a valid ID because of the new feature of it.

100,000 Jobs soon to Open in Japan

There are new great opportunities be given to our Filipino Citizens in the near short period of days. As reported in 24 Oras, GMA News Reporter JP Soriano reported last Friday, there are over 100,000 jobs will be open soon in Japan for Filipino and other foreign workers.

One of the good news disclosed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Department of Labor and Employment, Filipino workers may be given the priority to be hired once Japan will start their hiring. ‘’ Japan’s Ministry of Health and Labor would soon open their market for Filipino skilled and semi-skilled workers under the Technical Intern Training Program’’ Bernard Olalia, POEA officer-in-charge reported. At present, officials from both countries are drafting the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the program, he added.

"Kapag ito napirmahan na, ‘yung MOU, magdeploy tayo  ng mga professional semi-skilled workers under this new framework. Under this new track magde-deploy tayo for private institutions,’’ Ollalia said.

 As to the report, our Filipino workers who are in South Korea right now facing the crisis because of tensions involving North Korea will also be given the chance and be benefited from the possible job openings.

 DOLE, OWWA, and POEA are working together to prepare for any eventual repatriation for our OFWs which will include reintegration program, ‘’ said Labor Sec. Silvestre Bello III in the report. The report also added that although there are no job orders, interested Filipino workers are encouraged to visit regularly the POEA websites for any updates.



From a great source, in present, Japan is in need of skilled works who are often directly hired and while others are hired through recruitment agencies which are accredited under the POEA.  Japan is also looking for household service workers ‘’ kasambahay’’, drivers, English teachers, and even entertainers.


The country is giving a high salary compared to our country. They are also hiring drivers who are not even College graduate as long as they can speak English. Filipinos who are planning to work in Japan will also no longer experiencing the strict requirements and application process of the said country because they already issued multiple entry visas for Pinoy tourists.

source: GMA news