By Renee Karunungan-Edwards

I vividly remember the morning I received my first from Duterte supporters back in 2016. It was a weekend. The day before, I had written a Facebook post criticizing Rodrigo Duterte while waiting for my laundry at the neighbourhood laundromat. The next morning, as I made my usual green tea and oatmeal, I opened Facebook鈥攁nd the floodgates of hell opened with it.

Thousands of messages flooded my inbox, most of whom were Duterte supporters, attacking me in various ways. They ranged from petty insults, calling me fat, ugly, and stupid, to chilling threats against my life and my family. My heart raced as I opened each message, unsure what I needed to do next and if I would take the threats seriously.  I knew many were emboldened by the anonymity of the Internet, hiding behind their screens and believing themselves untouchable. But the truth is, they weren鈥檛. Actions have consequences.

At the time, I lived alone in the Philippines. Alarmed, I informed my colleagues and reported the threats to the police who initially said they could do nothing. So, as a precaution – just in case the threats came to reality – I posted the threats publicly. That decision led Filipino human rights groups and lawyers to reach out, helping me file charges against 22 individuals under the country鈥檚 and the .

That was nine years ago. Since then, subpoenas have been sent, hearings scheduled, and the case drags on. In those years, I moved to the UK, pursued a PhD, and turned my experience into , intolerance, and hate speech on Facebook during the Duterte regime. 

Online hate speech is alive and well in the UK too as shown by the that took place across the country in the summer of 2024. However, justice was swift – within weeks, and convicted for stirring up hatred on social media, with one sentenced to 38 months.   

Social media has become a battlefield for political discourse, a war zone of morality and ideology where only those with the thickest skin can survive. Nowhere is this more evident than on Facebook, the in the Philippines. My research found that pro-Duterte influencers dominated this space, using posts laced with incitements to violence, hate speech, and extreme intolerance. Here, threats to kill are as casually tossed around as memes and stickers.

Facebook is a place where civility, once the foundation of respectful political discourse, has become scarce. By civility, I do not mean the absence of anger or strong language, but rather the presence of respect: a willingness to engage in disagreement without resorting to dehumanisation. On Facebook, that principle has all but vanished.聽

Now, with Duterte鈥檚 arrest by the ICC, his supporters are back, spewing hatred not just at those who welcome his detention, but even at families of drug war victims. What lessons have we learned? Apparently none.

Once shocking, 鈥� or attacks and threats against individuals and groups 鈥� has become mundane. Death threats are now just another comment on a thread. This is the legacy of Duterte鈥檚 rhetoric, where glorifying violence was standard practice, extrajudicial killings were normalised and public discourse followed suit. My research confirmed that among pro-Duterte influencers, posts containing hate speech had the highest average engagement. The more violent the message, the more viral it became.

It is disturbing that this comes from a country deeply rooted in religious traditions. How does a supposedly devout nation support a leader who openly admitted to murder? Perhaps the answer lies in a machismo, and blind obedience. In a system that rewards silence and punishes dissent, the strongman thrives 鈥� while those who challenge him are seen as threats, not just to power, but to tradition itself.

Is it still possible to engage in political discourse online without being attacked? Occasionally, I鈥檝e encountered Duterte supporters who debate respectfully. But when emotions run high, civility crumbles. However, incivility starts to happen when things heat up and emotions get high. And it鈥檚 not unusual. Emotions play a huge role in political discourse. We cannot detach our politics from our values 鈥� it is personal. 

Yet incivility, as I explored in my research, is not always bad. It can be productive, even necessary, in democratic spaces. Disruption can highlight inequality and injustice. But intolerance and hate are different. When disagreement turns into dehumanisation, democracy begins to erode. Intolerance silences, isolates, and excludes. Hate incites real-world harm. These are not just online issues; they have real-life consequences. 

Where do we go from here? Clearly, threatening lives cannot become casual, throwaway remarks. I doubt these people would walk up to someone in the street and say the things they say online. But the Internet鈥檚 anonymity strips away accountability, making it both powerful and dangerous.

There are lessons to be learned 鈥� and initiatives, including my own research, that aim to tackle online hate speech. But Facebook has failed miserably at moderating this space. Their interventions, when they do come, are too little, too late. 

Beyond policy changes, what we genuinely need is cultural change. We need to recognise that participating in democracy comes with responsibility. That . That anger can be valid, but it must not turn into hate.

To those who continue to weaponise social media for political gain: What you post has power. And that power can either heal鈥攐r destroy.

In the end, the fight is not just for the truth. It is for our humanity. If we cannot engage politically without tearing each other apart, then we are not just losing arguments 鈥� we are losing democracy itself.

About the author

Dr. Renee Karunungan has a PhD in Political Communication from Loughborough University. She currently works as a communications specialist for charities and think tanks across the UK and EU.

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As we leave 2023 behind, I鈥檓 reminded of the power of bayanihan 鈥� the Filipino sense of community spirit that helped us break new ground this year despite our limited resources. Our sense of bayanihan also helped our community end the year with a stronger sense of voice and visibility through the various individual and collective efforts we have made in diverse fields.

We want to thank you all for supporting our work in celebrating and strengthening the voice of Filipinos across the UK in the past year.

We especially want to thank contributors, volunteers, businesses, community organisations and individuals who have all helped to make it possible for us to continue serving and making an impact in our community and beyond.

With your support, we successfully marked our third anniversary with the Voice and Visibility for Filipino-British Women in Business, the first in-person professional and business networking event for Filipino women in Britain. We also launched two new advice columns to offer authoritative information on parenting and legal matters to kababayans across the UK.

Here are our highlights for 2023:

Offering parenting and legal advice  

Filipinos have specific information needs as immigrants and we wanted to help address these needs which are not often provided by existing organisations or media outlets. We regularly provide helpful advice on a variety of topics, whether it鈥檚 about the latest immigration rules or how to register as an overseas voter.

In 2023, we launched two columns to offer trustworthy advice to readers. In March, we started Keep Kalmado and Mother On, a parenting advice column to address the particular concerns faced by Filipino parents. Filipino Mothers UK (FMUK) founder and primary school teacher Catherine Wigley has been writing on topics often discussed by the members of this self-help group. Bibliophile and stay-at-home mum Maika Carrillo has also been sharing her tips about books for children. Look out for more timely advice on Pinoy parenting in the coming months. 聽聽聽聽聽

In September, we launched The UK Law and You, a legal advice section where Filipino legal experts offer authoritative insights on immigration, employment, family and other areas of law. Filipina lawyer Danna Quinto of will be joined by other leading experts to write about relevant legal issues faced by members of our community.

Raising the profile of Filipino entrepreneurs

In May, we launched the 欧博官网 欧博官网, the top listing for businesses serving Filipinos in Britain. From Filipino food to fashion, architecture to virtual assistants, find the information you need to get the product or service you want.

Come October, we successfully achieved what seemed to be an impossible task: organise the first in-person Filipino business networking event within three months and with a small budget! Since we started in 2020, we have been featuring Filipino businesses and entrepreneurs as they continue to increase in numbers in Britain. Thanks to the warm support of Filipino and British businesses and individuals, we were able to bring together some 70 women (and six men!) entrepreneurs and professionals for an interactive networking event in London.

We had four amazing women panellists 鈥� Elaine dela Cruz, Paula Braiden, Maria Garbutt-Lucero and Catherine Wigley 鈥� who all about being immigrant professionals and entrepreneurs.  

The attendees described the event as informative, inspiring and empowering. They all agreed that we need more events like this which offer talks and discussions about what it means to be a Filipino entrepreneur in the UK. Look out for our next networking event in 2024!

Empowering women through advocacy training

Between January and May, we facilitated three in-person advocacy training sessions for the , a group for and led by Filipino domestic workers. The training aimed to help them develop an advocacy strategy to gather support to improve their working conditions.

鈥淭he training gave us the chance to mine our wealth of experiences doing domestic work and provided us with the tools to use these experiences to further our advocacy work,鈥� said Nina Rivera, FDWA secretary.  We trained at least 30 women over four months in 2023.

During Women鈥檚 Month in March, we launched 鈥淏ritain鈥檚 Inspiring Filipino Women鈥� series to celebrate the outstanding contributions of nine Filipino women from diverse backgrounds. From education to human rights, beauty to healthcare, Filipino women have been contributing to making Britain a safer, more equitable place to live. 聽聽聽

Highlighting Filipino artists and healthcare workers

We marked the 75th anniversary of the NHS by looking at the contributions of Filipino nurses as well as the individual awards some of them have won in the last six years.

We also featured a variety of Filipino writers and artists who are shaping the wider conversations about immigrant Filipinos in Britain: Paris Zarcilla, Candy Gourlay, Sha Supangan, Ramon Tenoso, Rogelio Braga and Rhine Bernardino.

From organising networking events to giving advocacy training to community groups, documenting our specific issues and achievements and to creating a business directory for Filipino-British businesses, our mission is to make Filipinos more visible and our voices stronger.  

From the appointment of Oliver Soriano as the first Filipino chief nurse in the NHS to the film debut of Paris Zarcilla, the first Filipino-British director to launch a film in the UK and internationally, 2023 has seen a stronger voice and visibility from the Filipino community.   

As we embark on 2024, we are excited to continue working with community groups, businesses, associations and individuals to pursue our collective goals where our contributions as Filipino immigrants are recognised and valued in Britain. 聽

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Start with why, 欧博官网 Sinek聽tells us in his .

Why have I started聽欧博官网? And what do we aim to do as a social enterprise? These are the usual questions people ask me when I tell them what I do.

Our mission at 欧博官网 is to empower Filipinos across the UK through reliable information and advice.

Allow me to share with you what I’ve done – with the help of our contributors, directors and supporters – in the last three years:

Helping raise the profile and issues affecting Filipino nurses and healthcare workers at the peak of the Covid pandemic

I wrote original articles that examined the statistics of Filipino nurses across the UK and the challenge of getting reliable data about their ethnicity/nationality. This article would help Filipino nurses advocate for the creation of their own Filipino ethnic category in the NHS.

I was the first Filipino journalist to write about the as a result of the lack of data on Filipino nurses during the pandemic. After  broke the news, UK health and nursing media outlets followed suit.

Using publicly available, I mapped out where Filipino nurses and healthcare workers died during the pandemic to better understand the situation at that time.

My original pieces of research have been cited by Filipino nursing leaders Jennifer Caguioa, then BAME adviser to the NHS Chief Nursing Officer (England); Francis Fernando and .

Our articles have been cited by academic Dr Ella Parry-Davies, Daily Mail, and Philippine media outlets The Philippine Star and Rappler.

Helping raise the profile and shape the representation of Filipino women in Britain

During Women’s Month in March 2022, we started the series “Inspiring Filipino Women in Britain” where we featured nine outstanding Filipino women: , , , , , , ,  and .

Helping raise the profile of Filipino authors, community groups, artists and businesses across the UK

We have featured author , artist Rhine Bernardino, nurse May Parsons, cafe owner Zosima Fulwell, publicity director , and businesses like , the , and many other businesses and community groups.

In the last three years and true to our mission, we have been bringing the voices of Filipinos across the UK.

As we prepare for our event, on 21 October at The Abbey Centre in London, I remind myself never to lose sight of our “Why.” When the community succeeds, we too as a business succeed.

Book today and meet Filipino women professionals and entrepreneurs via our .

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My first love was football. I first kicked a white ball with black spots at as a grade-schooler. Kicking and running and kicking some more until I’m right in front of a goal ready to smash that ball behind the sticks into the net, it was exhilarating for a kid like me back then.

To me, it was the coolest thing ever. I played in the school football team from primary until secondary school. I played in the inter-college games at the and even coached our college鈥檚 ladies’ team. But alas, like many football lovers in the Philippines of my generation, it all ended after our university days.

There was no real league to get excited about, no real local team to support. However, the love for the sport remains in our hearts. It’s pure passion. It’s an understanding that simple as the game maybe – after all, it’s just all about kicking a ball – the ultimate reward for all that running and kicking is a goal.

Football taught me so many things. I learned the value of working hard to achieve a goal, but even better is that goals are easier to achieve if there is teamwork. As it is in life, one can never always win, even the best teams can lose but showing up and giving your all in those 90 minutes is always a win. Football can be a struggle, everyone has to put in the hard work to earn something and to me this is a reflection of life in our own country.

As a football fanatic from the Philippines, I have always looked outside our archiplelago for inspiration. The Brazilian Ronaldo for me is still and teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United and even Chelsea caught my eye. But as I moved to the UK to work as a nurse, I set my allegiance with the – Arsenal.

There are so many Filipinos like me whose football craving was satisfied by our foreign heroes and teams. Smart, agile, resilient: these are characteristics of us Filipinos that translate well into football and yet it’s a sport which has always been in the background for us Pinoys. Thankfully, things have vastly changed in the last 10 years. The or Azkals鈥� resurgence in 2010 was a ray of hope for the sport. We have also seen the establishment of a functioning that allows us to develop local support, if not more awareness of the sport in our country. These were small steps that allowed us to progress in football.

Fast forward to today, our women’s national football team or Filipinas just made history, with a score of 1-0. I hope our country has finally seen our potential in football. I hope we now realise how lucky we are because the world sees our Filipinas for how well they performed. The Filipinas had to fight tooth and nail to qualify for the World Cup for the first time, find a TV station to air their World Cup games, score their first ever goal in the World Cup and earn our country鈥檚 first ever win in the World Cup.

I beg our countrymen, please do not take your eyes off our brave and galant Filipinas. They are fighting for our pride – against all odds time and again, they have proven to be worthy of our love and support. Please remember they are our heroines who were putting in the graft in their craft even when nobody was looking their way. They are not in the World Cup because of luck, they worked harder than ever and now the results are coming in. And let us all support them in any way we can especially as this World Cup progresses.

Maybe they qualify for the next stage or maybe they get eliminated in this World Cup, but for me, the Filipinas have already won. They have rekindled in me that passion and love I have for football way back when I was a kid growing up in Manila. I just hope that the Philippines, too, have found new heroes to stand by because they have shown that hard work, teamwork and resilience lead to winning. Many congratulations to the whole Filipinas team – you truly deserve to be on the world鈥檚 biggest stage. We now have our very own football legends to talk and sing about.

About the author

George Bermudez is a Filipino nurse who has worked across different specialties in the UK. He currently works at Vitality UK as a Team Leader Nurse Examiner.  He is the co-founder of , an online community for Filipino nurses with over 16,000 active members. They offer weekly articles and host monthly webinars that help nurses in their struggles in living and working in Britain.

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March – Women鈥檚 History Month – has been an amazing month for us at 欧博官网.

On March 7th, we attended a forum organised by the to look at how Filipino women have been constructed over the decades in Britain. Towards the end of her discussion, Dr Cristina Juan, head of the Philippine Studies Program at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), praised 欧博官网’s work in helping change the representation of Filipino women in the UK. Alongside , and , our work was cited for challenging stereotypes and offering a more diverse representation of Filipino women in Britain.聽

We were certainly energised and inspired by Dr Juan鈥檚 acknowledgement of our emergent work in this area.聽 Now as we end this observance, I feel a great sense of accomplishment having launched two projects for 欧博官网.

First, we created a series of feature articles, , to put a spotlight on Filipinas who are making a difference in the UK.

From a young academic and a climate activist to the founder of Filipino Domestic Workers鈥� Association UK,  a mixed-race science communicator to an award-winning nurse advocate for international nurses, we featured nine outstanding women from diverse personal and professional backgrounds who are speaking up and making a stand for themselves as migrant Filipinas here in Britain.

Second, we launched a parenting column, to tackle topics that are relevant for Filipino parents. Catherine Wigley, founder of which has some 5,000 members, will be writing on issues that concern many Filipino mums. Cat said that she will drawing from the collective experience and knowledge of the forum members in her column.聽

In her first column, Cat bravely shared how she suffered from postnatal depression as a first time mum.  With the support of her husband and a health visitor, Cat found ways to conquer her social anxiety and now runs her own play group in North Wales.  We hope that her column could be an avenue to discuss Filipinos鈥� mental health. 

For many of the women we featured, they say that moving to the UK and starting a new life for themselves has been one of their most challenging experiences. Separated from their families and uprooted from the culture they know, they have to learn new ways of communicating and interacting at the same time as navigating the complex processes of settling in as immigrants in their adopted country.  

But if there鈥檚 one thing that all the women we featured have in common, it is their determination to follow their passion and find a way how they can make a difference in their community. 

To quote Angela Davis, 鈥溾€淚 am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.鈥� 

Mabuhay ka, Filipina!

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As we usher in 2023 and bid farewell to 2022, we thank you, all, for supporting our work in bringing you authoritative, engaging and useful articles and stories about and for Filipinos in the UK.

Here are some of our highlights for 2022:

Reporting milestones in our community

At the start of 2022, we were the first media outlet in the UK to cover the in the NHS鈥檚 electronic staff record as well as in the Nursing and Midwifery Council鈥檚 (NMC) register. This was a milestone for the Filipino community as it meant that the estimated 40,000 Filipinos working in the NHS could now identify themselves as 鈥淔ilipino/a.鈥� Filipino nurses and midwives registered or planning to register with the NMC now also have the option to identify as 鈥淔ilipino鈥� with this change. 

We brought you the story of Lou Angelo Aguilar and RJ Louis Garcia, the first Filipino nurses to be featured in a British .  

We celebrated the late Queen Elizabeth II鈥檚 diamond jubilee in July with one of our best read articles:聽 . 聽We mourned her passing, giving you a story on .

Before the year ended, we looked at in the UK. We interviewed nursing leaders in the community as well as a newly arrived nurse who decided to join the industrial action.

Providing information and advice

We covered the Philippines elections in June, providing much-needed information on how online.

We wrote about the based on the government鈥檚 new policy. We also provided a listing of different taking place around the UK.

Filipino Mothers UK is an influential group in Britain, providing support and advice to hundreds of its members. We featured , highlighting its important work for immigrant mums.

We also asked how Filipino mums are responding to the , with single mums finding it with the situation.

Celebrating our Filipino heritage

We featured UK-based Filipino authors , and .  All three of them talked about the lack of Philippine representation in British literature and their desire to bring Filipino history and culture into the mainstream.   

We had an article on must-read Philippine as well as an based in the UK. We wrote about the , one of the largest international rights trade fairs in the world.

To highlight how Filipino restaurants are growing in number in the UK, we featured serving Filipino food from London to Belfast.

In November, we sponsored the for Filipino children to celebrate World Children鈥檚 Day.  Children ages 5 to 10 from across the UK shared their thoughts on the question:  What are my favourite things about being Filipino or the Philippines?

Working with clients

Between July and August, we worked with our first ever client, , a coalition of charities working for the rights of migrant domestic workers.  We published a series of articles to support their campaign to raise people鈥檚 awareness about the UK鈥檚 which ties domestic workers to abusive employers.

Collaborating with the Filipino Domestic Workers Association, Kanlungan, Kalayaan and The Voice of Domestic Workers, we wrote four articles on Filipino domestic workers in the UK:  , their stories, their struggles, and to respond to their situation.

Our main article was republished by The Sun Hong Kong, a Filipino diaspora news organisation with the largest readership in Hong Kong.

Mentoring ethnic minority journalism students

In 2022, we mentored a total of seven young journalism students from Bournemouth University.  Five of them were overseas students coming from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates and Nigeria.

Aman Singh, a , said that 鈥淲riting for 欧博官网 helped me understand what it feels like to be a minority in a country and how you would want your stories to be heard by others,鈥� he says. 

The year ahead

2023 is going to be a busy year as we plan to embark on projects that would document our heritage, support businesses and strengthen the work of organisations serving Filipinos in the UK.

We look forward to your continued support as we aim to work more closely with community groups this year.

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This year marks nine years since super Typhoon Haiyan, locally known as Yolanda, brought unparalleled destruction to the lives of the people of Eastern Visayas. On 8th November (7th Nov UK time) 2013, Haiyan struck central Philippines, leaving some , the majority of them from Leyte province. A total of 16 million people were affected, four million of them were displaced. 

In what may be considered as pa-siyam, the Filipino tradition of praying nine consecutive days for the dead, this year鈥檚 anniversary marks the end of a nine-year commemoration for those whose lives were taken by Haiyan. Yet, for most of us survivors who lost loved ones on that fateful day, the closure remains something we have to decide for ourselves as succeeding typhoons that brought similar magnitude of devastation and the continuing loss of lives in its wake continue to remind us of our ordeal and the trauma that seems to have no end.

When the typhoon struck that day, I thought it was another ordinary typhoon we are used to encountering on a regular basis. Tacloban City, Leyte, is located in the eastern part of the Philippines and serves as the capital of the Eastern Visayas region. Facing the Pacific Ocean, we are directly on the path of the typhoons that develop from the vastness of the Pacific. Growing up, I was used to seeing family members and neighbours being up on the roofs fixing any leaks while a storm rages. I remember one particular instance when we were under typhoon signal number 3 but the sun was shining. Nothing prepared me for Haiyan鈥檚 force, considered as which recorded 315 kilometres per hour of wind speed at landfall. Images of Tacloban鈥檚 total devastation shocked the global community as help started to pour into affected areas.

For the first time in my life, I was leaving Tacloban not to represent my place of birth and the Philippines to the international stage but because I was internally displaced. I slept on the porch of my uncle鈥檚 house as there were many of us who took shelter in his home, desperate for a space to sleep and rest even when its roof needed to be repaired. I developed an infection in my feet from wading in the murky floodwaters brought by the storm surge. My feet required a minor operation and antibiotics before they completely healed. 

It took me five days before I was able to communicate to worried and anxious loved ones and friends that my family and I are alive. However, my Aunt Rosa and cousin Nida were not able to make it to safety. They remain missing to this day.

Nine years have passed and while there are only a few physical reminders of the harrowing tragedy that befell our city,  the emotional scars left by Haiyan are etched in every heart and mind of the people of Tacloban. 

As a Haiyan survivor and a humanitarian worker, allow me to share some reflections as we commemorate the anniversary of the strongest typhoon that struck the Philippines:

1. We need to teach local history.

There were at least three super typhoons that devastated Eastern Visayas prior to Haiyan.  In 1991, Tropical caused a 22-inch flash flood in Ormoc and the rest of Leyte killing at least 5,000. Almost 80 years before that in 1912, a tropical storm with similar intensity as Haiyan, ravaged the towns of with the death toll estimated at around 15,000. Earlier still in 1897, a 鈥渢idal wave鈥� struck Tacloban 鈥渨ith great fury,鈥� leaving between people dead.Yet, these significant events are not part of our local history. It was only after Haiyan that we came to know how Leyte had been previously ravaged by super typhoons a century ago.

This historical information could have warned the people of Tacloban that disasters such as these could potentially strike again in the present. Teaching local history and setting up museums will enable  us to learn more about our past and draw lessons that could help us be better prepared for upcoming disasters. The continued loss of lives in the succeeding typhoons  after Haiyan that hit Eastern Visayas is an indicator that we have not learned our lessons.

2. Building resilience starts with disaster preparedness.

Preparedness should be consistently done and imparted to individuals and families. For a region that is vulnerable to almost all forms of disasters, except perhaps for volcanic eruption, there must be an aggressive and massive information dissemination and capability building. Women and children must be equipped with life skills such as swimming and they should be part of the decision-making process whenever the family decides to evacuate among other crucial decisions that are mostly decided by the men in the family.

3. Good governance is key.

Nine years after Haiyan, there are still houses that need to be constructed in selected resettlement sites in Tacloban. Meanwhile, installing water supply for these resettlement areas which had allocated funds is years behind schedule. 

A month ago, I was in one of the when I noticed that there are houses with only the foundation in place. But I was informed by those who are living there that these unfinished houses had already been raffled to beneficiaries who were allegedly told by authorities to follow-up with the contractor to finish the housing construction. As to confirming the identities of bodies recovered in the aftermath of the storm nine years ago, some families are still waiting for  DNA testing  to be done because of the apparent lack of reagents. This is a disservice to Haiyan survivors.

Nine years after the storm, most of us are back on our feet with our jobs and our homes but let us not forget those who have been left behind: the homeless, waterless, and voiceless. We have to advocate on behalf of those who are not being heard. As the newly appointed co-chairperson of the Regional Development Council in Eastern Visayas, I urge for the continued monitoring of post-Haiyan projects that are yet to be finished. 

Our fast recovery was a result of a global effort coupled with national and local government cooperation and the resilient spirit of the people of Eastern Visayas. From grateful people in the eastern part of the Philippines, we say 鈥淒amo nga salamat鈥� to all those who helped us in our hour of need. We will pay it forward by helping fellow Filipinos affected by the recent disasters and ensuring zero casualties in the near future.聽

Top photo credit: Liezel Longboan

About the author:

Leo Christian V. Lauzon is an independent gender and development consultant and president of Kabataan San Sidlangan, Inc. He served as the Chairperson of the Regional Gender and Development Committee (RGADC) VIII – Eastern Visayas from 2016-2019 and at present, the Private Sector Representative of Persons with Special Concerns at the Regional Development Council (RDC) VIII, the first young person to sit in the highest policy-making body of Region VIII. He was recently appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. as RDC VIII co-chairperson. He served as a gender specialist and humanitarian worker during the Typhoon Yolanda emergency response, the Marawi siege recovery and rehabilitation, and Typhoon Odette response.

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Thanks to Republic Act 11641 (signed just last 30 December by President Duterte), the Department of Migrant Workers started becoming operational April 4th with the approval of the law鈥檚 implementing rules and regulations (IRR). Though, there will be a two-year transition for DMW to be fully operational, says Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Arriola.

This fulfilled electoral promise by President Duterte called the DMW will see bureaus and offices from three departments 鈥擫abor and Employment (DOLE, with five), Foreign Affairs (DFA, one) and Social Work and Development (DSWD, one)鈥� now housed under one roof.  

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) will spearhead the offices under the new department. Joining the POEA will be the National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO), the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO), the International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB) and the National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP). DFA鈥檚 Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUWMA) and the DSWD鈥檚 Office of the Social Welfare Attaches complete the DMW cast. As a footnote, for each embassy and consulate, there will now be a Migrant Worker鈥檚 Office (MWO) that serves as DMW鈥檚 overseas frontline. In addition, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will be the only attached agency of the DMW since OWWA has its own charter as a semi-government owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) while also serving as a welfare agency.

Read more: A milestone for Filipinos: their own ethnic category in the NHS

Even with their specific mandates previously, these absorbed offices try to find ways to coordinate especially when distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) seek government aid in both host countries and in the Philippines. Yet admittedly, prior to RA 11641, a Philippine embassy or consulate has DOLE鈥檚 labor attache, the welfare officer from OWWA, the social welfare attache, the assistance-to-nationals (ATN) personnel of the DFA, and of course the ambassador or consul-general. These various Philippine government personnel work in the spirit of what is called the one-country team approach that the ambassador or consul-general spearheads.

And when the OFW needs to be repatriated, the embassy or consulate then cooperates with DFA 鈥� OUMWA and with OWWA. The now two-year-old COVID-19 pandemic saw this coordination by OUMWA and OWWA, leading now to over-900,000 returnee OFWs being assisted.

Perceived coordination confusions, and probably puzzlement for the OFW seeking help and assistance, prompted lobbies for RA 11641 since July 2016. Prior and during the pandemic, lobbyists aver that OFWs go through a maze of offices to seek immediate help; to report erring employers and recruitment and manning agencies; to file cases; to seek economic aid for returnees鈥� reintegration; and to access psychosocial services for OFWs (especially women) in vulnerable and distressful situations.

Read more: The Philippines and the UK hold first ever consular dialogue

This plethora of agencies was a by-product of decades that the Philippines had regulated the overseas labor migration of Filipinos, especially for OFWs or temporary migrant workers. Since the enactment of the 1974 Labor Code that began the regulation of overseas employment, agencies had been set up for migrant workers. As for permanent migrants or emigrants, we have the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) serving their needs and also ensuring their safe and orderly migration.

Come the mid-2000s, not only was the NRCO formed. Other agencies outside of the migrant sector have dipped their hands to serve OFWs and even permanent migrants and naturalized citizens abroad. There鈥檚 DSWD. We have the social protection agencies such as the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), the Social Security System (SSS), the Pag-Ibig Fund, even the Department of Justice (DOJ) because of its hosting of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT). Of course, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) regulates the remittance products being offered in the market while recording remittance inflows.

And because overseas migration reveals itself as a multi-faceted phenomenon, other agencies then got involved: Departments of Agriculture, Education, Science and Technology, Trade and Industry, Health, and their bureaus and attached agencies. Even the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) came into the fray and mandated provincial, municipal and city local government units (LGUs) in May 2020 to set up 鈥淒ILG OFW desks鈥�. Come the mid-2010s, finally the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) explicitly devoted a separate chapter for overseas Filipinos in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP).

Read more: A Filipino nurse administers first Covid-19 vaccine in the world while another Filipino carer passes away

All these governmental and policy developments have seen the emergence of overseas migration as a major phenomenon in the country鈥檚 socio-economic and cultural life.

Over the decades also, overseas migration has evolved. The Philippines continues to implement quick-response efforts to assist OFWs in distress and in need (which the pandemic further made evident). But there are also other efforts: regulating the growing recruitment industry; directing remittances to development and to safe, fortuitous investment and entrepreneurial products and activities;  looking at the manpower and other development needs of the country; among others.

Let us return to the DMW. The full opening of this Department in 2024 comes as the Philippines celebrates the 50^th anniversary of the 1974 Labor Code, which formally began facilitative overseas labor migration and its regulation by the country.

Some migration analysts looked at the provisions of RA 11641 and noticed that most of the provisions may have overemphasized the regulation of overseas employment. It鈥檚 like going back to the 1970s, one female migration analyst said, if one looks at Section 6 (鈥淧owers and Functions鈥�) of RA 11641. Reintegration was mentioned though in Section 17. Meanwhile, an AKSYON Fund (Agarang Kalinga at Serbisyo para sa mga OFW na Nangangailangan) is to be set up at the DMW to provide legal and other forms of assistance to OFWs. That is while DFA will retain its ATN funds and its Legal Assistance Fund 鈥渇or the benefit of other overseas Filipinos and for consular assistance services鈥�.

Secondly, will the DMW address long-perceived 鈥渃oordination confusions鈥� by migration-related agencies?  Even with the multiple government agencies involved in helping OFWs and other overseas Filipinos, globally the Philippines is remarked as the 鈥済old standard鈥� among origin countries in managing overseas migration.

In 2015, a 鈥溾€� was issued by DOLE, DFA, DOH, DSWD, POEA and OWWA in the hopes that overlapping services for OFWs will be avoided. That Joint Manual may have not worked out, which is why the DMW brandishes itself as a new Philippine approach to manage overseas migration.

DMW also represents a consolidated front to highlight the needs of overseas workers in relation to the other development needs of the country. But immigrants/permanent residents and Filipinos naturalized abroad also want a stake in their homeland鈥檚 development. How the forthcoming new government puts forward newer ideas to serve overseas Filipinos (not just migrant workers or OFWs) and to maximize their financial resources and their well-being to benefit their families and the Philippines will be interesting to see.

Admittedly, there was division (even among migrant advocates) in terms of having RA 11641 passed or not. One side says coordination confusions will be diminished through this consolidation of relevant offices into one department. The other side says addressing coordination confusions through better coordination may do the trick.

Now, the Department of Migrant Workers is here. On the part of ordinary overseas Filipino workers, they just want a more responsive, less bureaucratic government helping them out. If this DMW formula works starting in 2024 and in the post-pandemic years to follow, only then will the Philippines see her 鈥渕igration and development management鈥� efforts leading for the better.

The Institute for Migration and Development Issues is a nonprofit thinktank doing policy research, databanking and social commentaries on migration and development issues in the Philippines. Email: ofw_philanthropy@yahoo.com

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The Russian invasion of Ukraine is the last thing we want to happen in our lifetime. We have barely overcome the Covid virus and now we face this threat to world peace. It is clear that peace is fragile in all corners of the world.

The response of the Western world to the Russian invasion of Ukraine has now prompted President Vladimir Putin to put on alert his nuclear arsenal. This was never foreseen a few months ago. Now world peace hangs in the balance because one misstep can suddenly create a domino effect into the relationships of the countries around the world.

The question remains where will this situation will lead us to?

I do not intend to look at the political and social dimension of the issue. I would rather prefer to look at the spiritual aspect of the problem. The situation calls for us to look at the interior dimension of our life. The fragility of world peace reminds us that there is more into our life than full satisfaction of our bodily senses. There is more to life than what we see with our naked eyes. The challenge is clear that we are equally responsible for the wellbeing of another.

The world has recorded countless wars in history but it only reminds of one basic issue:  it reflects the weakness of mankind. We are continuously educated by history that the weakness of man drives humanity backward. The progress we have achieved in the last 80 years after the Second World War is under threat because of this recent attack on Ukraine.

Where do we go from here? The decisions that our leaders will make in the next few days, weeks or months can either stop further violence or make the situation worse. For us, the common people, we are at the mercy of their decision.

I suggest that we turn our attention to our spiritual journey rather than allow ourselves to be swallowed by fear of death and war. The only positive thing about the current situation is that we are in the beginning of the Lenten season. It literally reminds that we were made from the dust and we shall be returning into it.

I write this reflection on the eve of Ash Wednesday. The Catholic Church invites us to accompany Jesus in his journey to the desert. In the desert, we are stripped of any form of convenience:  food, water and other basic comfort. We find ourselves alone with God, this is what Jesus wanted us to do in the desert. To forget all the chaos and dangers of our world  and investigate the quality of our relationship with God.

This time calls us to be alone with God. In the desert we are faced with the spiritual realities that we need to learn – how to say no to the desires of our flesh. Life is not just the satisfaction of our flesh. The first temptation of Jesus was about bread which signifies the satisfaction of our senses. We cannot allow ourselves to be dominated by food, sex and material things. Jesus teaches that we have to learn how to say no because our life is meant for a greater purpose because the satisfaction of the desires of our soul is the primary agenda of our earthly existence.

The second temptation is the worship of wealth. Our society today worship wealth as if it is the primary purpose of our existence. Jesus teaches us that wealth can never buy our entrance to heaven. The third temptation is worship of power. The word of God is definitely more powerful than all the tyrants of the world combined. The final temptation of man is about pride; we consider ourselves as more important than God. We behave, we are in control of our lives, we can do what we want.

Please remember that every second of our life draws us closer to our grave. We may not feel it now but certainly time will catch up with us and eventually we will vow to the limits of our physical strength, and death will triumph in the end. Hence, let us turn ourselves to Jesus and pursue the kingdom of God relentlessly.

About the author:

Fr. Roy is the parish priest at St Columba’s Parish in South Croydon. He was ordained in the Philippines in October 1995. He pursued his post graduate studies in the UK and whilst studying, was attached to St Thomas More in East Dulwich. He was appointed parish priest of South Maidstone where he stayed for 6 years before being appointed to St. Columba鈥檚 in September 2017.

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Several weeks earlier, I had managed to find a bunch of talented and generous individuals who were keen to volunteer as writers and sub-editors for an online news site I had just set up for UK-based Filipinos. Earlier still, I had started a aggregating news stories as the pandemic raged.

It had all started because I – and others – had been frustrated that the UK didn鈥檛 have a site that offered reliable information on how Filipinos 鈥� particularly healthcare workers 鈥� were being affected by the pandemic. I was part of the government鈥檚 furlough scheme, and I felt desperate to help our community make sense of what was going on. Furlough had given me an opportunity to act and respond to a crisis.

By August 2020, had been reported by the British media to have died of Covid-19. I remember being frustrated that no one was looking into this issue more closely.  And that was what spurred me to start 欧博官网 鈥� to tell the untold stories of Filipinos in the UK at this unprecedented moment.

Despite very limited resources, our volunteer contributors and editors saw the value of what we aimed to do and signed up to this mission. After two months of gathering and writing stories, and many late nights and early mornings, in the afternoon on 21^st August.

One year on from the website going live, I am proud that 欧博官网 has been there for Filipinos during the pandemic, particularly for our frontline workers who were the worst affected among all of us. It has also covered many diverse stories about the Filipino community that we would not have been able to read elsewhere.

Responding to gaps in information

While the British media and other Filipino media outlets mainly reported on the deaths of Filipino healthcare workers, 欧博官网 aimed to provide data, context and original analysis about the situation.

With the help of volunteers, we sifted through multiple official, local and national news and social media sources, that took place within the Filipino community. This took note not only of the heart-breaking points but also of the different positive responses to this crisis.  

We examined publicly available data to , providing a broader picture of the issue. We also highlighted the data gap about Filipino nurses in the UK and the consequent challenge of measuring the true force of the pandemic. These efforts seemed to have an impact: our work was cited by Filipino nursing leaders working for the NHS, by , the media charity and the  

Making a difference to Filipinos in healthcare

In our first year, we focused our efforts on telling the stories of Filipino frontline healthcare workers as they formed the largest part of our community and had suffered the most during the pandemic.

Through close collaboration with Philippine Nurses Association UK (PNA UK) and Filipino Nurses Association UK (FNA UK), as well as other leading figures in nursing, we covered such issues as the leaving the Philippines and and the wider Filipino community. Another important part of our work was providing research support to Filipino nursing managers in the NHS in their efforts to understand why many of their Filipino colleagues died of coronavirus.  

We listened to the who were assigned to work with Covid patients. Despite their fears and worries for themselves and their families back home, they steeled themselves to carry out their roles. In a private message sent to me by one of them, they thanked us for giving them a chance to speak out and share their stories.  

Indeed, we chronicled how the Filipino nursing community evolved 鈥� and thrived – over this challenging period.  We wrote about the , the , the recognition of and the , and the historic role that played in administering the first Covid vaccine in the world outside clinical trials. 

Covering diverse stories

Although many of our efforts have been spent on the stories of those working in healthcare, we made sure to also tell the stories of families, young people, artists, and businesses too. 

We spoke to about how they were coping with the closure of schools at the height of the pandemic. One parent told me after the interview that she felt a sense of release after sharing her story as a young mum dealing with the lockdown.

We interviewed officers of to find out how they continued to maintain a sense of community through online meet-ups. We would like to write more about young people and their experiences and views in the coming months.

It was also essential for us to write about Philippine history, arts and culture, as immigrants far away from our homeland.

We gave our readers an interesting read about lesser known as well as by Brits and kababayans alike. Historian George Borrinaga鈥檚 piece exploring Samar and Leyte , and our interview with pioneering are in fact the two most read stories from our site. In the coming weeks, we hope to put culture and the arts at the top of our agenda.

Amidst the gloom, we featured the , perhaps the Filipino community鈥檚 best cultural ambassador in the UK. Trying to make Filipinos more visible in the UK through her art, we wrote about and its efforts to spotlight 鈥榠nvisible鈥� migrant communities.  

Businesses and seafarers

Speaking to , we were inspired by her efforts to prepare meals for Filipino NHS staff while promoting her highly recommended banana ketchup. Another business we featured was which told us about the challenges they faced and how they continued to run their business despite lockdown restrictions. 

We also covered and more recently, the wanting to come to the UK.

Apart from the healthcare sector, another important group we wrote about was who have also been badly affected by the economic slowdown brought out by Covid-19. We covered the stuck for months on ships, waiting endlessly to be repatriated to the Philippines.聽聽

A solutions-based approach to journalism

In the coming months we hope to build on what we have done so far, and take it further. I recently joined the project being run by Bournemouth University. They are showing us at 欧博官网 how we can try to make an even greater impact in future.

Research has shown that many because of Covid-19 information fatigue, saying the negative coverage was affecting their mental and physical health. The study also reveals that participants feel solution-oriented stories could help them .

So in the coming months, we will be redesigning our website and expanding our coverage of culture and business while tackling the issue of mental health. Please get in touch if you have interesting stories to share on these topics.  Email us if you would like to write for us 鈥� we are always looking for new contributors, writing in either English or Filipino.

So this is how it came about. Looking at what our team have achieved in just one year, I cannot help but feel inspired by the power of collaboration and inclusion. Without our amazing volunteers, partners and collaborators – and especially you, our dear readers – our work would be without any meaning.

Maraming salamat po sa tiwala at suporta!

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