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Side trip in Hong Kong / OFWs.

 

 

Side trip in Hong Kong / OFWs.

Sunday is fiesta time for OFWs in Hong Kong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The guy on the "paper fan" is Mar Roxas. Pictures were taken in October 2008 and the elections are scheduled in May 2010. At that time Mar Roxas was still thinking of running for the job of President of the Philippines. I guess this is a nice example of some pretty advance campaigning...

Side trip in Hong Kong / OFWs.

A balikbayan box (literally returnee's to one's homeland box) is a ubiquitous cardboard box containing any number of small items and sent by an overseas Filipino known as a "balikbayan". Though often shipped by freight forwarders specializing in balikbayan boxes by sea, such boxes can be brought by Filipinos returning to the Philippines by air.

These boxes might contain nearly anything that can fit and that the sender thinks the recipient would like, regardless of whether those items can be bought cheaply in the Philippines, such as non-perishable food, toiletries, household items, electronics, toys, designer clothing, or items hard to find in the Philippines. 

Shipped boxes are delivered directly to the recipient, nearly always the family of the overseas Filipino.

Part of the attraction of the balikbayan box is economic. If the items were sent individually or in smaller boxes through postal services, the cost could be significant. The trade-off is a long transit time by container ships, typically taking several weeks, and the lack of a solid delivery date.

Another part of the attraction is the cultural expectation that returning travellers will bring gifts to family, friends and colleagues left behind in the Philippines. In this way, it is related to the practice of "pasalubong".

 

 

 

 

Jollibee is a phenomenal success story: what began as a two-branch ice cream parlor in 1975 offering hot meals and sandwiches became incorporated in 1978 with seven outlets to explore the possibilities of a hamburger concept. Thus was born the company that revolutionized fast food in the Philippines. 

In 1984, Jollibee hit the P500 million sales mark, landing in the Top 500 Philippine Corporations. In 1987, barely 10 years in the business, Jollibee landed into the country’s Top 100 Corporations. It became the first Philippine fast food chain to break the P1 billion sales mark in 1989. In 1993, Jollibee became the first food service company to be listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange; thus broadening its capitalization and laying the groundwork for sustained expansion locally and beyond the Philippines. Now the company has more than 1,600 locations and 8 brands in 9 countries. After buying out partner in Shanghai fast-food chain Yonghe King and acquiring Chinese restaurant chain Hongzhuangyuan in 2007, it is set for further expansion in China after successfully borrowing $100 million in 2008.

Acording to Forbes Magazine its owners Tony Tan Caktiong & family are in the top 5 of the riches people in the Philippines with a networth of $690 million.

 

Side Trip in Hong Kong /OFWs.

The term Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs was officially adopted under the Ramos Administration to give recognition to millions of Filipinos who sacrifice by working in other countries out of a desire to earn better wages.

It was the administration of Ferdinand E. Marcos who conceived this employment opportunity. Marcos embarked an aggressive labor export program as a temporary measure to reduce unemployment and prop-up the declining economy.

The Labor Code of 1974 formalized the Philippine labor migration program and had as its main goal the promotion of overseas contract work in order for government to reap the economic benefits of lower unemployment and workers’ remittances. In 1982, the Central Bank, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Labor and Employment made the remittance of 50 to 70 percent of workers’ salaries mandatory through Executive Order 857. Sanctions such as the non-renewal of passports or disapproval of new contracts were imposed on those who did not comply.

Executive Order 857 was so unpopular with contract workers that government abandoned it for more relaxed measures, like incentives to remitting migrants, the Suwerte sa Bangko program, the Balikbayan program, and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) remittance assistance program (Gonzalez III, 1996). The Program that was meant to be temporary became a permanent one as successive governments after Marcos pursued the same labor export policy.

The term "Global Filipino" is another term of more recent vintage but less widely used.

Of the 88.6 million Filipinos in the country as of the third quarter of 2007, there is an estimated five million overseas Filipino workers (OFW) abroad, a big portion of which include nurses and other health workers, seamen, domestic helpers, entertainers and IT professionals.

Money sent by OFWs back to the Philippines is a major factor in the country's economy, amounting to more than US$15.9 billion in 2008.

 

 

 

 

  

Side trip Hong Kong / OFW's

Each Sunday, the parks and walkways of Central are filled with Filipinas who have no qualms about rolling out their mats on the sidewalk so that they could mingle together, eat their baon (food), play the music of traditional Filipino dances for their anniversaries, play tong-its  (card game) or just exchange the latest gossip.

All over the place there's the infectious atmosphere of a larger-than-life social club; women of all ages chatting non-stop, comparing notes, staring endlessly at photos of boys and girls in school uniforms, sharing their food, reading Tagalog-language papers or calling home. 

Filipinas are everywhere: outside glitzy high-end shops like Prada on Chater Road (closed on Sundays, hence the site of major Filipino community celebrations) at the elevated walkways outside the stock exchange in Exchange Square, or at the outlying ferry terminals.

Filipinos are pulled to Central on their day off because many Filipino stores, banks, remittance and door-to-door agencies are located at the World-Wide House shopping centre located at the heart of the district.

While Catholic parishes and other churches have community halls for them, many Filipinos prefer the streets not just because these halls cannot hold all of them, but also because of the freedom the sidewalk offers.

You can’t be boisterous, play cards, or drink (alcohol) in our community centres and so they prefer to go out.

Central district is fulfilling a basic need for the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) —regain their sanity after a week of household work, to get sleep and rest, to see friends and have a sense of family.

Side trip in Hong Kong / OFWs.

Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau Island.

Side trip in Hong Kong / OFWs.

Side trip in Hong Kong /OFWs.

Side trip in Hong Kong /OFWs.

Side trip in Hong Kong / OFWs.