Google in RP

Google looking for Philippine head

Erwin Lemuel Oliva eoliva@inq7.net
INQ7.net

INTERNET search engine firm Google is looking for qualified candidates to become its country representative to the Philippines.

The country representative will be responsible for leading strategic and operational initiatives critical to the ongoing growth of the company," according to an online advertisement found at http://www.google.com/jobs/international.html#crom_ph.

Google indicated that the ideal candidate should have demonstrated leadership in marketing, sales or general management for an Internet or technology company and/or management consulting, and have graduated at or near the top of their class from a leading graduate academic institution. It prefers applicants with MBA degrees.

"We are looking for self-starters who can work in a rapidly changing industry, tolerate ambiguity and demonstrate leadership with limited oversight. Fluency in English and Tagalog is required," the advertisement added.

Google however noted that this position is a temporary job, and he or she will be based in Manila.

This job will focus on developing and executing operational and strategic initiatives of Google, as well as plan, gather and synthesize relevant data for the company.

The company is also looking for similar candidates to fill in the same job description in other countries, including several areas in Latin America, the Carribean, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and most countries in Southeast Asia.

Google is now the world's top internet search engine and is listed at the NASDAQ. It has over 4,000 employees.

Pinoy Accent

Passion For Reason : Job discrimination against 'thick Filipino accent'

Raul Pangalangan
Inquirer News Service

THIS week, "Linggo ng Wika" [Language Week], we celebrate our national language, Filipino, as the most honest expression of the Filipino soul, fully knowing that it is not the most effective idiom for competing in the global market. In the age of business outsourcing, "call centers" and the export of migrant labor, English proficiency is our comparative advantage.

Along the way, another tongue has actually emerged: Filipino English. Homegrown Filipinos may not be aware of it, but the US Supreme Court sometime ago upheld the non-hiring of an otherwise excellent job applicant because of his heavy Filipino accent in Fragante v. City and County of Honolulu, in a decision handed down in 1990.

Fragante was a combat veteran who fought as a guerrilla against the Japanese and served a 23-month tour of duty in Vietnam. He retired from the Philippine military, became a naturalized American, and applied for a job with the Department of Motor Vehicles and Licensing. A US law professor described him thus: "Horatio Alger gained fame writing about men like Manuel Fragante, who faced adversity with resilience, self-reliance, intelligence and hard work."

Fragante topped the written examinations. But as soon as he entered the interview room, the interviewers were floored by his "very pronounced accent which is difficult to understand." He wasn't hired.

He filed suit under US civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion and national origin. He would construe accent as a "proxy criterion" for "national origin," because accent is nearly immutable -- at a certain age, you simply can't shake it off, try hard as you may -- and is functionally equivalent to discrimination on the basis of foreign origin.

But the courts held that his thick accent affected his job performance. Oral ability to communicate was a legitimate job qualification, and was therefore not discriminatory. Just by way of example, if you imagine the voice of your typical "atorni" in that context ("Ay eeem rreedi tu prrusid, yurrrahhnar"), perhaps he would have to repeat himself just to be understood, and might take twice as long to accomplish the same work as those who spoke in more familiar accents.

The irony was that during the trial, Fragante testified for two straight days in English, in nearly perfect grammar and syntax. His counsel had argued that it wasn't a question of "linguistic deviation"; if he wasn't easily understood, it was because his hearers automatically tuned off as soon as they detected his accent. It wasn't that his tongue wouldn't cooperate, but that other people's ears-and minds-closed up when they heard him. His ineffectiveness at his job lay, not in the stubbornness of his tongue, but in the callousness of his listeners' hearts. When "listener prejudice" is seen as a neutral test for job effectiveness, the court ratifies and becomes an instrument, an extension, of other people's biases.

But Filipinos shouldn't be surprised that language is more than just a way of talking, but a way of fixing a pecking order. Historians tell us, for instance, that the national hero Emilio Jacinto, who rebelled against Spain, actually affected a Spanish accent in speaking Tagalog as a young man, a mark of his being better educated than his peers.

So, before you demonize Fragante's tormentors, first admit that back here at home, we inflict and endure "listener prejudice" among ourselves. All of us speak English with an accent, yet there is a hierarchy even among those accents. Where is it written that a Manila accent is superior to an Ilocano accent? Both are equally foreign-sounding to native English speakers, whether British, American, or Australian. Teachers and job recruiters favor students who speak in the confident accent of the classy Catholic schools, and pick on those who sound "promdi" [provincial]. Yet this distinction has nothing to do with the language itself; it has all to do with our own local, class-based bigotry.

Irony of ironies, the burgeoning job market for call centers in Manila seeks American-sounding natives. These centers have apparently brought accent-conditioning to the level of a science, which should weaken Fragante's argument about accent immutability. Consider finally those telephone companies that advertise international long distance with Filipino operators. Would the job vacancy say "Genuine Filipino accent only"? (The foolproof test is to make job applicants read the vacancy notice. If they say "jinwayn," they're in!) Perhaps for certain jobs, an accent requirement is no different from a language requirement-you need a Spanish speaker to translate "Noli Me Tangere," a connoisseur of Filipino English to ask, "Collect ho ba 'to?"

When I was a student activist at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon cityC I noticed that activists who had hitherto spoken English regularly, suddenly stopped or tried to sound as "authentic" as possible, rolling their r's and blunting their short a's. It just wasn't politically correct otherwise. I couldn't have imagined that decades later it would be economically necessary and academically indispensable in the Philippines to speak the colonizer's language in the colonizer's style.

Language then is not just about power. For the poor bright kid who dreams of one day landing a well-paying job at a call center, it is about dreams. Learning English, for him, can very well make the difference between languishing in the same slum where he came from, and moving onward to a bright world where toilets don't stink, people say "Good morning" to one another, and yes, a decent paycheck awaits every payday. I will not begrudge him his dreams.

OFWs' Dollars

BRINGS 6-MONTH INFLOWS TO $4.9B
OFW remittances surged 32% in June
Doris C. Dumlao
Inquirer News Service

REMITTANCES from the country's migrant workers surged by 32.1 percent in June to $935 million from a year ago due to the higher deployment of skilled workers and improved access to banking channels, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported.

BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said the sustained double-digit growth in overseas Filipino workers' (OFW) remittances had brought the first-semester inflows to $4.9 billion, which was 21.5 percent higher than the year-ago level of $4 billion.

The bulk of the fund transfers came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

Citing data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Tetangco said the total number of deployed Filipino workers for the first semester rose by 6.8 percent to 527,573.

Land-based workers increased by 6.1 percent to 402,332 from a year ago while deployed sea-based workers rose by 9.2 percent to 125,241.

"The demand for both land- and sea-based Filipino workers has continuously grown on account of the value-enhancing training provided to local workers prior to deployment (such as multi-lingual proficiency, information technology literacy) to develop and hone their capabilities as well as boost their competitiveness and marketability," Tetangco said.

The top destinations of OFWs were Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and Japan.

It also helped that higher paid and professional workers were being deployed, Tetangco said.

For the first quarter of 2005, POEA data indicated that production-related, professional/technical and service providers comprised the bulk of the deployed workers.

"Banks continue to intensify their efforts in extending banking services to overseas Filipino workers by increasing the number of remittance centers abroad, introducing innovative means of remittance transfer and establishing ties with foreign financial institutions," Tetangco added.

In a survey by the National Statistics Office in 2000, about 7.25 percent of Filipino households or approximately 1.1 million derived their main source of income from cash and other assistance from abroad.

Given the large magnitude of these OFW flows, these cash transfers have been fueling economic growth in the past couple of years and have been partly responsible for the growth of such sectors as real estate and telecommunications.

"Remittances are important in providing the economy with foreign exchange resources, helping ease foreign exchange liquidity constraints and contributing to a stronger balance-of-payments position," Tetangco said in a recent speech.

These cash transfers also contributed in increasing disposable income and thus lead to increasing consumption, which had been a consistent source of economic growth. Moreover, remittances allowed resources to be available and mobilized where investments are needed.

Government Unions

Registration rules for gov't unions

Inquirer News Service

THIS is in response to the letter of Annie Enriquez-Geron, secretary general of the Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK), published last July 27. It appears that she mixed up the requirements for registration and accreditation of public sector unions.

We would like to clarify: Under the Amended Rules of EO 180, for purposes of registration, a public sector union must have as members at least 30 percent (this used to be 10 percent) of the rank-and-file employees in its organizational unit. The increase in the membership requirement was made upon the recommendation of the employees' duly elected representatives to the Public Sector Labor-Management Council (PSLMC).

The requirement of a higher percentage, which comes close to the "majority-support" requirement for the accreditation of employees' organizations, was made to enhance the mandate of employees' organizations and to strengthen them.

The minutes of the PSLMC meetings will attest to this. Likewise, in the Amended Rules, regional offices of a department, agency or office continue to be recognized as appropriate organizational units for purposes of registration.

To avoid confusion, the Amended Rules of EO 180 used the term "organizational unit" in relation to the registration of employees' unions; and "negotiating unit" in relation to accreditation. It, however, retained the definition of "organizational unit" found in the old rules.

Furthermore, the majority requirement (50 percent plus one of the rank-and-file employees of the agency) for the purpose of accreditation is required under EO 180 itself. The requirements for accreditation enumerated in the Amended Rules merely reiterate the provisions of EO 180 and other previously issued rules and regulations. Hence, for purposes of accreditation as the sole and exclusive negotiating agent, a registered employees' union must show proof that it has the majority support of the rank-and-file employees in the negotiating unit.

More importantly, it must be stressed that the Amended Rules of EO 180 was thoroughly discussed in the council meetings where the employees' representatives actively participated.

Finally, we would like to assure Geron that the commission and the PSLMC steadfastly adhere to the policy of promoting the free and responsible exercise of the right of government employees to self-organization. We also recognize the role of public sector unions as partners in improving public service delivery. This is amply illustrated by the fact that employees' unions were given representation in the PSLMC, even only in an observer capacity, pending the enactment of a law including them as regular members of the council.

Thank you and we hope that with this reply, we have clarified the matter.

ANICIA MARASIGAN-DE LIMA, director IV, Personnel Relations Office, Civil Service Commission, (chair, PSLMC Secretariat)

Jueteng Jobs

As I See It : How to create a million more legal jobs

Neal Cruz opinion@inquirer.com.ph
Inquirer News Service

WOULD you believe that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's anti-"jueteng" [illegal lottery] czar is a former jueteng lord, that the man she assigned to stop the illegal numbers game was a jueteng operator himself? As the saying goes, it takes a thief to catch a thief. But Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn, Ms Arroyo's anti-jueteng czar, has admitted that he is through with jueteng, that he quit cold turkey, just like a drug addict who realizes his addiction is a shortcut to ruin and decides to quit, period. Puerto Princesa is now one of the few cities and municipalities that are jueteng-free. And if he can do it, Hagedorn told the Kapihan sa Manila last Monday, other mayors can do it, too. All that is needed is the will to stop.

That is why the President chose Hagedorn, who is chair of the League of City Mayors, to be her anti-jueteng czar. He doesn't like the monicker, noting that the last Russian czar and his family were massacred by the Bolsheviks. Besides, he doesn't have any police muscle, just him and a few others tasked with eliminating a long-running cancer that is now in the terminal stage. So instead of using police muscle, he is going to use "friendly persuasion" on his fellow mayors. Jueteng cannot survive in any place if the mayor doesn't want it, he said. Which is an indirect admission that many mayors are involved in the numbers game.

So instead of arresting jueteng lords and their thousands of "cabos" [overseers] and "cobradores" [collectors] (who will impoverish the government that has to feed and build more jails for them), Hagedorn will persuade his fellow mayors to finally stop jueteng in their localities because that is the right thing to do. In fact, that is the first of the three recommendations he will submit to the President early next week. The second is to find alternative livelihoods for the thousands of cobradores and cabos who will be rendered jobless by the elimination of jueteng. The third is to suspend the mayors of cities and municipalities found to still have jueteng.

Sorry to inform all the jueteng coddlers, but legalization is not one of Hagedorn's recommendations. His assignment against jueteng, he said, is a four-letter word: STOP. So he will stop it, not legalize it. And his assignment involves stopping only jueteng, not other forms of gambling. So don't blame him if, after jueteng, other forms of gambling proliferate.

In fact, Commissioner Michael Coronel of the Anti-Jueteng Task Force told the Kapihan sa Manila forum that when jueteng was first reduced a few years ago, drug-dealing and addiction increased. The displaced jueteng workers have to turn to other means of livelihood to support their families, he said. They may turn to agriculture next, it was suggested, planting a crop called marijuana.

What he did in Puerto Princesa, Hagedorn said, was to give other jobs to those displaced by the stopping of jueteng operations. He employed them as members of Bantay-Dagat [Sea Watch], Bantay-Gubat [Forest Watch], etc.; hence, they have become more useful citizens. Other mayors can do the same thing, he said.

Those who argue that jueteng provides employment are only half-right, Hagedorn said. Jueteng saps the economy of any locality where it thrives. Far from jueteng money recirculating in the city or municipality, three-fourths of it is actually taken out of the locality.

Of the day's collection of bets, Hagedorn explained, half goes out of the area to pay government officials and policemen as bribes. One-fourth is taken by the operator as his profit. Only one-fourth goes back to the people in the form of winnings of bettors and commissions to the cobradores and cabos. This one-fourth gets smaller and smaller every day as more and more money are taken out of the locality.

One more thing: the bettors must be given an alternative to jueteng, otherwise they would just turn to "masiao," "monte," "sakla," "cara y cruz" and other forms of gambling. Jueteng actually gives the poor people "hope." After they place their bets in the morning, they are sustained the whole day by the hope that, when the cobrador comes that afternoon, he would bring the good news that they had won. When they don't win today, there is always tomorrow.

Isn't lotto of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office just another form of jueteng with another name? I asked. Except that it cannot replace jueteng for several reasons:

1. The lowest bet in lotto is P10, whereas a peso or even 50 centavos will do in jueteng.

2. One has to go to a lotto outlet in town to place his bet whereas a jueteng cobrador goes to your house, even your bedroom or kitchen, to get your bet.

3. Although a lotto prize can be in the millions of pesos, you have to wait for weeks or months to have a winner. In jueteng, however, there are scores of winners every day. And that is what sustains the jueteng bettors -- the hope that before the sun sets that day, they will be richer by a few thousand pesos for the few pesos that they bet that morning.

Is it not possible for the PCSO, I asked, to lower the price of a lotto ticket to P1 and employ the displaced jueteng collectors to sell tickets house to house on commission basis? That way, the collectors will continue to have a means of livelihood.

A great idea! Hagedorn exclaimed, adding that he would recommend that to the President and talk to the PCSO people about it right away.

He estimated that about a million people are employed by jueteng. Instead of creating jobs, Ms Arroyo will eliminate a million jobs. "With your proposal," he joked, "GMA [President Arroyo] can claim that she just created a million more jobs."

OFWs Prefer Saudi

POEA: Saudi Arabia remains top Filipino workers destination

Veronica Uy
INQ7.net

THE KINGDOM of Saudi Arabia remains the top destination of overseas Filipino workers, employing 55,957 or 27 percent of the 209,293 land-based workers registered with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration during the first quarter of the year.

The number is slightly lower than the 58,355 OFWs deployed to the oil-rich Middle East country during the same period last year, according to POEA records.

Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said Saudi Arabia has traditionally been the top OFW destination because of its many "massive development projects" since the 1970s.

Next on the list of top overseas Filipino destinations are Hong Kong with 28,006 or 13.4 percent of land-based workers, United Arab Emirates with 19,817 or 9.47 percent, Japan with 17,213 or 8.22 percent, Taiwan with 12,222 or 5.8 percent, Kuwait with 10,216 or five percent, Singapore with 8,660 or four percent, and Qatar with 7,193 or 3.4 percent.

Qatar also posted the highest increase of OFW deployment at 50 percent. During the same period last year, the country had only 4,793 Filipino workers.

Other countries with marked increases in entry of land-based OFWs are: Bahrain, 49 percent (from 1,810 to 2,693); Kuwait, 24 percent (8,213 to 10,216); Malaysia, 21 percent (1,748 to 2,114); UAE, 15.4 percent (17,172 to 19,817); United States, 13.6 percent (1,074 to 1,220); and Singapore, 12.8 percent (7,678 to 8,660).

Sto. Tomas said increases in these countries more than made up for the decline in Saudi, Japan, United Kingdom, Italy, and Libya.

She said the net five percent increase in deployment is equivalent to 209,293 OFWs deployed during the first quarter of this year, compared to 199,272 for the same period last year.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration