Staff Nurses needed in Epsom [Job Ad]

Military Medical Personnel

Staff Nurses to work a variety of shifts at a Military Rehab Hospital in Epsom.

Must be NMC Registered and have lived in the UK for 3 out of the last 5 years.

It would be beneficial to have a car and a drivers’ licence, as the Public Transport links to the hospital are not great. Contact Steve on 0845 9000 197 to discuss or email [email protected]

Introducing GW International Cargo

This is an advertorial from our sponsor GW International Cargo. For more information, please visit their website at: http://gwintercargo.co.uk/.

GW INTERNATIONAL CARGO

Delivering your love across the globe.

In GW International cargo, we render services in transporting your packages smoothly and transporting them to your loved ones and business contacts from UK to Philippines. With the help of our highly devoted circle and strong determination, we focus on providing a pleasing package services and working closely to create a sustainable working relationship with every client.

By organising your boxes from the very start, either from your home, or anywhere mutually expedient, and upon pick up documents are prepared for you to ensure evidence of the transaction you have made with us. We guarantee you a quality service.

We deeply understand the importance of your boxes and assure you of a safe and secure delivery of your BALIK BAYAN BOXES.

GW International cargo

The Barrio Fiesta sa London 2010

Edit: Information about the Barrio Fiesta sa London 2010 can be found here.

Organisers of the event have announced that The Barrio Fiesta sa London 2010 will on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th July 2010. As usual, it will be held at Lampton Park, Hounslow, TW3 4DN.


View Larger Map

Related articles:

Miguel Syjuco, author of Ilustrado, to appear at Asia House

Miguel Syjuco – Ilustrado
with Maya Jaggi
Wednesday, 2 June 6.45pm

Acclaimed Filipino writer and winner of the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize, Syjuco appears at Asia House on the publication of his epic tale. Beginning with a body pulled out of the Hudson River, Ilustrado takes us to the Philippines for an entertaining, generations-long saga of revolution, familial duty, political intrigue, and a people’s enduring struggle against their own worst tendencies.

Miguel Syjuco was born in Manila in 1976, and has lived in Australia, the US and Canada (where he is currently resident). As well as winning the Man Asian Prize, the manuscript of Ilustrado was awarded the Grand Prize at the Palanca Awards, the Philippines’ highest literary honour. Miguel will be speaking with award winning journalist, critic and presenter Maya Jaggi.

Talk followed by a reception sponsored by PICADOR.

Asia House Members £5, Concessions £6 & Others £10 For booking: 020 7307 5454 or [email protected] Asia House, 63 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP www.festivalofasianliterature.com

UK Elections: Diaspora Connections? (Philippine Generations event)

Philippine Generations are holding this event on Tuesday, April 27, 2010 from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM. More information at: http://communitydebate.eventbrite.com/

Did you see the Leaders debate? Did you feel that the voice of the poorest people in the world had a chance to be heard?

In the similar light, People Participation Practice, Philippine Generations and Development Impact for Nigeria (DFIN), together with the help of VSO, are hosting a pre-election debate that will focus on issues directly relevant to the diaspora communities and their country and region of origin.This debate, “UK Elections – diaspora connections? How your vote affects the ‘folks back home’ will be on next Tuesday, 27th April at Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Political representatives from the 4 major political parties are confirmed to participate, to share their insights and party political stands on international development and other global issues that BME/migrants/diaspora communities care about. We are inviting diaspora/ migrant organisations, local BME groups, international development NGOs and general public. We believe that we have an important role to play in shaping future UK government policies. This is our chance to ask challenging questions, to air out our concerns — prove that we are not a minority voice!

We will be inviting journalists from the media, including grassroots diaspora press to cover this community debate.

Gene Alcantara Running for office in UK General Election

Gene Alcantara, a well-known personality in the UK’s Filipino community, is running for Parliament. See his message below.

Dear friends –

As you may now know I am running for Parliament for the northwest London constituency of Hampstead and Kilburn. I would be grateful if you could please forward this to relatives, friends, employers and possible supporters in the constituency. The electoral wards covered are Belsize, Brondesbury Park, Kilburn, Queen’s Park, Fortune Green, Frognal and Fitzjohns, Hampstead Town, Swiss Cottage, and West Hampstead. If anyone could help with donations, that would be very welcome too!

Many thanks and best wishes

Gene Alcantara

============

RUNNING FOR OFFICE

The announcement of the UK General Election on 6 May 2010 signals the start of the campaign to elect the 646 Members of Parliament across the nation. The event is also the starting point for the Filipino community in London to rally in support of British-Filipino compatriots who are running for office. These are yours truly, Gene Alcantara, running for a seat in Parliament for the newly created Hampstead and Kilburn constituency in Northwest London which combines wards from the London Boroughs of Brent and Camden. We then have two gallant community leaders running for local Councillor posts in East and West Ham in the east end of London, Eva Macadangdang and Tony Chavez. All three of us need the support of British-Filipinos in any way they can help, through canvassing, campaigning, leafletting or making a donation.

We British-Filipinos are probably mostly too busy making a living for ourselves and our families both in the United Kingdom and the Philippines to care about such things as empowerment for our community, and making people aware that we can be major participants in British society and public life. I think it is important to show that we are not just health workers, carers, hotel and catering service providers, factory, or domestic workers in the homes of the wealthy and the powerful. I know that we have respected professionals who are carving their careers in different spheres — some are in government, some in the public and private sectors, and many others are entrepreneurs. And there are a few British-Filipinas who have made it in the music business. But what we truly need now are visible British-Filipinos in positions of power who would be role models for our youth, and who would ensure that we as a community are included by decision-makers as a matter of course.

The black Africans/Caribbeans, the Indians, the Pakistanis, the Bangladeshis all know the importance of attaining power through the ballot box. And they have been relatively successful in returning their compatriots, through their solid votes, to the House of Commons, the European Parliament, and of course local government. The Arabs, Chinese and the Spanish/Portuguese speakers are waking up to the need for political empowerment. We British-Filipinos can do what they can do, we have the brain-power to do so, and we have the heart, honesty and determination to do it well. Our sense of fair play, love of family and community would fit such a public service role perfectly.

It is vital that we correct now the growing trend by politicians and extremists of blaming the ills of British society on migrants, and it is disheartening to see the British government pandering to hostility towards migrants and ethnic minorities. Unfortunately scapegoating is a fact of life in modern Britain. For the sake of our children and their children who will be future citizens of Britain and Europe, we must fight back through the ballot box. We have been referred to as a ‘hidden community’ back in the early 1980s and with the way our community is ignored by the UK government and politicians, can we truly say that we are now not hidden? The only notice that the government pays attention to the community is through the draconian measures seemingly being adopted by the UK Border Agency when they pick up say erring NVQ students and illegal immigrants and remove them from the UK. Of course we cannot change everything, but at least we should try.

The past few British and European elections have not enticed British-Filipinos to the polling booths. It is disappointing that people are so apathetic, unlike in the Philippines where everyone seems so excited about the forthcoming presidential elections. In a way this is understandable, because people seem still to be in transient-mode, that they do not engage in local British matters because they think they are just guestworkers and will go back home one day soon. However the concerns of white voters are not necessarily incompatible with ethnic interests. We all want safety on our streets, affordable healthcare, education and housing. We all hanker for equality and fairness, and we all want to progress socially and economically.

So how do we get British-Filipinos in the UK excited and challenged about empowering themselves, like they are in the USA and Canada? In North America a large number of politicians with Filipino blood have been elected into office by solid blocks of Filipino-American or Filipino-Canadian votes. We can achieve this in the UK too, and we need to tell every British-Filipino that we actually can.

There are now an estimated 250,000 Filipinos in the UK who have come legitimately to this country since the latter part of the 1960s. In 2008/09 alone, a staggering 8,000+ Filipinos acquired British citizenship. A similar number acquired British citizenship in 2007/08. So potentially in the last 30 years alone, if let us say the numbers more or less stayed the same, we could now have over 200,000 potential voters of Filipino blood. And what about their spouses, their children, their relatives and friends? With an average of 5+ registrations of Filipino birth in the UK per day reported by the Philippine Embassy in London, the pool of potential voters is set to grow.

In a given Parliamentary constituency you only need around 15,000 votes to win a seat, and in local council positions 2,000 votes will swing seats your way. So this means that if concentrations of British-Filipinos, their relatives and friends in Hampstead & Kilburn and in East and West Ham truly registered and turned out to vote, and voted for British-Filipino candidates then we could have our first 3 elected British-Filipinos by the 7th of May.

You may call me a dreamer, but sometimes dreams come true. This is my vision — that one day we will elect British-Filipinos into positions of power in the UK and the bigger arena of Europe. That we will be seen as major participants in British, European and world affairs. That we will no longer be ignored, but seen as equal partners in achieving social and economic progress, that we will be treated fairly and with respect as British, European and indeed global citizens. Of course this needs cultural transformation on our part, and greater open-mindedness on the part of policy-makers. All this is why I am running for office.

Gene Alcantara

Parliamentary Candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn

April 2010

http://www.facebook.com/l/b99af;genealcantara.com
[email protected]
Mobs 07958 429056 & 07788 513542

Maguindanao massacre forum, 3 March 2010

On 3 March 2010 at 6:00 pm, four international and UK-based organisations will be holding a free event at the Human Rights Action Centre of Amnesty International UK, to commemorate the 100 days anniversary of the Philippines’ Maguindanao massacre.

The incident demonstrates the impunity with which government officials and their private armies commit human rights violations in the Philippines, particularly in the run-up to the election season. The 23 November 2009 massacre was also the world’s largest ever single attack on working journalists. It is not a Philippine issue alone, but something that resonates both with the Filipino diaspora worldwide and the international community.

Amnesty International, the International Federation of Journalists, the National Union of Journalists in the UK and the Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines, will gather to collectively call on President Arroyo to disarm and disband private armies and revoke Executive Order 546. Speakers at the joint event will include Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific director Sam Zarifi, who visited Mindanao shortly after the Maguindanao massacre, and Jim Boumelha, president of the International Federation of Journalists, which has produced a report on the mass killing. A short video on a survivor’s personal account of the massacre will be premiered in the event, followed by a tribute to the journalists who have been killed.

Amensty Internation event poster

Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival

Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival begins on 27 November and ends on 11 December

Featuring:

  • Bakal Boys
  • feature debut of award-winning Filipino screen writer Ralston Jover

Bakal Boys will be shown on 3 December at Apollo Cinemas, Piccadilly Circus. For more information, please contact Erin Fabrizius at [email protected] or call 020 7307 5454.

Billy Zane stars in a new film set in the Philippines: Surviving Evil

This message just reached my inbox and I thought I’d share it with you. The film looks like it’s worth watching. Trailer below…

Dear Phil-UK,

I’m a UK-based Filipina writer/journalist and just wanted to alert you to an exciting new movie which may be of interest to the Filipino community. It’s called Surviving Evil and was written & directed by my husband Terence Daw.

There are two lead Filipino characters among the cast and the story revolves around a TV crew who land a remote island in the Philippines to film a survival special, but are soon fighting for their lives against creatures from Philippine folklore – the Aswang! The film has a strong storyline with believable characters, and among the cast is Hollywood actor Billy Zane, plus our very own Joel Torre from the Philippines! The film also stars beautiful UK actress Natalie Mendoza, who is herself half-Filipina.

There is a facebook fan page with pics and information at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Surviving-Evil-movie/45274215846 people can
sign uphere to be a Fan.

There is also a Youtube Trailer at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GFegPlFBso

It’s very unusual to have an international movie set in the Phils, with strong Filipino characters, so I hope you’ll tell your Pinoy readers to rush out and get their copy of the DVD – which is out now in stores across the UK (WHSmith, HMV, etc) and can be ordered online via Amazon, HMV or Play.com. The DVD also has a ‘making of’ documentary which tells you how the project came about!

Salamat!

Best regards,

Rowena

next