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More Filipinos Suffers Poverty

admin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:39:20 +0000

Most Filipinos say they are worse off now than a year ago as the country’s economy continues to suffer the microseisms of the global economic crisis, results of the latest Pulse Asia survey said Thursday.

Pulse Asia conducted a survey among 1,200 individuals nationwide from Oct. 14 to 27, 2008, depicted that glumness is predominant among Pinoys across all geographic areas and socio-economic classes with 58 percent of respondents saying that they are worse off now than last year.

The Mindanao Area (73%) and Class E respondents (60%) were the worst hit by inflationary pressures as their quality of life worsened. As regards those saying there was no change in their personal circumstances over the past years, it figures vary from 18 percent in Mindanao to 34 percent in the rest of Luzon.

At the personal level, glumness about the year ahead is most pronounced in Mindanao (61%) but a high level of glumness may also be noted in the Visayas (55%). In contrast, glumness is least manifest in Metro Manila (28%) Filipinos are getting affected is at its highest (34%). Those in the Visayas, Mindanao, and the poorest Class E (14% to 17%) are least optimistic about their personal circumstances in the year ahead.

Additionally, the percentages of Filipinos who do not expect any change in their personal situation in the next 12 months are generally consistent with the national figure (28% to 38% versus 33%), except in Mindanao where a lower figure is recorded.

There are at least 79 percent of Filipinos considers the national economy to have deteriorated in the past three years; a sentiment shared by big majorities (72% to 86%) in all geographic areas and socio-economic classes.

In contrast, only six percent of Filipinos think that the national economic situation improved since 2005 while 15 percent said there was no change (positive or negative) in the state of the Philippine economy.

Among the majority saying the state of the national economy has worsened in the past three years, 77 percent strongly felt, 21 percent somewhat felt and only two percent did not feel the impact of worsening on their own lives.

Filipino Pancit Malabon Recipe

admin — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:45:40 +0000

Pancit Malabon is definitely a Tagalog dish, which originated in Malabon, Philippines. It has a yellow-orange color due to a sauce that includes patis (fish sauce) and bagoong (shrimp paste). Its toppings draw heavily from the fresh seafood that is available in the area and may include fresh shrimp, squid, oysters, and hard-boiled duck or hen eggs, as well as pork.

This type of pancit uses thicker rice noodle or bihon like spaghetti. It is also soaked in water and blanched in boiling water. When ready to serve the noodles, paalat and palabok are quickly cooked together so the flavour of the sauced is infused to the noodles. The saucy and bright orange colored noodles are then arrange in a platter and topped with the garnishing. Both pancit share the same toppings of shrimps, hard boiled eggs or pork cracklings, smoked fish flakes and chopped spring onions and kalamansi on the side. However, pancit Malabon gets an extra topping of seafoods like oysters and adobong pusit, salted eggs and vegetables like mung bean sprout and pechay Baguio.

Ingredients:

1 kilo fresh rice noodles (soaked for 10 minutes in water and drained)

For sauce
6 tbsp atchuete oil
6 cups shrimp juice
2 tbsp garlic, minced
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup of water
salt and pepper to taste

For toppings
1 cup kintsay, sliced
1 cup pechay Baguio, sliced
1 cup chicharon, crushed
1 cup smoked tinapa, flaked
1 cup oysters, cooked
1 1/2 cup shrimps, cooked and peeled
1/2 kilo squid, sauteed in oil and garlic
1 cup pork, cooked and cubed
4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
1/2 cup spring onions, chopped finely
4 tbsp fried garlic
4-6 pcs calamansi, sliced

Procedures:

1. Dissolve 1 cup of flour in 1 cup of water. Set aside.
2. To make sauce: Heat atchuete oil in a pan. Sautèe garlic, and then add shrimp juice.
3. Allow to boil. Pour in water with dissolved flour. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
4. Boil water in a wok or large saucepan. Fill a luglugan or bamboo strainer with noodles, pechay Baguio and kintsay.
5. Dip into the boiling water and drain. Put in a large bowl.
6. Add sauce, crushed chicharon, and tinapa flakes. Toss, and then transfer to a plate.
7. Top with oysters, shrimps, squid, pork, egg slices, spring onions, and fried garlic. Serve with sliced calamansi.

Many OFW’s in Malaysian Detention Centers Suffer from Inhumane Conditions

admin — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:28:24 +0000

There were illegal Filipino workers expelled from Malaysia’s Sabah state has been severely beaten by police officers. Most of them were women and children have remained in Malaysian detention centers suffering from inhumane conditions, according to Luzviminda Ilagan, a Gabriela party-list representative and of the Fact-Finding Committee on Sabah Deportees. She told the reporters in the southern port of Zamboanga that “Filipino detainees and those who were already deported to the Philippines have experienced severe beatings from Malaysian police while under detention”.

Ilagan also urged the government to provide the deportees with aid to ensure they would not return as illegals to Sabah. She pushed for a House-level inquiry into the alleged abuses by Malaysian police. Malaysia announced a fresh crackdown on illegal early this year and thousands of Filipinos have been deported since. Th committee, composed of the Association for the Rights of Children in Southeast Asia, Migrante International, and Gabriela Women’s Party, was formed to investigate alleged Human rights abuses against undocumented Filipino workers and immigrants in Sabah.

The state which lies between the Philippines to the north and Indonesia’s Kalimantan to the south, is a magnet for immigrants who work on construction sites and oil palm plantations. The Malaysian authorities said there were 130,000 illegal migrants in Sabah but local politicians put the figure as high as 500,000. According to the Philippine government, an estimated 200,000 Filipinos are living and working in Malaysia without valid visas and nearly 3,000 are in jail waiting to be deported.