Author: DAVAO TODAY

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More Women OFWs Highlights Joblessness, Their Increasing Role in Families’ Survival

Strong Women. Because of the hard times, more and more Filipino women are forced to take on a more important role in the economy. This Davao woman decides to take the matter a step farther. (File photo by Barry Ohaylan/davaotoday.com)

Majority of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) sent abroad are now women, and this highlights their increasingly vital role in ensuring their families’ survival, according to IBON Foundation.

Government figures reveal that some seven out of 10 OFWs who are deployed as new hires are women. Many of these women are hired in perilous jobs such as domestic helpers or entertainers, with only a small percentage of them working in professional categories such as medical professions.

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US Bewails ‘Climate of Impunity’ in Philippines

The US State Department released today its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2006, which looks at the human-rights situation in countries around the world. The report, prepared by the department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, was released in Washington DC today by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The report has this to say about the Philippines: “During the year there were a number of arbitrary, unlawful, and extrajudicial killings apparently by elements of the security services and of political killings, including killings of journalists, by a variety of actors. Many of these killings went unsolved and unpunished, contributing to a climate of impunity, despite intensified government efforts during the year to investigate and prosecute these cases.”

It blamed state security forces and insurgents, mainly the New People’s Army, for these attacks.

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