TRAVEL BAN

OFW deployment ban stays in Nigeria, 4 Middle East countries
12/14/2008 11:28 PM
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MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine government will keep in force the ban on deploying workers to Nigeria and four Middle East countries, a decision made after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo met with her ambassadors to those countries.
Besides Nigeria, the deployment ban is in effect in Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon, according to a Malacañang statement issued on Sunday by Assistant Press Secretary Romeo Montenegro.
Earlier, Arroyo met with her ambassadors to assess the situation in the five countries as to the safety of the Filipino workers.
Those countries may need thousands of foreign workers, but Arroyo stressed that the government would not compromise the security of Filipino workers.
Arroyo directed Ambassador Roy Cimatu, special Philippine envoy to the Middle East, to come up with an assessment of the situation in the five countries.
Cimatu's report will be discussed in March 2009 during a review of the situation in those five countries.
Meanwhile, the Philippines will open an embassy in Damascus, Syria, in February 2009 under Ambassador Wilfredo Cuyugan to better serve the needs of the 15,000 Filipinos working there.
The Palace statement said 80 percent of Filipinos in Syria are undocumented. - GMANews.TV

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While the above news greeted us this early morning and dampened everyone's spirit (again!), I also read 'The Famous Shoe Story' of a very unpopular President. got to share with you... cause my imagination is running riotous... what if.......?

The Shoe

A shoe is raised during a protest against the visit to Iraq of US President George W. Bush, in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday. Dec. 15, 2008. Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad on Sunday.

President Bush ducks after a man threw a shoe at him during a joint statement with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad, December 14, 2008.

A combo of images from footage broadcast by the Al-Arabiya news channel shows US President George W. Bush reacting as an Iraqi journalist hurls one of his shoes at him during a joint press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad. The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at Bush "detested America" and had been plotting such an attack for months, colleagues have said.
(AFP/null)

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki tries to protect George W. Bush after an Iraqi journalists threw his shoes the US leader during a joint press conference in Baghdad. It will likely rank as one of the more bizarre episodes of his presidency -- George W. Bush, surely one of the most protected leaders in history, ducking as two size 10 shoes hurtled in his direction.

A sister of Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi watches a video of her brother throwing shoes at the US President Bush, at his apartment in in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec.15, 2008. al-Zeidi threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad on Sunday, while yelling in Arabic: 'This is a farewell kiss, you dog,this is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.'
(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Security forces pounce on an Iraqi journalist who caused a furore when he hurled his shoes at visiting US President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad. Iraq faced mounting calls on Monday to release the journalist who hurled his shoes at Bush, an action branded shameful by the government but hailed by many in the Arab world as an ideal parting gift to the unpopular US president.
(AFP/Saul Loeb)

President Bush' comment? the shoe is size 10.