An invitation of the director of CMA was sent to Pusong Pinoy last Dec. 11, 2008 for a back-to-back forum on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights on December 10; the International Migrants day on December 18.
Pusong Pinoy Treasurer Janette Alican left late last month and was able to attend the International Migrants Day that of Dec. 18.
The invitation stated thus:
A Public Forum on the UN Migrants Convention: The Philippine Commitment December 18, 2008, Thursday, 9:00am –; 1:00 pm,Romulo Hall, UP Asian Center , Diliman, Quezon City Organized by CMA and Commission on Human Rights (CHR). It was on that day in 1990 when the UN General Assembly adopted the UN Convention on the Protection of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (UN MWC). The Philippines is one of the first countries to have ratififed the UN MWC. After 13 years, the MWC entered into force in July 2003. By 2004, the MWC Committee was ready to accept reports of governments that ratified the convention, including the Philippines which submitted an initial report early this year. The Committee will have an initial session with the Philippines in its November 2008 session with a final session on the Philippines in 2009. We hope the forum will be a venue to get feedback from the government on the results of this initial session. We will also revisit the MWC, its relevance, the work of the Committee and the spaces available for NGOs; and, finally the forum hopes to kick off the preparations for a CSO Alternative Report on the MWC. We hope you can join us for the last time in 2008 on these two occasions in December. Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
Center for Migrant Advocacy Philippines
As almost every OFWs already heard and read from emails forwarded several times over of the good news, (the struggle of which started at the onset of the now infamous Travel Ban late in Nov. 2006 and only showed a glimmer of hope early in September 2008), Janette is tying all the knots for the easy passage to and from our place of work, Nigeria. An excerpt of Janette's letter is shared to all Pinoys whose hearts and pockets are solely reserved for the loved ones at home:
From: Janette Alican janette_alican@yahoo.com
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 2:26:31 PM
Subject: Forum in UP Diliman
...in addition to below email of ms. ellene, chr director ms. karen gomez-dumpit will personally accompany me to the bureau of immigration tomorrow afternoon 19.12.08. hopefully, we could get a written statement from bi's office stating a "hassle-free return to nigeria" para at least may pinanghahawakan tayo at pwede nating i-print para ma-disseminate sa ofws nigeria.
ms. karen is very much willing to help us. during the forum she said and i quote her :) :) :) "please, lumapit kayo sakin.".........................
dear vangie, lito, john, mga kasama sa nigeria :
salamat po at kayo ay sumaya! :))
earlier today, we had our forum on the UN migrant workers convention. janette came and she was really happy to hear the good news, not only from me but from atty. christopher lomibao, secretary of the house committee on overseas workers affairs. he confirmed my news about the exceptions to the travel ban to nigeria .
additionally, the commission on human rights (chr) was also around because we jointly organized the forum. chr director karen gomez-dumpit likewise committed to your cause. through her office, chr will request the BI for a written notice to allow residents and those with active work contracts in nigeria to come and leave manila without problems.
the office of poea deputy administrator hans cacdac can also be tapped to assist our balik manggagawa from nigeria .
muli, maligayang pasko sa inyong lahat.
pupunta po muna ako sa india ngayon.
yours,
ellene
...in addition to below email of ms. ellene, chr director ms. karen gomez-dumpit will personally accompany me to the bureau of immigration tomorrow afternoon 19.12.08. hopefully, we could get a written statement from bi's office stating a "hassle-free return to nigeria" para at least may pinanghahawakan tayo at pwede nating i-print para ma-disseminate sa ofws nigeria.
ms. karen is very much willing to help us. during the forum she said and i quote her :) :) :) "please, lumapit kayo sakin.".........................
dear vangie, lito, john, mga kasama sa nigeria :
salamat po at kayo ay sumaya! :))
earlier today, we had our forum on the UN migrant workers convention. janette came and she was really happy to hear the good news, not only from me but from atty. christopher lomibao, secretary of the house committee on overseas workers affairs. he confirmed my news about the exceptions to the travel ban to nigeria .
additionally, the commission on human rights (chr) was also around because we jointly organized the forum. chr director karen gomez-dumpit likewise committed to your cause. through her office, chr will request the BI for a written notice to allow residents and those with active work contracts in nigeria to come and leave manila without problems.
the office of poea deputy administrator hans cacdac can also be tapped to assist our balik manggagawa from nigeria .
muli, maligayang pasko sa inyong lahat.
pupunta po muna ako sa india ngayon.
yours,
ellene
Some of the pictures taken during the Forum:
Ms. Karen, Janette and Ellene
Janette and Ellene 
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