News Briefs: March 14, 2019

Bello: No ouster of OFWs in UAE

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III sought to assure overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the United Arab Emirates they would not lose their jobs next month amid reports that there would be a crackdown on foreign employees there.

Bello on Wednesday belied the report circulating on social media that foreign workers aged 40 and above would be deported from the Arab country by April to supposedly give way to young nationals and address the unemployment problem there.

The report, said Bello, is “not true at all.” —Jovic Yee

PMA cadets rule ROTC challenge

Philippine Military Academy cadets dominated the recently concluded Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) challenge held in Zambales, which the military said was launched in response to President Rodrigo Duterte’s instruction to revive the ROTC to instill love of country among the youth.

Capt. Jonathan Zata, Philippine Navy spokesperson, said at least 300 ROTC cadets from different schools took part in contests for marksmanship, endurance and first aid. —Jeannette I. Andrade

Rights groups say Red-tagging deadly

Rights groups, including Karapatan, Rural Missionaries of the Philippines and Kabataan, on Tuesday trooped to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to submit complaints against the government for allegedly tagging them as communist fronts, endangering the lives of their members.

In a letter submitted to CHR Chair Jose Luis Gascon, the groups said they had been targets of the government’s counterinsurgency programs.

Roneo Clamor, Karapatan deputy secretary general, said since 2001 47 workers of the group had been killed because they had been tagged as communist rebels.

“There is substantial basis for all of us to be alarmed,” said Clamor in his letter. —Patricia Denise M. Chiu