One in a million
Nobody can compare with Carmelita “May” Dimzon, former administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), when it comes to attending to the needs of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Dimzon bowed out of OWWA recently when she reached retirement age.
The former OWWA chief, who’s unmarried, considered all OFWs family.
She would meet OFWs from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) whenever she was not busy at the office or during weekends and holidays.
Dimzon personally attended to complaints of OFWs abroad, especially those who needed to be brought back to the country.
I should know; I was witness to Dimzon’s dedication to her work while she was OWWA chief.
The same cannot be said of Josefino Torres, Dimzon’s temporary replacement as OWWA chief.
If I were to compare him to his predecessor, it looks like Torres doesn’t care for people he’s supposed to serve.
The other day, a returning OFW, Ana Bernabe, 31, who was in a wheelchair, fainted inside the Naia 1 terminal because she forced herself to stand up to get her baggage from the carousel.
The airline employee assigned to push her wheelchair had abandoned her. There was no OWWA employee at the airport to assist Bernabe.
The OWWA desk is supposed to welcome returning “modern-day heroes” (they earn dollars for the country, don’t they?) and attend to their needs.
Bernabe’s predicament reached us at “Isumbong mo kay Tulfo” public service program through Raul Esperas, airport reporter of radio station dwIZ.
When I tried to call Torres to inform him about the wheelchair-bound OFW’s problem, his secretary said he could not be disturbed as he was in a meeting.
When Dimzon was OWWA chief, she would immediately answer calls from us at “Isumbong,” especially when they concerned complaints from or regarding the needs of OFWs.
If she was busy when we rang her up, she would return our calls as soon as possible.
Dimzon was a real public servant.
She’s one in a million.
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Malacañang says President Noynoy has been monitoring the progress of police investigations into high-profile crimes and what the Philippine National Police was doing to solve these cases.
The President should not be concerned only over the murders of known personalities.
He should be worried over the unabated incidence of crime in the country, especially killings involving murders committed by gunmen riding tandem on motorcycles.
It’s only in P-Noy’s administration that the number of murder cases perpetrated by motorcycle-riding gunmen have reached worrisome proportions.
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Chief Insp. Joey Goforth, commander of Police Community Precinct 11 in Pasay City, should be told that the citizenry is his “boss” and not the other way around.
Just because Goforth is a law enforcer doesn’t give him the license to shame and harass citizens he suspects of being criminals.
Daniel Galapia, a casino financier, was dining with his gofers at a restaurant at the corner of Edsa extension and Roxas Blvd., when Goforth and his cops apprehended them for “acting suspiciously.”
The Pasay City cops poked their guns at and manhandled Galapia and his companions while demanding their identification cards.
Even after the group was able to prove they are law-abiding citizens, Goforth and his cops never apologized for their rude behavior.
They even had the gall to tell Galapia and his men they would face an investigating body if their abusive acts were reported to the authorities.
