It’s an interesting time to be in the UK, where the Mother of All Parliaments, the House of Commons, has been roiled by infighting and discouraging economic news.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer ignited a firestorm of protest last week: see Chancellor Alistair Darling warns slump could be the worst for 60 years, precipitating a slump in the Pound Sterling and a furious debate over whether he acted irresponsibly or not. In many ways the entire thing -including debating whether government ministers ought to be blunt or Pollyanna-like in their official statements, the reliability or unreliability of official statistics, the question of whether the chief executive should take the fall to prevent the decimation of the party- sounds eerily familiar and because of that, oddly comforting.
The Brits are working through issues not very different from our own and it seems to be there isn’t all that much of a difference between the way British and Filipino politicians are trying to do damage control: orare ignoring public opinion altogether while politicizing previously relatively partisan-free civil service institutions.
The Times in a recent editorial (which came at the heels of the paper’s report that a sacking was in the offing), The twilight of Sir Ian Blair, looked at the controversial head of Scotland Yard and took him to task in all-too-familiar (for Filipinos) terms:
His responses are by now well practised. He believes that near-constant pressure to quit is an occupational hazard to be shrugged off if not actually ignored. And he believes mutinous disloyalty from senior colleagues is an inevitable result of radical reforms of which he is fiercely proud.
The trouble for Sir Ian is that his reforms have not made him indispensable. Nor can he be sanguine any longer about the calls for him to go. His support from the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Home Office has crumbled: his contract will not be renewed in 2010. This makes him a lame duck not only in the view of his many critics, but in fact. If his record were spectacular, this newspaper would back his bid to stay in office until the 2012 Olympics and beyond. Unfortunately, it is not.
What sets the British media apart from our own is the deeper sense of memory, whether institutional, national, and personal, that the media, the politicians, and commentators have. For example, Libby Purves in Why did Alistair Darling choose 1948? points out a fascinating detail, concerning 1948 as a watershed year for Britain despite postwar austerity:
The disreputable anomaly of plural voting was abolished – previously university graduates could vote in two places, and business owners had an extra vote at their place of work.
The odd thing of course being that there are frustrated middle and upper class Filipinos who continue to think plural voting might be a good thing.
The business and finance media, too, write clearly and informatively, something hardly ever seen at home. The Business Editor of The Times pens an analysis: This slowdown has a long way to go yet — so just look forward to the sales. And there are short, but richly informative reports that contextualize the economic news. An article Is the party over for pubs? points out British pubs are closing at the rate of four per day and also ties in the various economic trends (crashing property prices, increasing food and labor costs, etc.) into the uncertain future of a British institution.
In Britain 2028: we need ten new cities, please, Camilla Cavendish looks at the immigration policies of the UK, something that ought to be of interest to Filipinos living and working here.
Just today, Gordon Brown to increase Holyrood’s tax powers focuses on the great Labour project of restoring the Scottish Parliament and increasing its powers over taxation and budgeting: again, this ia a debate erupting in Britain which should be interesting to proponents of Federalism.
Update: Only Blair could save Labour now provides an insight into how more “mature” democracies factor surveys into the political situation, and how past and present leaders can add and detract from their party’s future prospects.
A great pleasure is reading the obituaries published in the British papers. See K.K. Birla: industrial tycoon and philanthropist.
jcc: if the Philippines requires it for librarians or landscape architects, then surely the Philippines requires it for lawyers — one whose Certificate of Registration(license to practice) has been suspended must reapply.
Forget this PERSECUTION thing. Just do this by the numbers, with STEP-1 being to reapply.
[…my humble opinion…]
rodolfo, please read my open letter again. i think it was clearly stated that if i have to do some paperwork to regain my status, the SC should have informed me about it or California rather than simply communicating to CA-Bar that my suspension remains in effect.
to jcc: If I were you, I’ll jump immediately to Step-1: reapply.
I wish you the best that you quickly renew the license to practice law in the Philippines, and then months later that the California Bar rules in your favor.
Good luck!!!!
[PS: I’ll immediately discard that OPEN LETTER to SC Puno, if I were you. It gains you nothing in my humble opinion.]
“Esteves has been a registered Republican ever since he first voted in 1984. He is typical of the older generation of Filipino immigrants here who cling to the conservative Catholic values of their Filipino upbringing.”
I still don’t get how new immigrants can be Republicans. “Conservative catholic values” if by that you mean the COMPLETE family unit – mother, father, ate, kuya, bunso, and tagpi the dog, the republican party does not support ‘family reunification’ programs for immigrants. and here we can see many examples of ‘petitioning’ family members to come over and yet vote republican?
please explain. I am confuse talaga.
thanks, rodolfo, 🙂
to nash: The USA will not want them, those applicants-for-US-green-card who hopes to use the USA-welfare system for free-this or free-that. So whether they are Catholics from Guatemala or Catholics from the Philippines or Italy or Hindus from India, practically all immigrants have the “paddle-your-own-canoe just-give-me-the-opportunity and I’ll make something of myself” mindset.
The Republicans tap into this and re-package the presentation. Instead of :(i) every-person-belongs-to-a-village, (ii) “…there has to be a minimum-level safety net for those who get sick, or for the old, or those whose investments turn really bad”, (iii) minimum-level of education has to be made available to all children:
the Republicans merely say that “…the Democrats want to tax your earnings so that the lazies and opportunists” get away with it.
You’ll know a Republican from a Democrat from their definition of “… level playing field” and on who they will be less tolerant of ———- people more dependent on government (e.g. single-moms with 3 babies and receiving welfare checks) or the Enron-whizbang-executives/Bridge-to-Nowhere cheats.
I know the USA doesn’t want them.
All I want to understand is why Fil-Ams support the very party that says it is Pro-family yet makes if difficult for hardworking and taxpaying immigrants to be with their families.
All lawyers in the Philippines have to update their license’s on a periodic basis even they do not have a record of suspension. Plus they are required to attend continuing classes on education as directed by the SC to maintain their licenses. Penalty for non-compliance is the loss of the privilege to practice law in the Philippines.
When one is caught for a moving violation and is a professional driver in the Philippines your drivers license is confiscated and you are required to pay a fine and attend remedial classes to get your license back.
When ones sentence is over in prison the prisoner is not realsed immediately. He is processed out.
Ever lay man or even lawyer worth his salt knows that the SC makes a decision but the administrative unit that carries out the decsion is not the SC justices themselves. It is called the bureaucratic process and it exists to facilitate the process to execute judgments of the SC.
Every time a lawyer signs a pleading or whatever in the Philippines he has to attach his registration number etc.
Thge lawyer in question was suspended based on ethical violations. He writes a book on the alleged injustice he suffers at the hands of the SC. Why not return to the Philippines and fight the injustice and get ones license back.
Why fear being cited for contempt by the SC. The SC works together with the IBP in crafting rules and regulating lawyers.
Anyone who makes general charges against the institution and then wants to become part of the institutional process again cannot move away from the process itself.
All lawyers who pass the bar and pay all their registration fees and dutifully follow all the requirements for continuing education set forth in the rules are officers of the court itself.
Insisting that the institution bows to his request through a letter in a blog based on the process itself belies a severe ignorance of the legal process itself. There is no formal receipt of any request for reinstatment or clarification by the respondent to the institution. The justices of the SC are the men but they are not the instiution. The principles, ideals and processes are the institution itself.
Anyone who does not realize that is an anarchist or damn stupid.
In one really believes that one is talking truth to power he will fight most especially when is supposedly a victim of injustice. But fighting long distance is a major cop out.
I am talking about between 1995 and early 2000 when there are no nurses recruited since HIA visa for nurses have been canceled.
you are only here in the US year 2000 so how did you know. We were deploying CNAs, LVNs between 1997 upwards until the increase in the nurse to patient ratio.
You are so out of touch of the current events.
I was talking 2000 and years after that. as you said i was only in the states in year 2000 and obviously I was not aware of incidents prior to 2000. as i said, if you have nurses applicant, send them to my wife, will make miracles for you as long as you have the NCLEX and english proficiency test covered.
you are the one out of touch… my wife has been recruiting nurses since 2000, the delay is only because P.I has no current quota… takes about a year or two or even three before quota becomes current again, but you can apply anytime.. you just have to wait until the quota comes back current again.
you keep referring to LPN’s as LVNS. Even that shows that you were the one out of touch. LPN means Licensed Practical Nurse (2 year associate course which could lead to RN course).
🙂
and what makes 1995-1997 era relevant when we are in 2008 already? You have been recruiting nurses in those years which could have some screw ups then but i said, nurses are still wanted in US, specially Filipino nurses. 🙂
fast forward your awful concept of CNA-LPN ratio to nurse/patent. It is totally irrelevant. Nurses, LPN, CNA are three distinct animanls in the health industry. They do not compete with each other, they are interrelated components of health care management in the US.
anthony,
“pero baka naman dahil a good many of Pinoys there hold 2-3 jobs, thats why they’re not in the low income category. ”
that I cannot speak in behalf of those pinoys who works 2-3 jobs. Nurses with only one job belongs to middle income. as far as i’m concern, I live to work not work to live…
I can not understand why a lawyer like you is not careful in using terms and names of US government offices.
USIS is not the same as USCIS, a bureau of the Department of Homeland services which was formerly known as US INS.
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis
One USIS is an intelligence firm and the other one is a transport firm.
http://www.usis.com/default.aspx
We should be giving the right information in our comments. People may be misled.
I did not mention about CNA-LPN to nurse.patient ratio.
What i mentioned was the enforcement of the nurse-to-patient ratio which was one nurse to 5 0r 6 patients as opposed to the previous ratio of as much 1 is to 50.
Your ignorance of the industry is showing.
LPN is referred to LVN in some States. Basically they are the same. DUMDUM.
Because I helped put up a school for CNA’s and LVNs. in California.
Because those were the years when nursing graduates in the Philippines can not go to the US because there is no recruitment so many of them get jobs not related to the degree.
My first job in the States was with a recruitment agency hiring professionals from the Philippines. Before 1995, the agency can get nurses thru HiA working visa. (Do you even know that?) When they’re here, they took the NCLEX to become Registered nurses here in the US and later apply for greencard.
Now the NCLEX can be taken in the Philippines for the first time, last year. instead of CGFNs, the nurses can use this as their visa screen.
My second job was in a nursing registry which deployed local nurses to different hospitals. and my first business was the same nature..nurse staffing agency.
I know what i am talking about Mr. PI.
In 1995, recruitment of nurses stopped, it is not because there were screw-ups but because the law for the recruitment expired.
jcc,
my support to your license reinstatement and for you to practice law in the US. Please let me know when you will be fully license. I am ready to use your services to sue all these people who have been insulting me. Money talks and I have the money….. I know we will win.. ( smile)
We will also file a petition to US immigration to lift the quotas for H1 visas since 2005. The current law limits to 65,000 /year the number of aliens who may be issued a visa or otherwise provided H-1B status.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1B_visa
We will also file a petition to the State US department of education that all pinoys with Bachelor’s degree in the Philippines should not go thru basic mathematics when they will enroll to 2 years of LPN or whatever…
basta… marami pa tayong gagawin….
more power to you… I should probably flirt on SC judge… Or maybe bribe him 1 million pesos? you might get your license tomorrow. I have the money too… hahahah..
just kidding…
SO WHAT DOES LVN MEANS? LICENSED VAMPIRE NECROMANCING? 🙂
Patient to nurse ratio has nothing to do with recruitment issue if you reckon the time of 2000- up to the present. the ratio is always tilts in favor or more patients than the approved nurse ratio – meaning there is a need for more nurses because America is a “senior” citizens country. Lots of old to take care of because America does not simply let them die.
So what if you have helped pu up a school for CNAs and LVNs? That was only undertaken because of the dire need for regular nurse, not an argument that because LPNS (LVNS) and CNAs are abundant locally, U.S. does not need Filipino nurses…. 🙂
Oh, boy, you know that I mean Immigration when I said USIS. That was just a typo… look for more relevant issue… dont nitpick.. 🙂
H1b visas are not for nurses.
The nurses recruited in the Philippines are given greencards already.
Nurses in the Philippines need not get LPN or LVN because they are registered nurses and state licensed nurses when they go to the States.
those who enrolled in LPN are the locals who would like to work as nurses in the skilled or convalescent facilities work environment.
RNs work in acute care hospitals except for some without local experience yet who work in convalescent ot nursing homes.
leytenian,
thanks for the encouragement.. again hvrds is talking greeks.
he wants me to go back to the philippines to fight. i have been there since marcos time fighting and after becoming a lawyer i have been fighting… i want to devote also some of my time to my family… but i still want to fight… how i wish i can convince my wife and my kids to go back to the the P.I. so i can fight back the supeme court in its own turf. but you know they are happy here because they are earning money as nurses. wife, two kids. my younger daugther, who is first year in college as a speech pathologist.
may i know if hvrds had his fight in his lifetime. 🙂 just kidding.
hi the cat,
agree with nurses on greencards not H1B.
On just greencard topic: The employer must file an immigrant visa petition with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and must prove: that the applicant possesses the minimum qualifications required to fill the position being offered; and, that the employer qualifies to sponsor the applicant for a green card.
Upon approval of the immigrant visa petition the applicant must apply for a green card interview either at the United States Embassy in his home country or with the USCIS in the United States. If, at the interview the applicant is not found to be inadmissible for any reason (example: criminal history, immigration violations, etc.) a green card will be issued.
For the bachelor’s degree pinoy to enroll for nursing.( i was referring to other degree holders.. sorry about the lack of full info) here’s what I meant by it…
my niece has bachelor’s degree in business ad. she enrolled for LPN here in the US but she hated the fact that she has to take basic courses especially mathematics. She said, it was a waste of her time… she came not a tourist but greencard holder from family.
the cat,
i have to confirmed the visa application before immigration status because the visa application also is tied to the qouta limits… My cousin is stucked back home. He was petitioned by florida hospital for greencard 2 years ago but my cousin said, she has to wait for another year to be within the 65,000 qoutas… not sure but the hope of her family coming is very positive…
In 1995, recruitment of nurses stopped, it is not because there were screw-ups but because the law for the recruitment expired. cat…
again that is nitpicking….. the law having expired is one of those screw ups… cheers.. 🙂 i like to annoy people who easily gets annoyed… 🙂
leytenian,
i think there is an institution in the U.S. where you can submit your bachelor’s degree credential and it will assess your transcript and will give you the equivalent units in U.S. colleges and universities.
i tried enrolling in nursing course in the U.S. and have my transcript assessed and I was exempted from taking up mathematics subjects, english subjects and even american history and and politcial science. i was ready to enroll and only take the major subjects.. when i change my mind. 🙂
maybe this will work,
According to Ms. Weinstock, the U.S. State Department issued a bulletin that will become effective
Nov. 1 stating that immigrant visa numbers for nurses and their employers will retrogress back to
October 2005, resulting in a one- to two-year wait for nurses and hospitals wishing to employ them:
http://www.visalaw.com/nurses.pdf
Retrogession affects greencard for nurses..
How can this effect you as an international nurse? Even though Retrogression kicks in, your case will continue to be processed until the Green Card Issuance Stage. In the mean time Retrogression for nurses can be lifted by Senate again just like it happened in 2005. That time our attorneys played a very key role in organizing the lobbying activities in the Senate that supported the law that enabled 50,000 additional green card for nurses. Currently, there are proposals that are pending in the Senate waiting for approval. You can read HLGs current activities in their blog, the link is provided below.
http://www.nclex-rn.net/nclex/messages2006c/151149.html
Retrogression refers to the resulting delay in obtaining an immigrant visa when there are more people applying for immigrant visas in a given year than the total number of visas available.
http://www.carexconsulting.com/news.html
I think my cousin might have to wait for retrogression to be lifted..
Leyetenian,
Peace on earth! Pls don’t sue me.Will you settle amicably?
for smileys: type a colon and a closed parenthesis.(magkadikit)
para di mo na itype ang word na smiling or smile.
testing ko pag me lumabas na picture,tama ang tip ko.
🙂
:()
is that a smiley? why would I sue my favorite guy at manolo’s blog… paano nga ang smiley? 🙂
for 😀 or 😛 or 👿 and others, click here :
http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Smilies
Ty UPNS! 🙂
i am glad to note that leytenian and KG are in best terms now. 🙂
jcc,
good luck na lang sa practice mo.Kung di ka palarin;
mukhang masaya ka naman,kasama mo naman buong pamilya mo di ba?
sir..can i ask for help.. kailngan ko pokasing gumawa ng bill related sa foreign relations..hope you can help me po na makagawa ng bill..anything will do..tnxtnx..i’m looking forward in your reply and help..Godbless!
And I am impatient with people who pretends to know everything, pretends it did not happen because he was asleep when it happened and philosophizes when he’s proven wrong.
BTW, I asked my fellow Filams here, they do not know where
P.I. is.
Palusot ka na naman. For someone who claims that the wife is recruiting nurses, you can not miss the right acronym for an agency that would be always in your household conversations.
For a lawyer, it is a force of a habit to check the right titles, codes and addresses used.
For someone commenting in the wideread blog, giving wrong information and justifying it instead of acknowledging the error is a crime.
So what did you learn from the blog here?LPN AND LVN are not two different animals.
And only RIP VAN WINKLE type of person still uses PI to refer to the Philippines.
Ito instead of exhibiting your ignorance and looking for some
excuses/alibis on the nursing industry in the US, try reading this.
http://smdm.confex.com/smdm/2004ga/techprogram/P1686.HTM
Mr PI, am a person who does not engage in conversations/arguments when I am not fully conversant about the topic.
Pagkapilosopo at palusot wala kang pupuntahan.
So wala talagang P.I. sa official USPS designation?
jcc made that up?
saling pusa lang but i did hear some balikbayans especially the young ones born sa tate calling philippines PI. and some american tourist when I was in boracay. Although i agree PI is not an official name for the philpppines.
LVN- License Vocational Nurse
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-lvn.htm
i know a few nurses in the past nurses left for tate who got h1b visa.
some nurses were indeed issued h1b visas for employment purposes in specialty areas. although not all nurse fall under this categories, but some do.
http://www.murthy.com/h1bnurse.html
“they are not called nurses for hire. They are called nurses on call or are traveling nurses”
at least i got the idea right 🙂
“Some of them do not have to moonlight in other hospitals. In low-staffed facilities, they work double-shift. in the second shift, they are paid one and half per hour.”
noted. the moonlighting i was talking about is on being a private nurse on call/traveling nurse
the opportunity to earn more than the primary 8-hour nursing job is there, many nurses are taking those opportunities
Guys, give it up. Wait for the next update.
Some Filipino MDs are RNs too (because NURSING is their PRE-MEDICAL COURSE) and they took advantage of their double profession. Some are now practicing as nurses in the States.
But there are those MDs here (and some DMDs also) who purposely took Nursing for a career change (mainly for big bucks as their earnings here are far too humbling despite being a doctor relative to being a nurse abroad having a huge monetary reward even for a humbling* profession).
MDs here will have a hard time to go to the US to be MDs too because of the limiting factors of taking the costly USMLE and then re-taking** the very time-consuming Residency training. This is of course considering that the visa requirements are already met – as this is also a limiting factor.
Whereas in Nursing, a 2-year affordable postgraduate study will enable a local MD to become a RN to serve as ticket to work abroad and be compensated more with less time (in contrast here: he/she is an Overworked, Underpaid MD – even in private practice). So far, there are no gossips here in the medical field of a doctor flunking the NCLEX. In fact, there are doctors in recent years who’ve challenged and passed the NCLEX without Nursing education and were able to land a job as nurses in the States.
What is amusing about this career change is this anecdote of an under-board medical graduate having his internship in a teaching hospital in NCR who lambasted an erring nurse. He high-handedly said to the nurse, “P.I.*** Alam mo ako, pagtapos ng isang taon, DOKTOR na ‘ko. Eh, ikaw…NURSE ka pa rin! Nurse ka lang! Doktor ako. Kaya sundin mo ako!â€Â
This happened a long time ago. How we wish we can hear that nurse now saying, “DOK, NARS ka na rin pala! BTW, I’m the Head here. Pakihugas naman ang p___t ni Mr. Jones sa Bed 4…â€Â
An extreme upward shift in the ratio of Filipino high school graduates are going into Nursing that our Nursing schools are exponentially increasing by the minute. Colleges of Medicine are having difficulty filling up their classrooms even to the point of enticing so-called deserving students for scholarship grants.
It’s small wonder some of these colleges offer medical education for FREE: because it’s very hard to convince a parent to invest in THE MOST EXPENSIVE PRE-NURSING COURSE!
—–
*I took extra care in italicizing the word as others may get offended, however…sad to say…some consider it to be a humbling experience for a doctor to work as a nurse.
**Some specialist MDs took the road less traveled and repeated a 3-to-4-year training in the US.
***We all know the meaning of the curse!
Kaya nga iyong iba, kaysa nursing o doktor, nag-abogado o accountant.
*I took extra care in italicizing the word as others may get offended, however…sad to say…some consider it to be a humbling experience for a doctor to work as a nurse. — baycas ..
some doctors come to become a nurses in the U.S. but some have the luxury of avoiding doing floor duties and limit their work to paper work like: MDS (Minimum Data Set) duties.
besides there is nothing wrong with doing floor duties, and there is no humbling aspect about it… its all in the mind… 🙂
there are people who love to see people well and proud to be a part of that person getting back to his feet and well- being.
cat,
next time you will comb for my uncrossed t’s and undotted i’s, my prose, my grammar and my typo errors…. i give you that privilege… as long as you admit that those issues are not that substantial…
i will still call RP P.I. even if it hurts your nationalistic sentiment. 🙂
if LVN is licensend vocational course it does not sound like a 2-year college course and therefore it is not equivalent to LPN, a two year college course program… if it is then i give that to you, mr. cat.
the substantial issue i would like you to to address is:
LPN’s and CNA’s do not cancel out RN for they are three distinct professions in the medical field and quite frankly they support each other’s duties and come as an evolution of health management in the U.S. that is getting sophisticated. 🙂
cat,
i would like you to address also the issue that nursing recruitment in the US is affected by the quota availability by the USIS, oops, USCIS. 🙂