Senator Binay says she is baffled by London transit ad on COVID-19

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

SENATOR Nancy Binay said she has been baffled by a transit ad in London extolling the crucial role of Filipino nurses during the coronavirus pandemic.

The campaign slogan read ‘The nurse who gave the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine: A Filipina We give the world out first: The Philippines.’

Binay said while she appreciates the initiative and the effort to give the Philippines the needed boost in the global market, she stressed there seems to be a disconnect in the messaging.

“Is the ad intended to encourage tourists to visit the country? Is it aimed to encourage more foreign investments? Or, is it meant for hospitals abroad to hire our nurses? It’s really vague,” Binay said.

The senator said she considers the transit ad “bothersome.”

“It seems that we are offering the world our nurses—which is a bit off since we are running out of supply of health workers,” she emphasized.

“We don’t want to commodify our people, and we don’t want to be tagged as a labor-exporting country,” Binay, the Senate chairperson of the tourism committee, said.

She also questioned if the London ad campaign was for the Department of Tourism (DOT), the Board of Investments (BOI) or the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).

April 15.

More Filipinos will return to the Philippines this Wednesday until Friday. Cortes said around 50 to 60 Pinoys are still staying in Khartoum, Sudan.

“The other batches are still in Cairo while the others are on their way to the Port of Sudan where they will be boarding a ship provided by the government of Saudi Arabia,” he said in a Laging Handa briefing.

Cortes said the DFA would facilitate their repatriation once the ship ferries them to Jeddah.

The DFA further said at least 730 Filipinos have fled the Sudanese capital as the ongoing conflict there entered its 25th day.

On Tuesday, the World Health Organi- zation said 604 people had been killed and more than 5,000 injured since the violence erupted on April 15 between the two rival military factions.

More than 700,000 people have fled their homes in Sudan to escape from fighting between rival military factions, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Cortes said around 50 to 60 Filipinos remain in the North African state but some of them are already indicating intent to evacuate.

“Yong iba kasi ay kasama ‘yong asawa nila, ‘yong iba naman ay kasama ‘yoong employer nila (Some of them are with their spouses while the others are with their employers),” he said.

The CAAP will conduct the second part of what it called “corrective maintenance activity” at the country’s Air Traffic Management Center (ATMC) which houses the Communications, Navigations, Surveillance / Air Traffic Management (CNS/ ATM) system which manages and supervises the air traffic activities within the Philippine Flight Information Region.

The aviation authority claimed it made and completed its initial maintenance work on May 3 without disruption.

CAAP assured no flights will be affected at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) while only two regional flights will be affected at Clark International Airport.

Air Asia Philippines earlier announced the cancellation of at least eight domestic flights in Manila airport on May 17 to give way for the maintenance of the Air Traffic Management System. Canceled were flights to and from Cagayan, Davao, Cebu, and Bacolod.

Air Asia also decided to reschedule on May 16 the departure and the arrival of 12 domestic and international flights, including those going to and from Taipei, Incheon and Bangkok.

ASSISTANCE FOR FIRE VICTIMS.

The Tingog Partyl-list and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Wednesday extended financial and food assistance to residents of Barangay Malanday, Marikina, including eight families who fell victim to a fire on May 5. Ver Noveno