KEEPING TRACK OF FILIPINOS WORLDWIDE
BANTAY GOBYERNO SERIES 058
By Ike Señeres 03/02/2011
KEEPING TRACK OF FILIPINOS WORLDWIDE
Whether we like it or not, there will always be Filipinos abroad who will fall under the category of being “undocumented”. Since they have apparently not complied with the documentation rules of the Philippine government, they are supposedly on their own, and the government has no legal obligation to rescue them in times of danger. In actual experience however, the government still has the moral duty to help them, and that is when the problem of looking for them starts.
Fortunately for them, most Filipino communities abroad are tightly knit, and they more or less know each other’s identities and whereabouts, thereby making it easier to find them in critical situations, regardless of whether they are documented or not. This is of course generally speaking because many of them shun the rest of the other Filipinos, fearing that their “undocumented” status could be discovered.
Despite frequent calls from our embassies and consulates urging Filipinos in their jurisdictions to register with them, many of them who are “undocumented” would rather not do that, fearing that our diplomats and consuls would report them to the local authorities. Truth to tell, there have been instances in the past wherein they were reported by these officials who fell for the temptation of collecting rewards.
At the outset, I would say that if we really want to, we could build databases of all Filipinos regardless of where they are, and regardless of their legal status in their host countries. What could make this easier to do however is a new law that would protect their privacy as soon as they are included in the database, meaning to say that it would be illegal under our own laws to report them to foreign authorities.
As it is now, many of our embassies and consulates have set up local phone numbers that would enable overseas Filipinos to call them in the event of problems and emergencies. It would be better however for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to set up a call center back here in the home office for any Filipino in trouble to call toll free, using any available mobile phone or landline.
It is ironic that the Philippines is the call center capital of the world, and yet our own foreign ministry does not have a call center that could cater to our own overseas citizens. It could be argued that this could be a very expensive proposition, but there is really no price to the safety of our own citizens.
Due to its current relevance, I will again mention what I wrote last week, that the government should have an integrated database and communications systems for the purpose of tracking down and servicing overseas Filipinos, meaning a system that would work seamlessly and jointly as a combined database and communicator. This is a systems development strategy that I have already used and tested when I supervised the creation of the APEC Communications and Database System (ACDS), during the 1996 APEC Summit here in the Philippines.
For the second time, I will again say that as an ideal systems development strategy, all government agencies including the COMELEC should build integrated database and communications systems, this being a very practical and useful approach. So much could be said about the advocacy of convergence, but suffice it to say that for now that it would make information and communications systems not only safer, but also cheaper, being able to combine two goals in one.
According to the law, all Filipino citizens abroad should be given the option to vote where they are, and this is already being done to some extent. This being the case, it would be reasonable to think that the COMELEC database, should it have one that is accurate and reliable, could also be used as the same database that could track down Filipinos all over the world, assuming that they would come out to register where they are now staying.
Vice versa, whatever data that could be gathered abroad because of overseas registrations could be used to update the local databases that are being kept over here. What is important is for us to know what data to get, and what data to use. With all the high tech assets that are being used in database management, what is still most important is the database design, meaning the rhyme and reason for it.
The President has expressed his intention to appoint a COMELEC Commissioner who has an ICT background. That is a step in the right direction, because almost everything that the Commission is mandated to do has something to do directly or indirectly with Information and Communications Technology (ICT). As it is, the acronym ICT already denotes convergence, and that by itself is a good clue. With a Commissioner who has an ICT background, the Commission would have a better chance of making right what has been done wrong before, in terms of wrong technologies, and the wrong approaches to database management.
Tune in to KA IKING LIVE! 6 to 7pm Thursdays in Global News Network (GNN), Channel 8 in Destiny Cable. Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text to +639997333011. Visit www.senseneres.blogspot.com. Join Coffee Clutch Fridays
By Ike Señeres 03/02/2011
KEEPING TRACK OF FILIPINOS WORLDWIDE
Whether we like it or not, there will always be Filipinos abroad who will fall under the category of being “undocumented”. Since they have apparently not complied with the documentation rules of the Philippine government, they are supposedly on their own, and the government has no legal obligation to rescue them in times of danger. In actual experience however, the government still has the moral duty to help them, and that is when the problem of looking for them starts.
Fortunately for them, most Filipino communities abroad are tightly knit, and they more or less know each other’s identities and whereabouts, thereby making it easier to find them in critical situations, regardless of whether they are documented or not. This is of course generally speaking because many of them shun the rest of the other Filipinos, fearing that their “undocumented” status could be discovered.
Despite frequent calls from our embassies and consulates urging Filipinos in their jurisdictions to register with them, many of them who are “undocumented” would rather not do that, fearing that our diplomats and consuls would report them to the local authorities. Truth to tell, there have been instances in the past wherein they were reported by these officials who fell for the temptation of collecting rewards.
At the outset, I would say that if we really want to, we could build databases of all Filipinos regardless of where they are, and regardless of their legal status in their host countries. What could make this easier to do however is a new law that would protect their privacy as soon as they are included in the database, meaning to say that it would be illegal under our own laws to report them to foreign authorities.
As it is now, many of our embassies and consulates have set up local phone numbers that would enable overseas Filipinos to call them in the event of problems and emergencies. It would be better however for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to set up a call center back here in the home office for any Filipino in trouble to call toll free, using any available mobile phone or landline.
It is ironic that the Philippines is the call center capital of the world, and yet our own foreign ministry does not have a call center that could cater to our own overseas citizens. It could be argued that this could be a very expensive proposition, but there is really no price to the safety of our own citizens.
Due to its current relevance, I will again mention what I wrote last week, that the government should have an integrated database and communications systems for the purpose of tracking down and servicing overseas Filipinos, meaning a system that would work seamlessly and jointly as a combined database and communicator. This is a systems development strategy that I have already used and tested when I supervised the creation of the APEC Communications and Database System (ACDS), during the 1996 APEC Summit here in the Philippines.
For the second time, I will again say that as an ideal systems development strategy, all government agencies including the COMELEC should build integrated database and communications systems, this being a very practical and useful approach. So much could be said about the advocacy of convergence, but suffice it to say that for now that it would make information and communications systems not only safer, but also cheaper, being able to combine two goals in one.
According to the law, all Filipino citizens abroad should be given the option to vote where they are, and this is already being done to some extent. This being the case, it would be reasonable to think that the COMELEC database, should it have one that is accurate and reliable, could also be used as the same database that could track down Filipinos all over the world, assuming that they would come out to register where they are now staying.
Vice versa, whatever data that could be gathered abroad because of overseas registrations could be used to update the local databases that are being kept over here. What is important is for us to know what data to get, and what data to use. With all the high tech assets that are being used in database management, what is still most important is the database design, meaning the rhyme and reason for it.
The President has expressed his intention to appoint a COMELEC Commissioner who has an ICT background. That is a step in the right direction, because almost everything that the Commission is mandated to do has something to do directly or indirectly with Information and Communications Technology (ICT). As it is, the acronym ICT already denotes convergence, and that by itself is a good clue. With a Commissioner who has an ICT background, the Commission would have a better chance of making right what has been done wrong before, in terms of wrong technologies, and the wrong approaches to database management.
Tune in to KA IKING LIVE! 6 to 7pm Thursdays in Global News Network (GNN), Channel 8 in Destiny Cable. Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text to +639997333011. Visit www.senseneres.blogspot.com. Join Coffee Clutch Fridays
posted by Ike Señeres at 11:37 PM
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