It was late last night when I learned that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte was finally forced by the fame whoring blunder committed by Thinking Pinoy RJ Nieto to appeal to 262,000 Filipino OFWs in Kuwait to leave their jobs and come home.
In a series of posts, Nieto admits to having uploaded and shared on his Facebook page the controversial video of Filipino officials said to be whisking away a reportedly distressed OFW.
Having been known to brag that his Facebook page Thinking Pinoy reaches more people than Philippine Star and other Philippine news websites, it is very certain that the Kuwaiti government had seen the rescue video on his page.
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Nieto’s video provided the Kuwaiti government basis to hand Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa two notes of protest and expel him from their country as well as to order their ambassador to the Philippines to return to Kuwait.
This also put on hold a Memorandum of Understanding between the Philippines and Kuwait which would have helped assure the safety and well being of 262,000 OFWs.
As of this writing, Nieto continues to be unapologetic for forcing Duterte’s hand into making a move that may plunge 262,000 Filipino families into poverty and insists that only DFA officials be held accountable for uploading the controversial rescue video.
In a post on Thinking Pinoy, Nieto lays blame on OUMWA Executive Director Raul Dado and DFA Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy Elmer Cato for uploading and sharing the video on their Facebook accounts.
A friend who has been with the DFA for a number of years tells me that he finds it very unlikely that Dado and Cato would have, ON THEIR OWN ACCORD, uploaded and shared the incriminating video of Filipino DFA personnel stealing away an OFW unescorted by Kuwaiti authorities.
Being officials of the DFA, my friend says it is expected of them to know and abide by the laws and customs of their host country. They should have known that their “rescue” of an OFW didn’t strictly conform with the legal requirements for such acts — one being the need to be escorted by Kuwaiti authorities.
Which leads me to ask, was the OFW in such dire peril that DFA personnel had no choice but the effect a rescue without Kuwaiti escorts? Or was pressure brought upon them to effect a rescue that could be documented and then shown as part of a publicity ploy?
My friend at the DFA says after years of working in a bureaucracy, he knows well enough that Dado and Cato would have first gotten approval for their actions from their higher ups.
He says that Dado would have checked for approval with OUMWA Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola before uploading the incriminating video. He is not sure if Cato reports to Arriola or directly to Foreign Secretary Cayetano, but he thinks it is safe to assume that he also got approval from Usec. Arriola.
Thing is, Arriola was in Kuwait when the OFW rescue was done. Several reports from ABS-CBN place Arriola in that country on March 30 and April 21, 2018.
In a report titled “PH envoy summoned over video showing extraction of maids from Kuwaiti homes”, Arriola and her team was reported to have arrived in Kuwait on Friday to oversee and assist the Philippine Embassy in the repatriation of undocumented overseas Filipino workers in Kuwait who received amnesty from the Kuwait government.
Moreover, in the same report, it is said that the “embassy led by Villa is coordinating with Kuwaiti authorities for the preparation of the upcoming visit of President Rodrigo Duterte to Kuwait, which will likely happen after the Holy Month of Ramadan sometime in June.”
These facts as well as Nieto’s assertion that the DFA is to be blamed for the rescue video fiasco makes it seem that Nieto is saying that Arriola had the rescue video released as a ploy that would have helped dramatize and publicize Arriola’s repatriation of undocumented overseas Filipino workers.
Thing is, many people have told me of Usec. Arriola’s close association with Nieto and more than three separate sources have told me that she provides Nieto with an allowance from Arriola in exchange for his services.
What Nieto said about the DFA being culpable for the rescue video fiasco seems to suggest that Arriola:
- Ordered the rescue of an OFW
- Ordered that video be taken of said rescue
- Ordered the Cato and Dado upload the rescue video on Facebook
- Ordered her assistant Drei Natabio to upload and share the rescue video on his Facebook account
- Ordered the release of the rescue video to a viber group of journalists covering the DFA
Thing is, I’ve seen Nieto falsely accuse a number of officials and asked for their resignation or dismissal by the president. I wouldn’t be surprised if he asked for Arriola’s dismissal just to cover for his complicity in the rescue video fiasco that heavily damaged Philippine relations with Kuwait and threatens to render 262,000 OFWs in Kuwait jobless for an undeterminable period of time..
Writer.
Give me a break. Why not try this with the saudis. As usual the Philippines think they are hot stuff and batting above their weight. That so called academic sass rogando wants to send in the military, what a freaking idiot.
Grow up people
What send in the Military? Most probably that Idiot is crazy.
This TP has always been one slimey,attention hungry, being who thinks sitting in a high chair is his privelege-I pray this stupid act where obviously discernment was not part of his “thinking pinoy” title will now growl back at him. He has the audacity to blame others instead of humbly bowing down to his mistake, whether he be the first,second or third to upload the video compromising not only the transactions of PRRD with Kuwait,he too is undeniably part of the mess that DFA and OFWs are facing now with the Kuwaiti Government-Afterall, where should he get the finesse of thinking otherwise?
Before calling anybody names, you should get the guilty party or parties who first spread the video.
Paul Farol, don’t you think you are stupidly barking at the wrong tree? As a matter of fact, Thinking Pinoy Rey Joseph RJ Nieto only reposted the DFA video of the rescue operations. Ano ba ang pinagpuputok ng butsi mo kay TP?
Gusto nya sumikat at maki ride on s popularity ni TP!
I believe TP has a role in this crisis. Too eager to post, lack of discretion, irresponsible. But 3 posts in a row??? You are exposing your hatred on TP more than you are exposing his faults.
GRP is pretty much a free-for-all with regards to the topics its bloggers put out. That said, Paul Farol’s vitriol against TP is very visible. I won’t suggest he stop, after all I’m not the boss of him (or anyone), but I really wanna know what his problem is with TP. It can’t just be to “expose TP for the sleazy slimeball that he is”, which to Farol’s credit TP’s popularity may be getting the better of him. Only thing I saw was that TP criticized one of Farol’s posts when he defended PCOO.
Maybe it’s something noteworthy of an actual article? Put out all his problems with TP in one article, then have us readers decide if Thinking Pinoy is actually the slimeball Farol makes him out to be, or if he’s just riding TP’s shadow to stay relevant.
Before anyone says it, I’m not defending TP, at least not intentionally. I enjoy reading his articles, at least whenever he posts one on his site, though his blatant partisan with Duterte and his hubris with his social media prowess are rather worrisome. He has willingly become one of Duterte’s political tool akin to the political machinations of the Liberal Party he scrutinizes.
The bloggers and the alleged principals don’t pull the strings in a “blunder” of this magnitude..
It is too much that you are asking for the resignation of DFA people, Mr. Farol. Solve the problem. Do not fight over the problem . Why are there undocumented unskilled workers in Kuwait anyway ? Where these people victims of illegal job recruiters ?
Being in a foreign country; and being undocumented is already a crime in any foreign country. It is like the Filipino TNTs or Filipino Tago ng Tago, in the U.S. They are subject to outright deportation. Or like the Mexican laborers, who climb the fences on the U.S. -Mexican border, to work as fruit pickers, during harvest season.
The rescue mission of DFA people, is a stupid one. Much more taking videos of the rescue of undocumented Filipinos. The Kuwaitis are really outraged on this stupid decision of some people of the DFA. They are further outraged on the uploading of the video on the FACEBOOK. It showed Filipinos, can just flaunt Kuwaiti laws.
And by the way, let us not bash each other’s head for the stupidity of some people. Keep calm, and solve the problem. The stupid decision is done; and you cannot do anything about it.
As I had written earlier, it is the “Kafala System” of foreign workers recruitment, that is the problem here. Any Foreign
Labor Recruiter, who send people to work in foreign countries, must pay fines and serve jail sentences.
The Office of Migrant Workers, must be separated from the Department of Foreign Affairs. It must be a Department of Foreign Workers, with a serving Secretary of Foreign Workers. The Department, itself has to oversee, that there are no Filipinos going in foreign countries, to work as undocumented OFWs. The Department will also oversee the Recruitment process of Filipino foreign workers. Its job is to coordinate with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Labor, in the overseeing their contracts with foreign employers. That what is in the labor contract, especially the pay and benefits are followed; including work hours and vacations.
Our OFW has grown very large already. It is hard for the DFA and DOLE, to handle it. Our OFWs deserve better, than what these stupid people are doing to them..
The best way to avoid becoming a scapegoat is to find one.