LINKAPIL ( Lingkod sa Kapwa Pilipino) write for PBSN donation

The spirit of sharing and bayanihan during yuletide season reached the Commission on Filipinos Overseas as 14 beneficiaries from different places in Metro Manila and nearby provinces were given cash donations from Filipinos overseas on 26 January 2010.

The Philippine Barangay Society in Nigeria (PBSN), a Filipino organization in Lagos, Nigeria, donated Two Hundred Twenty Five Thousand Pesos (P225, 000.00) to the CFO’s Lingkod sa Kapwa Pilipino (LINKAPIL) or Link for Philippine Development Program. The donation was turned over by the PBSN President Cristito Villaruel and his daughter Abigail Villaruel, CFO Executive Director Jose Maria J. Palabrica and CFO Deputy Executive Director Minda Cabilao Valencia to thirteen (13) families and one (1) religious organization as grant to fund small livelihood projects that will help the beneficiaries meet their daily needs.

The amounts were raised from fund-raising activities by the PBSN from the Filipino community in Nigeria. The amount represents their contribution to the development efforts in our country. According to Mr. Villaruel, the Filipino community in Nigeria wished that the amount will help the beneficiaries start small livelihood business.

The recipients were chosen on the basis of their economic status through interviews and background investigations. Some of the beneficiaries were affected by typhoon Ondoy, in September 2009 and Typhoon Pepeng a week after, flooding Metro Manila and the nearby provinces of Bulacan, Rizal, and other low-lying. Others were either jobless or underemployed whose income is not enough to cover their family expenses.

Thirteen (13) beneficiary-families during the turn over of Donation with PBSN President
Cristito Villaruel, CFO Executive Director Jose Maria J. Palabrica and
CFO Deputy Executive Director Minda Cabilao Valencia
Among those families who benefited from the said donation were the following with their corresponding small-scale livelihood projects:

1. Mr. Manuel & Linda Bumanglag – Buy & Sell Smoked and Dried Fish
2. Mr. Ricky & Maricel Cartoneros – Sari- Sari Store with Food Station
3. Mr. Jonathan & Margie Esguerra – Sari-Sari and Dry Goods Store
4. Ms. Lilibeth & Jenny-Lyn Rellama – Loading Station & School Supplies Mini-Store
5. Mr. Many & Thelma Duyao – Sari-Sari Store
6. Mr. Eufrascio & Novie Lasagas – Hamburger & French Fries Store
7. Mr. Jose & Maru Lou Quilala, Jr. – Sari-Sari Store with Bigasan
8. Mr. Tranquilino Fernandez – PVC Pipes Trading & RTW/Cosmetics Retailing
9. Ms. Elena Awey – Sari-Sari and School Supplies Store
10. Ms. Basilia dela Pena – Duck Raising
11. Mr. Mayo & Lucita Escasura – Backyard Hog Fattening 7 Raising
12. Mr. Rocillito Suniga – Sari-Sari Store
13. Mr. Romeo Gonzales – Hog Raising
14. St. Hannibal Empowerment Ctr. – Well of Wonders

Turnover of cash donation L-R: Executive Director Jose Maria Palabrica, Deputy Executive Director Minda Cabilao Valencia, Mr. Christito Villaruel and Fr. Dexter Prudenciano of St. Hannibal Empowerment Ctr.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 10 March 2010 15:14

http://www.cfo- linkapil. org.ph/index. php?option= com_content&view=article&id=37%3Anew- donor-from- nigeria-donated- 225000-to- the-cfos- linkapil- program&catid=1%3Alatest&Itemid=1

Nigeria punishes 13 Filipinos for oil theft in delta

ABUJA, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Thirteen Filipinos were sentenced to five years in jail or a $6,770 fine on Friday after pleading guilty to handling oil products suspected to have been stolen in the Niger Delta.

The military arrested them in November after intercepting a vessel suspected of carrying 12,000 tonnes of stolen crude oil in the delta, the heart of Nigeria’s oil sector.

Nigeria is the world’s eighth biggest exporter of crude oil but thieves take a sizeable proportion of its output by drilling into pipelines or hijacking barges loaded with oil, theft known locally as “bunkering”.

“The accused persons, who initially pleaded not guilty on arraignment, later changed their plea and they were found guilty based on their plea,” said a spokesman for Nigeria’s anti- corruption police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Some estimates say 100,000 barrels of crude are stolen from the Niger Delta each day, about five percent of the country’s production and equivalent to around $4 million daily or $1.5 billion a year at current prices.

It is shipped out of Nigeria and sold on the international market. Human Rights Watch has put the amount stolen at two or three times that level.

Last week, the military impounded 22 barges of stolen crude oil in the delta in what it said was its biggest seizure for months. (Reporting by Randy Fabi, edited by Richard Meares)

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKLK13877320090220