Any Blogger, Anywhere!

We always believe that we have the obligation to honor bloggers, OFW and supporters of our cause. We conceived the idea of honoring bloggers in different categories two years ago, and we recognize the fact that not all can relate to our yearly theme, or that not all are good in writing essays and stories or conveying their message through words. We hope our friends and fellow bloggers will support this idea and join this unique PEBA 2011 Awards!

Read and nominate now!

ANY BLOGGER, ANYWHERE!

General Guidelines

1.      Overseas and local (home based or Philippine bloggers) can join the contest. PEBA nominees in the blog entry division can still be nominated in the category division.

2.      At least 6 months presence in the blogging world with at least one post per month.

3.      Blog should be 60% personal in nature and not more than 40% commercial or paid ads blog posts. To qualify for a specific blog category, the blog site must contain at least 60% posts related to the category it is intending to join/participate from the 6 months of his blogging career.

4.      In the event that a blog has been nominated by friends to different categories, the Nominated Blogger will be contacted by the Contest Secretariat through a Verification Form to confirm his/her PREFERRED CHOICE in the blog category that he/she intends to join.

5.      During the Pre-Selection stage, the Contest Secretariat will assess and review the blog contents of all nominees and determine if each Nominee’s blog are properly classified in the correct blog group category (e.g. If a blog contains a multi or combination of personal, photo blog articles and travel blogs, for the last 6 months, his blog posts/articles will be re-assessed from the last 6 months on which category he/she has written most. If 6 months is not enough to determine the site categorization requirement, we can go further within the last 12 months of their blog career.)

6.       All nominees shall be informed of their nomination for acceptance and the correct category that their blog will be entered into the contest as determined by the Secretariat.

7.      Blogger who maintained various blog sites can have his/her site nominated at different categories however, he is only entitled to one blog per category. (i.e. A blogger has 3 blog sites, one is dedicated to photo blog and the remaining two sites are both for travel blogs. In the contest, he is only allowed to enter one blog for the photo blog category, and he/she has to choose on his/her remaining two sites on which one to enter for the travel blog)

8.      Previous PEBA winners, except for current PEBA volunteers/bloggers are allowed to be nominated and to join in the contest.

9.      Blog posts that contains sexually explicit, extreme violence or offensive languages which are not suitable for Age Group "below 18 years old"  MUST BE properly declared, tagged and labeled before joining to warn the general public that the blog contents is suitable for adult and mature readers only.

10.   Blog posts that contain articles that directly invoke racism (discrimination based on race and ethnic belief & skin color, religious belief, sex and sexual preferences including articles that demean the Overseas Filipino Workers) are prohibited to join this event.

11.   If you find your friends or even yourself and your blog qualified for this event - Fill up the Nomination Form and read the Nomination Process.

12.    A FAQ will be presented in the contest page and subject items will be introduced as necessary as we meet new queries that warrant posting on the FAQ page.

Nomination Process to the Category Division

1.  PEBA invites blog writers, readers and followers to fill up the nomination form to endorse and nominate their favorite blog sites for the PEBA 2011.

2.  Blog sites that are endorsed and nominated by bloggers, readers and followers must meet the PEBA General Eligibility Requirements of the PEBA 2011.

3. All blog site owners/authors who are endorsed and nominated shall be contacted by the PEBA Secretariat through email for confirmation purposes within the next few days.

4.  Nominated (endorsed) blogger are requested to review the Nomination Form data given by his/her endorser for any changes and fill up other missing information’s that maybe required by the Secretariat and subsequently, nominee must submit their confirmation of their nomination by forwarding the e-mail back to the PEBA Secretariat.

5.  Nominated blogger who meets all the requirements and accepts their nomination will receive a Nominee Badge from the PEBA Secretariat through e-mail and it must be displayed in his/her blog sidebar linking to PEBA Awards, www.pinoyblogawards.com as a verification requirement throughout the 

contest.      

                       

A. AWARDS CATEGORIES

1.      Personal Blog - Blogs written by individuals about themselves which does not necessarily adhere to a specific theme but must be specifically be about the blogger's life, his first hand account on events and his personal experiences.

2.      Showbiz and Sports Blog - An entertainment blog that discuss or promote entertainment industry ranging from TV shows, theater acts, and movie films, musical shows, concerts and popular music. Sports blog discuss or analyze anything sports-related, including professional sports team, sports players and other related content.

3.       Food Blog - Blog which focuses on food and recipes and its preparations which may also include restaurants reviews.

4.      Fun and Entertainment Blog- Lighthearted and funny blog about life and everything that will make a reader smile or laugh

5.      Gadgets and Tech Blog - This category discusses about electronic gadgets, mobiles and computers, tablets and video game consoles and other electronic machine and new gadget inventions.

6.      Negosyo, Entrepreneurship and Investment Blog - Blog that focuses on world commerce which covers the modern business trends such as marketing & finance and advertising. It also discusses about remittances, rates and OFW opportunities for entrepreneurship.

7.      Wellness, Beauty and Kakikayan Blog - Blog topics on beauty, fashion, personal styling, clothing, cosmetics and accessories and other related contents for men and women.

8.      Literary Blog - Blogs on contemporary and modern prose and poetry where style, narrative forms and literrary merits are shared. This includes literary reviews on reviews on literary books and poems from popular authors.

9.      Family and/or Inspirational Blog - This category is for blogs which center around the topics of family, raising children, marriages and relationship and inspirational, any religious and spiritual content.

10.   Picture! Picture! Blog - Blog which present and feature photographs taken by the author or others and post or shared as a blog.

11.   Biyaheng Blog (Travel Blog) - This category is for blog which explore world travel, tourism, travel writings which include personal account and experiences of country's culture and visited sites.

B. CRITERIA and JUDGING PROCESS

1. There will be two phases of judging process.

Selection of Finalist based on the following - A PEBA pre-selection committee (Finalists Jurors) will review all the blogs based on the following criteria’s in each category:

     •  Form (30%) (Element, Blog Layout, Theme, Design)

     •  Substance (50%)  (Total Impact and Over All Blog Content)

     •  Originality (20%) (Uniqueness among other nominees in a particular category)

(A single or few nominees on a particular category does not guarantee a win. PEBA has certain criteria’s and standard that will be used to assess blog entries.)

2. PEBA General Board of Trustees and other selected judges will determine the final winner in each category. All the BOT and judges decisions are final, protests or reconsideration is not allowed.

3. The PEBA BOT will pick the blog winner in each category that they all believe has made a greater impact to the Filipino’s at home and abroad than the rest of the finalists.  

4. Each winner in every category will receive an online badge, and a framed PEBA Certificate. Other awards and prizes, if there’s any will be announced later.

5. Deadline of nomination will be on October 31st 2011,
11:59 P.M. Philippine time.

For more details regarding the contest, email us at nominees@pinoyblogawards.com

The Nomination Form:

Fill the nomination form below

********************************************************************

©201 KABLOGS, Blogs ng mga Kababayan sa Abroad

Maling Balita Para sa Mga OFWs sa Saudi Arabia

Nabasa natin sa balita kamakailan lang about dito:


John Leonard Monterona of Migrante-Middle East also said, however, that their organization has been receiving reports of OFWs whose passports were stamped “exit only,” despite having exit/re-entry visas. "There were 4 OFW-engineers who have called me and our Migrante officers in Riyadh as they were surprised that their respective exit/re-entry visa had been stamped 'Exit' only by the Saudi immigration officer at the counter," Monterona said in a statement.


Also, this video report: 


Takot nang magbakasyon ang ilang OFWs na nasa Saudi Arabia. Nangangamba sila na wala na silang mababalikang trabaho

Dahil sa iba't ibang news na naglalabasan, and kung sino-sinong nagsasabi na ganito at ganyan, nagpalabas ang Patnubay Riyadh ng sagot sa mga balitang ito. The post below was taken from the Patnubay Riyadh reaction and excerpts to the news above, specifically about "Exit Only" stamping at the airport and was permitted to post it at Kablogs website. Read the full details by clicking the link of the Patnubay Riyadh


‎"Exit Only" na stamp sa Airport? Hindi rin ako makapaniwala na hindi man lang tayo kinontak na dito sa Middle East at matagal na sa Saudi Arabia bilang Kablogs at aktibong blogger, ng MEDIA kung may katotohanan ba ang balitang ito.






"1. These rumors started from Indian community last month na kumalat sa mga emails.

2. Hindi natin ito pinatulan  dahil we know the procedurers.. hindi ka naman makapagfile ng exit, kung hindi pa tapos ang contract, hindi pa naibigay ang  benefits ESB, unpaid salaries and others. May clearance po na pipirmahan both by the worker and the employer. And this will be submitted to the Ministry of Labor for approval. Then it will be forwarded to the Jawasat for FINAL Exit visa stamping.

Before ka maaprove for FINAL exit ay kailangan mo pang mag- electronic fingerprint..
Kasama din sa checking kung may pending police cases ka, utang sa bangko or credit
cards, traffic violations and others..

Okay granted na maimplement pa ang NITAQAT , ang procedure na yan pa rin sa taas ang
masusunod..Pero ang pagbabasehan ay hindi lang ang date ng end of contract.. kundi pati
na rin ang date ng expiration ng iqama.. Kung ano ang ma-una magexpire ay yon ang
masusunod. Though some companies ay maaring mag-extend ng contract ng workers
hanggang sa based sa expiration ng IQAMA

3. The saudi government clearly answered that these Indian rumors are not true.. here is
the  link

"Rumors of expatriates having their exit-re-entry visas switched to exit-only visas at airports have no basis, said Passport Department officials across the Kingdom.“There is absolutely no truth to it,” said Mohammad Al-Husayn, spokesman for the Passport Department in Makkah province. “If it is an exit/re-entry visa then it cannot be changed at the airports. The final exit is stamped only after a series of steps are taken both by the employee and the employer.”

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article458446.ece?

4. I know the Indian community napakarami nila dito na sabihin nating nakabenefit sa
pagtratrabaho sa saudi arabia.. may mga negosyante, may mga nasa opisina..
Naintindihan natin na takot sila sa nitaqat kung maimplement dahil isa sila ang
pinakamaraming maapektuhan; kaya siguro sila gumagawa  ng ganung kwento.. maybe to
call the attention of their government.. or ano pang reason...

5.  Sa part naman natin, may mga takot din kami  dito and   we are asking our own
government na tulongan kami kung sakaling  mapauwi kami ng bigla.. Pero kami na mga
professionals ay hindi magresort sa paggawa ng tsismis.

...

7. If talagang panindigan nya na totoo ang sinabi nya then dapat  may mga  tao syang 

makapagsalita na ganito nga ang nangyari.. Then ipakita nila ang kanilang exit-reentry visa
(or photocopy) at yong sinabi nilang EXIT only na nastamped sa passport.

8. Para sa mga hindi aware sa buhay saudi, ang exit re-entry visa natin ngayon ay
electronic na at nakaprint sa isang bond paper. Hindi na katulad dati na sticket nakadikit
sa aming mga passport.

So common sense na rin sa mga  pinoy na magphotocopy nito.. Kung totoo na EXIT only
ang natatak sa kanilang visa.. then ipakita nila sa media ngayon ang kanilang exit re-entry
visa, then yong FINAL exit na  nakastamp sa kanilang passport..

9. Last month,  I had an argument with some indian friends, na kung sigurado sila na may
nangyaring ganun then magreklamo yong kakilala nila sa saudi embassy sa India..Sabi
nila ay wala na daw kopya ng exit-reentry visa dahil pinunit daw ng immigration.. eh sagot
ko naman common sense naman siguro na magphoto copy. use the photocopy.  Ngayon
natahimik ang indian community pero itong monterona naman ang nagsalita..

10 . Heto ang procedure sa mga OFWs na umuwi with exit -reentry visa.. pagpasok mo sa
immigration,  basahin ng officer yong exit-reentry visa mo, then tingnan yong mukha mo
sa passport kung pareho ba.. then magstamp ang officer doon sa exit-reentry visa (bond
paper),  then doon sa isang page ng passport.. Since palabas ka ng saudi Arabia, then
EXIT ang ilalagay dyan..ang hugis ng stamp na yan ay rectangular.. then pagbalik mo
naman from vacation ay ENTRY naman ang ilagay dyan at oval shaped naman yong
stamped.

YAN siguro ang sinabi nila na EXIT only.. at kung itong Monterona ay alam lang ang
pinagsasabi.. Dapat aware sya , or dapat nagimbestiga sya. Sabagay nasanay naman
yan sa pagsagap ng mga balita.. at gagawa din ng sarili nyang balita ng panggamit ng
mga OFWs na walang pakialam kung ano ang maging epekto nito.

EXIT nga yan at walang entry na nakastamp dahil palabas ka pa lang.. kaya siguro EXIT
only.. pero hindi FINAL EXIT.. ang final exit  maliban sa mahabang proceso ay mahaba din
yong nakasulat dyan sa passport at may isang extra paper (A4) pa for electronic purpose.. 




Read the full details here at Patnubay Riyadh




©2011 KABLOGS, Blogs ng mga Kababayan sa Abroad

KABLOGS Supports PEBA PROJECT NealShai

ORIGINALLY posted from

PEBA WEBSITE 

NealShai, from Sharon Flores Facebook account, a jargon name of her 9 years old son and her name.

Who is she? She was a caregiver in Haifa, Israel. Her story was brought to PEBA's attention a few days ago by some of her concerned friends, fellow caregivers Mush and Mazelle. 


They been doing everything they could to support Sharon and send her home. Why?

She is 32 years old single mom, and is working for 5 years as caregiver in Haifa. For more than one month, she had been hospitalized, and her friends and family learned from the doctor taking care of her, that she needs immediate medication and treatment for stomach cancer. 


Her friends had been persistently asking the support of the embassy in Israel to repatriate Sharon so she can spend most of her remaining days with her son. The embassy said they can't help her because she was UNDOCUMENTED after her employer died of old age, and she decided to stay even without documents so she can support her son and family. 

We found out that the embassy wanted Sharon to stay and stabilize at the hospital before flying home. The doctor advised otherwise because chemotherapy could weaken her more. 


The letter below was from Mush, Sharon's friend and also a caregiver. We forwarded this letter to The Ople Center through the effort of Ms. Susan Ople, and the Patnubay who knew well the rules regarding this situation.

The Ople Center contacted the embassy in Israel, and do more of the contacting in Manila.

As of this writing, Sharon is being flown from Haifa to Manila. 
We would like to plead for support moral and financial and donation, or even sponsorship of her son's education. 

Sharon and her son

 Here is the letter from Mush:

Magandang araw po sa inyong lahat.

Si Sharon Flores po, 32 years old, ay isang caregiver dito sa Israel. Mahigit isang buwan na po ang nakakaraan ng mag umpisang sumakit ang kanyang tyan, ayon po sa mga doktor, ang pananakit daw po ng kaniyang tyan ay sanhi ng appendicitis, kung kaya madalian po siyang inoperahan upang alisin ang knyang appendix. Ilang araw siyang tumagal sa hospital, hanggang pauwiin na sa kanyang bahay. Pagkaraan ng ilang araw, tumawag muli ang doktor sa kanya upang pabalikin sya sa hospital dahil may nakita silang iregularidad sa knyang sikmura. Mula noon ay ini confine sya sa hospital at sumailalalim sa iba't ibang tests. Pagkatapos ng ilang araw, lumabas ang findings ng doktor at nadiagnose sya na merong STOMACH CANCER, STAGE 4, at ipinayo ng mga doktor na iuwi na sya upang sa Pilipinas sumailalim ng chemotherapy. Sa kasalukuyan po ay naka confine pa din sya sa hospital habang hinihintay ang mga dokumentong kailangan nya sa kanyang pag uwi, at inaasahan po namin na makakauwi sya sa susunod na linggo.

Siya po ay isa lamang sa napakaraming Pilipino na nakikipagsapalaran sa bansang ito at nagtatrabaho kahit walang dokumento. Siya po ay nasa ilalim ng kategoryang UNDOCUMENTED WORKER, at sinabi po ng DFA na wala syang matatanggap na kahit na anong benipisyo mula sa gobyerno. Wala din pong maibigay na tulong pinansyal ang Philippine Embassy dito sa Israel o kahit na po sa OWWA ay di sya entitled sa kahit anong benifits dahil sa status nya  . Bilang isang breadwinner ng pamilya, sya po ay walang ipon na pera at meron po syang 9 na taong gulang na anak na lalaki na nangangailangan ng suporta at pagmamahal nya. Sinubukan na po namin na makakolekta ng kaunting pera mula sa mga malalapit na kaibigan pero alam ko po na hindi yun sasapat para sa pagpapagamot nya.

Siya po ay isang mabuting halimbawa ng isang mabuting mamamayan, na handang ibigay ang lahat para sa mga mahal nya sa buhay, at sya din po ay kabilang sa mga bagong bayani ng ating bayan. Sayang po kung basta na lamang isusuko ang laban kung dahil lamang sa kakulangang pinansyal. Kaya po bilang isang kaibigan, na nakakita at nakasaksi sa kanyng kahirapan, idinudulog ko po sa inyo, at nagmamakaawa po ako, na sana ay tulungan nyo sya na madugtungan pa ang kanyang buhay, para sa kanyang anak na umaasa na sa paglaki nya ay may ina sya na makakatuwang sa buhay.

If you wish to donate or offer prayers and support for Sharon, 

contact and bank details here

Mobile No. +639474773934

Bank Details

Name: Banco De Oro

Savings Account Name: Sharon Flores

Savings Account No.: 6320062362

or for more details please email at contact@pinoyblogawards.com 

PEBA would like to thank again Maricel and Mazelle for their courage and unfaltering support to Sharon at the lowest times of her life, as well as the Ople Center and Patnubay Riyadh for helping our distressed Kababayans. Mabuhay po kayo!

We ask that you will repost this in your blogs as a way of support or share the link in your Facebook walls. Thank you.

©2010 KABLOGS, Blogs ng mga Kababayan sa Abroad