REGULARISATION CAMPAIGN for MIGRANT WORKERS without legal status ... page 3
Migrant Workers without Legal Status
Health Corner: The Polymeal/Studies link appetite hormones with shut-eye ... page 4-5
by P.A. Escalante
Entrepreneurs’ Corner: Andres Panganiban: A Banker for the Poor ... page 6-7
Talks are underway at the Federal Council Martin Brunschwig Graf, president of
of Switzerland to regularize some 5,600 Geneva, insists that this is not a question
undocumented foreign workers in Geneva, of mass or collective regularization which
or those without residence permits. The has been categorically denied by Bern. He
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Give me your hands
KARAPATAN Migrant, give me your hand.
They say you cannot stay here,
This is not your land.
But to me you belong
Because you work on it with your hands.
Staff Box
This Newsletter is published by
Association KAKKAMPI
Rue de Zurich 36, 1201, Geneva
+41 22 732 2308 * + 41 76 545 9679 * KAKKAMPI@orangemail.ch
KAUNLARAN
The Cantonal government of Geneva The collectif will continue its efforts to
announced a proposal to regularise more campaign for the regularisation of workers
than 5,000 migrant workers without legal without legal status.
status mostly from several South American The SIT & UNIA will continue its
countries and the Philippines. “permanence” for migrant workers without
The proposal is based on the findings legal status. Workers registered with the
and recommendations of two studies permanence are given a Procuration or a
commissioned the Conseil d’Etat de Geneve proxy document, that allows the SIT or UNIA
conducted by an adhoc Committee of to represent them in case they are controlled
Experts (a 5 member committee) and the by the authorities.
CSME – Conseil de surveillance du Currently, about 3,000 workers have
marché de l’emploi. registered with the “permanence” and about
The proposed regularisation calls for: 300 Filipinos have procuration with either
- an exceptional & unique regularisation the SIT or UNIA.
of about 5,000 workers in the economie The Collectif de Soutien des Sans-Papier
domestique sector de Geneve is an umbrella organization
- strict adherence to the minimum wage campaigning for the regularisation of
(3,400 CHF/month) migrant workers without legal status whose
- payment of related taxes & social members include: UNIA, SIT, NGOs,
insurance (AVS, AC, AI, LPP, ...) migrant associations, church groups and
- higher penalties for non compliance political parties.
- the worker cannot transfer from the
economie domestique sector for at least 5 Permanence de Travailleurs /
years and up to 10 years Travailleuse sans Statut Légal
- penal sanction & in addition to penalties
will be implemented for new cases (after the MIGRANT WORKERS without legal
regularisation) status can get a Procuration by
contacting any of the following groups:
The Geneva government did not mention a
time table for the proposal. Syndicat Actions UNIA
Rue Necker 15
The Collectif de Soutien des Sans-Papier Wednesday (14h00-18h00)
de Geneve welcomed the announcement Saturday (08h30-11h00)
but with reservation because it only
addressed the économie domestique Syndicat SIT
sector and it does not fully answer the Sans- Rue des Chaudronniers 16
Papier question. Monday, Thursday (14h00-17h00)
Announcement Announcement
Filipino Catholic Community of Come to Jesus Fellowship
Geneva (FCCG) Schedule of Activities
Schedule of Activities
Sunday Service (15h00-16h30)
• 1st Sunday of the month: Monthly Recollection (11:30-16:30)
• 2nd & 4th Sundays of the month: Bible Study (14:30-17:00) Bible Studies
• 3rd Sunday of the month: General Assembly & Birthday of the Sundays 14h00-15h00 * Tuesdays 20h00
Month Celebrations (12:30-17:00) Wednesdays 20h00 * Thursdays 20h00
FCCG also organizes Annual Retreats (usually during Lent/Holy Purpose Driven Life
Week), various pilgrimages around Switzerland and Barrio Fiesta Fridays 17h00
Food Sale (for their charity projects), and actively participates in the
For more information, contact:
parish activities of Pope John XXIII Parish Centre in Petit Saconnex.
Pastor Jim Viray
For more information, contact: 21 Rue Chabrey, 1202 Geneva
Tess Baarde +41 79 349 68 24 +41 22 740 27 89 * +41 79 238 5523
HEALTH Corner
Dec. 16, 2004 -- Here’s a new recipe for about 4-5 ounces of wine (a standard glass)
heart disease prevention: Grab a handful reduces the risk of heart disease by nearly
of dark chocolate, a couple of almonds, one-third. The researchers also say that
some fruits and vegetables, and a sprinkle eating fish four times a week reduced heart
of garlic. Wash it all down with a glass of disease risk by 14%.
wine. Do this every day, and researchers According to the journal study, combining
say you’ll cut your risk of heart disease by a seven food components (dark chocolate,
whopping 76%. wine, fruits, vegetables, garlic, almonds,
The diet, dubbed the “Polymeal,” is a and fish) significantly increases the life
combination of foods that have been expectancy of people over age 50 and
individually shown to reduce one’s risk of reduces heart events by more than two-
heart disease. It includes all of the above- thirds.
mentioned items, eaten on a daily basis, Excluding any ingredients caused a slight
plus fish four times a week. Ingredients can decline in the overall heart protection
be combined as a meal or taken individually benefits. However omitting wine reduced the
throughout the day. meal’s beneficial impact the most -- by 10%.
Scientists, reporting in next week’s issue The recipe for heart success has the biggest
of the BMJ, reviewed the impact of each impact on men. Men who dine on the
ingredient on blood pressure, cholesterol, Polymeal program every day increase their
and the overall risk of heart disease and total life expectancy by more than six and
calculated a combined effect. For example, a half years compared with men not on the
Polymeal. They also were able to prevent
Advertisement the onset of heart disease for nine years.
Women eating the Polymeal would live
about five years longer than women not
eating it. They keep heart disease at bay for
eight years.
In 2003 researchers introduced the idea
of the “Polypill,” a pill combining common
medications used against different risk
factors for heart disease. They showed that
combining these drugs into one pill would
2nd Hand Computers reduce cardiovascular disease by more than
for SALE 80%.
Oscar Franco’s team in the
Netherlands wanted to come up with a
nonpharmacological option.
“Following the Polymeal promises to be an
+41 76 5459679
For more info, CALL
KAUNLARAN
Updated: 12:59 p.m. ET Dec. 7, 2004
People who put on a few extra pounds may The sleep-deprived men chose candy,
be able to blame a lack of sleep for the cookies and cake over fruit, vegetables or
added weight, according to two separate dairy products.
studies published on Monday.
A second study found that the less people
Losing sleep can raise levels of hormones sleep, the more they weigh, using a
linked with appetite and eating behavior, the measure called body mass index, which
researchers said. scales weight to height. It also found lower
leptin levels and higher ghrelin levels in
In one study, people who slept only four people who slept less.
hours a night for two nights had an
Dr. Emmanuel Mignot of Stanford University
18 percent reduction in leptin, a hormone in California and colleagues examined 1,000
that tells the brain there is no need for more people in the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study,
food, and a 28 percent increase in ghrelin, measuring each person’s sleep habits, as
which triggers hunger. well as sleep on the night before the exam
The young men in the study also tended and leptin and ghrelin levels.
to eat more sweet and starchy foods when They found people who consistently slept
sleep was cut short. five hours or less per night had on average
“We don’t yet know why food choice would 14.9 more ghrelin and 15.5 percent lower
shift,” said Eve Van Cauter, a professor of leptin levels than those who slept eight
medicine at the University of Chicago who hours a night.
led the study. “Since the brain is fueled “Our results demonstrate an important
by glucose, we suspect it seeks simple relationship between sleep and metabolic
carbohydrates when distressed by lack of hormones,” the researchers wrote in the
sleep.” Public Library of Science Medicine journal.
“This is the first study to show that sleep is “In Western societies, where chronic sleep
a major regulator of these two hormones restriction is common and food is widely
and to correlate the extent of the hormonal available, changes in appetite regulatory
changes with the magnitude of the hunger hormones with sleep curtailment may
change.” Van Cauter said. “But we are contribute to obesity.”
finding that people tend to replace reduced
sleep with added calories ...” Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited.
Van Cauter and colleagues wrote in the
Annals of Internal Medicine that they studied
12 healthy men in their early 20s. They Advertisement
measured circulating levels of leptin and
ghrelin before the study, after two nights of
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ENTREPRENEURS’ Corner
It was 14 years ago when Andres Boypee” meat delivery business, supplying hospitals
Panganiban, now 52, stopped globetrotting and restaurants. He also saw how lending
as a banker and came home to help poor was a lucrative business; market vendors
Filipino families acquire business skills. often turned to his eldest sister Leticia for
But even now, when you ask executives loans.
of big companies, professors at business
schools, and NGO directors for the name of But I guess, it was from my mom that
somebody who gave up the good life abroad I inherited my entrepreneurial skills,”
to help his struggling country, many of them said Panganiban, who attended grade
quickly mention the name of this former school at Tonsuya Elementary School in
Chase Manhattan manager. Malabon, obtained secondary education at
Saint Joseph Academy in Caloocan City,
You cant blame his admirers. Panganiban, and finished business management and
after all, had left a life of power lunches and obtained masters degrees at the Ateneo de
cocktails in Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Manila University.
and New York to put up a rural bank in San
Leonardo, Nueva Ecija, a town that he says His first job was as a systems analyst for
greets visitors with its cemetery.” Informatics International. After that, I got
into banking.” He was credit investigator for
Starting with a desire to make microfinance Security Bank, where he later passed the
available to poor families in the province management training examination.
(even if we had to put up the bank atop a
grave”), he nurtured the New Rural Bank of Before he could reach managerial level, he
San Leonardo into an institution that now was hired by the Bahamas-based Amherst
has more than P200 million in resources. Financial Group (AFG).
Panganiban took a great risk in coming After a short stint with AFG, he was hired
back. After the assassination of Ninoy by Chase Manhattan Bank (CMB) as
Aquino in 1983, international banks credit analyst in 1980. He was supposed
stopped lending to Filipinos. Noon may to be based in the Philippines, with CMBs
tunay na krisis, hindi katulad ng sinasabi offshore banking unit, but the bank sent him
nilang financial crisis ngayon (There was a to Hong Kong for a six-month training and,
real crisis then, not like what they call the from there, asked him to be in Singapore,
financial crisis today),” he told Newsbreak. London, or New York from two weeks to
one month at a time. He was then the
Anyway, with or without crisis, he would relationship manager,” whose job was to
have come back, he said. As one went have breakfast, lunch, cocktails with clients
up on the corporate ladder in Chase with whom you had to close deals.”
Manhattan, ones skin [had to be] whiter and
whiter.” That means, I would never become I was hardly in the Philippines,” he said.
president of that bank even if I stayed CMB is well known in the US for offering
longer.” Besides, he couldnt imagine living in retail financial services to individuals and
New York, where the banks main offices are small businesses.
located, if he got promoted.
At work, I felt I knew everything there was
His heart has always been with the poor, in to know about banking and I was through
his own country. with Chase. I wanted to use every bit of
The second youngest in a brood of 12, knowledge I gained to help the poor. So I left
Panganiban was born to a family of Chase.” That was in 1984.
businessmen at a fishing village in Malabon, Panganiban told his family that he wanted
Rizal. As a kid, he saw his mother run a to go into NGO work. They discouraged me,
KAUNLARAN
Andres Panganiban in his office in San Leonardo
saying I would end up giving away all I had On June 10, 1994, Panganiban and his
to the poor.” partners launched the New Rural Bank of
San Leonardo. (The original Rural Bank of
He went back to Hong Kong to found the San Leonardo had closed shop in the 80s.)
Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos. He The group made San Leonardo a testing
was its executive director until 1991, when ground for a microfinancing experiment.
he returned to the Philippines to help run
some family businesses. By the end of 1994, we had P32 million in
resources, P4.5 million in deposits, and P6.3
Around 1990, he met four fellow million in loans.”
development workers who agreed with put
up a bank for the poor. They approached Today, the bank caters to about more than
a number of funding agencies but all 60,000 depositors in its main bank and its
declined. Finally, Interchurch Cooperation branches in San Antonio, General Tinio,
for Development (ICCO) saw the merits of and San Isidro, also in Nueva Ecija, and
their proposal. in La Paz, Tarlac. The bank has earned
recognition in assessments and studies
We knew we could put up a rural bank since conducted by the the Bangko Sentral,
it requires only a small capital of P3 million the RaboBank of Netherlands, the UP
unlike a universal bank that requires billions College of Social Work and Community
of pesos,” he said. But the most important Development, Usaid, and the Asian Institute
reason is that a rural bank is located in the of Management.
provinces, where the poorest of the poor
are.” Panganiban has written two books on the
rural banks experience and the success
They envisioned a rural bank with a wider, stories of the banks
nationwide scope and perspective. But in
1992, the central bank did not allow the borrowers: Barefoot Banking, whose
putting up of a rural bank in a town where publication was financed by the Usaid, and
there was already one. They looked for Helping Build Local Economies, which was
sites near Manila, particularly Bulacan and financed by ICCO.
Cavite, but these already had one in each
town. Panganiban remembered Nueva But the best part of rural banking, he says, is
Ecija, where he knew he had relatives, and when you see a family borrow P30,000 to start
found that San Leonardo didnt have a rural a small business and, in four years, make it
bank yet. grow to P3 million.” He wouldnt have seen that
if he were partying with bankers abroad.
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