Philippine Embassy Anouncement

Meet the Candidates 2010

Now that the election frenzy in the Philippines is starting to hit its peak. Lets first take step back from all the political mud slinging and just enjoy some spoofs of the candidates.

Embassy Invitation: "Paskong Pinoy sa Dublin"

The Embassy of the Philippines
in cooperation with
The Filipino Community Network (FCN)
invites you to the
“Paskong Pinoy sa Dublin”
Christmas Concert
featuring
Various Filipino Community Chorale Groups

12 December 2009 (Saturday),
at 4 o’clock PM

Venue
Trinity Church Network
The Exchange, 50 Gardiner Street Lower, Dublin 1
(Nearest Landmark: at the back of The Custom’s House)

Free Admission
RSVP: dublin.philembassy@gmail.com

Fr. Sinnott Released by Captors

I really admire Fr. Sinnott's unbreakable spirit. Even after what he went through for whole month in the unforgiving jungles in the Philippines he still wishes to stay and do his duties for the people of Zamboanga, where he is missionary.





By Julie Alipala, Jocelyn UyPhilippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 03:11:00 11/13/2009Filed

ZAMBOANGA CITY — “They were very kind to me. I cannot say anything about them … They were mostly kind,” Fr. Michael Sinnott said of his abductors.
In fact, the abductors of Sinnott twice attempted to set him free before he was finally released early Thursday.
The first time, on Nov. 4, Sinnott and his abductors hiked for 20 minutes in the forest but were later informed by mobile phone that “there is a bagyo (typhoon) in the west” and “the waves are too high.”
They were also told that “we need to hide the boat,” Sinnott said.
The second time, on Nov. 9, “we came back,” he said. “I was told to wait for the signal for my release.”
But it did not come—until Wednesday.
“The signal came, so we came out,” he said. “But I told them that I will not believe them until I am really free. So when we went out [on Wednesday], I was not yet so sure, until early dawn [Thursday].”
“Now I believe I am really free,” he said.
Sinnott, 79, talked with the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a chance interview in Zamboanga City a few hours after Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) officials turned him over to the government and before he was flown to Manila.
Speaking in a mix of Visayan and English, the Irish missionary appeared in good shape and said his abductors had treated him well: “Maayo ang pagtagad nila sa akoa.”

Happy and grateful

Sinnott said he was happy to be free, and grateful “to the people who worked hard for my release and to my friends who prayed for my safety while I was in captivity.”
He said his abductors called themselves a “lost command” and named one of them as “Kikoy.” (He also told reporters in Manila that his kidnappers belonged to a “lost command” and the “original lumad” or indigenous people, of Mindanao.)
“They did their best to make things as easy as possible for me because they are guarding me,” Sinnott said.
Asked what his abductors had wanted, he said: “Apparently, it’s ransom. But I don’t have any idea if ransom was paid.”
After Sinnott was taken by gunmen from the Columban mission compound in Pagadian City on Oct. 11, he was held in a swampy area for 10 days.
He described the conditions there as “primitive,” and said he lived “in the open” where “there was no chance for me to walk.”
The missionary was subsequently moved to a forested area where he got to do a bit of exercise—a daily walk of about “eight to nine meters.”
Sinnott had a quadruple heart bypass years ago and requires maintenance medication.
With humor
But disembarking from a Fokker plane later Thursday at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, he seemed healthy and answered questions from reporters with a touch of humor.
He was dressed in light blue checkered shirt, taupe slacks and black sandals. But the swollen bags under his eyes and the dirt in his toenails hinted of the hard times he had endured.
The first 10 days of his captivity were the hardest, with his movements limited to a hammock that was mounted on a tiny patch of dried mud surrounded by a swamp, he said.
His space was so small that when he moved to the left side of his hammock, his knees would touch that of one of his guards.
“On my right side was stagnant water. So all you could do for exercise was to stand between the two hammocks and stamp your feet, lie or sit on your hammock all day and all night,” he said.
Things improved a bit when the priest and his abductors traveled eight hours into a forested area, where one of his guards cleared a trail so he could have a place to exercise daily, Sinnott said.

The Long Grueling Wait is Over

Alas I can finally breath easy because my Spousal/Dependent Permit which I have been anxiously waiting for five moths has arrived. The wait was so nerve wrecking because in the back of my mind I might end up as another statistic in the unemployment rate in Ireland. We all know the these are tough times and more and more people are loosing their jobs. I am just glad that I least I don't have to worry about my job for the next 2 years because my documentation is valid till then. Another thing I am happy for is my wife got her permanent status in the HSE so we don't have to worry about her job as well. Its comforting to know that amidst the crisis Ireland has never turned its back to its foreign workforce. In these hard times everybody both local and foreign employees both suffer the sting of the recession. I hope once that the crisis is over it will be a far better relationship between the two.

The good news is that the dark cloud of recession seems to be dissipating. As countries such as France, Germany, US, and Japan officially declared that their recession is over, It emanated a spark of hope that there is a brighter future ahead. I guess sleepless nights of thinking that about mortgage repayments will now be a thing of the past. It maybe a good Christmas this year after all.

Autumn 2009

We now feel the winter chill and out goes our warm coats from the closet. November is here and winter is just around the corner. Autum is almost over that is why we need to say goodbye to more sunny weather. But before it all goes here is a last look at Autumn 2009.

My Indoor activity

Its that time of the year again when the sun refuses to shine and the cold bites. Nothing to do much but to stay indoors and work on my guitar chops.