Association
Vol.: 03 No.: 01 Geneva, Switzerland
OFW money can lick poverty, ADB study says
by Darwin Amojelar , Researcher (Friday, October 29, 2004)
Remittances from an estimated 8 million
overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) can
reduce poverty in the country. This was
asserted by an Asian Development Bank
study entitled Enhancing the Efficiency of
Overseas Workers Remittances.
Remittances are a clear source of capital
and resources that have impacted, and
will probably continue to impact, on the
development of millions of households in
the Philippines, the study said, recognizing
its tremendous potential for more productive
uses and as a tool for poverty reduction.
The study also noted that since two-thirds
of OFWs come from provinces, community-
based institutions such as rural banks,
cooperatives and microfinance institutions
can be used to link their remittances to
development.
When properly harnessed and leveraged,
and coupled with fiscal discipline and
mobilization of savings, these remittances
could in the long term serve as a driver for
economic reform for migrant countries of
origin, the study said.
However, the study noted that remittances
have been used mostly for excessive
consumption, rather than to increase the
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November 2004
productive capacity of OFW beneficiaries.
The study said that the government
should educate not only OFWs but their
beneficiaries regarding saving and using
remittances more productively.
It also suggested that taking bilateral
News/Announcements/Community Directory ... page 7
initiatives for the opening of remittance
windows for Philippine banks or remittance
entities in host countries further improve the
efficiency of remittances to the country.
RP needs 41 years to lick poverty ... page 4-5
This could enhance competition, drive costs
Turn your hobby into a business ... page 2
down and encourage more remittances
through the formal sector.
RED wine and your health ... page 3
With predictable inflows of more than $7
billion per annum from an estimated 8 million
A glimmer of HOPE ... page 6
OFWs, several opportunities to use these
for development initiatives exist, and all of
the ingredients that could help enhance the
efficiency of OFW remittances are already
present in the Philippine system. In 2003
$7.6 billion in remittances were recorded to
have flowed through formal channels to the
Philippines.
But this amount is believed to be only half
of what is actually sent or received, owing to
money transfers made through unregulated
channels.
INSIDE:
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chemin de Sur-Beauvent 2a, 1232 Confignon
 ENTREPRENEURS’ Corner

Turn your hobby into a business

KARAPATAN
Recycling used materials

When her company closed, she took the
opportunity to start her own business using
old bottles, cans, boxes and picture frames.
Ann Miranda put up Gawang Kamay Plus
in 2000 after the company she was working
for in Santa Rosa, Laguna, folded up. It
happened that her mother had just leased
a stall at the Pacita Complex in San Pedro,
Laguna, before she knew what to do with
it, so Miranda, a marketing graduate, used
it to sell overruns of household bric-a-
brac that an exporter supplied them. For
two months, Miranda, 26, sold overruns
exclusively before she decided to make her
own products. She first worked on the old
bottles that had been piling up in the house.
Then she moved on to cans, candles,
and handmade paper. She recovered her
P25,000 in capital in six months.
In summer, her lean season, Miranda uses
the time to pad her inventory, stocking up
on school supplies, recycled materials, and
wedding souvenirs for the peak season
starting September, when sales hit P20,000
to P30,000 a month. Her bestsellers include
hand-painted lanterns made of non-woven
paper, picture frames made of handmade
paper, decorative bottles, ceramic
household decorations, boxes and candles.
All her works are certified handmade and
hand-painted. She gets her supplies from
the neighborhood junk shops and Divisoria
in Manila.
Miranda plans to expand in Baguio City by
the end of this year. And five years from
now she plans to do business in other areas
where people appreciate the kind of work
she does.

Miranda drew inspiration from Papemelroti,

a pioneer in handmade recycled arts and -by Elma M. Sandoval
crafts. But she chose to do business close
to home, and initially hired a few people
to help her recycle lanterns, bottles, cards
and other things before deciding to do away
with them and make everything herself. “I
can make two of anything at the most, but
I can guarantee my customers na walang
kapareho,” she says.

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

Editorial Staff: Charly Hernandez, Dennis de Guzman, Ian Orteza, P.A. Escalante
Layout & Design: Dennis de Guzman
Official Photographer: Herminio Caseria

Articles, opinions, letters to the editor should be sent to kakkampi@orangemail.ch


RED Wine and your health
CanWest News Service
Monday, November 01, 2004
British researchers are working on a way
to let people squirt a chemical in red wine
directly up their noses, a “red wine mist”
they say could help people with asthma and
chronic lung diseases.
Resveratrol, an antioxidant chemical in red
wine, is already known to help the heart stay
healthy. Now, doctors have found it is also
a potent anti-inflammatory that may protect
cells in the airways.
While wine and pills won’t get the stuff to
these airway cells, a nasal spray might.
People with asthma currently used “puffers”
to deliver steroids into their airways.
But some asthma is resistant
to steroids -- as is chronic
obstructive pulmonary
disease, a long-term lung
disease.
The team of doctors
from Imperial College
in London proposes a
resveratrol spray similar
to decongestant sprays
for colds.
Resveratrol is responsible for
the “French paradox” -- the fact
that France has a traditionally rich
diet but a low rate of heart disease, thanks
largely to this chemical from the grapes
that make red wine.
And resveratrol, the U.K. doctors have
found, is effective in fighting inflammation
in human cells, including cells from the
surface of the airways -- the ones that
overreact to things such as
smoke and dust.
HEALTH Corner
KAUNLARAN
Polyphenols in Red Wine help Fight
Heart Disease
It has long been known that red wine helps
keep arteries clean. The question has
always been, how? Was it the antioxidants
in the red wine? New research at the William
Harvey Research Institute, published in
Nature magazine, points to the polyphenols
which come from the skins of red grapes.
Researchers tested red wine, blush wine,
white wine, and grape juice on Endothelin-
1 - the substance that causes arteries to
constrict. Overproduction of Endothelin-1
is what causes arteries to harden and clog
up. The tests showed that the decrease in
Endothelin-1 was proportional to the amount
of polyphenols in the wine or juice.
They found that white and
blush wine had no effect,
and grape juice only had
a middle-level effect. It
was the red wine which
was the true winner. Not
only that, but red wines
containing Cabernet
Sauvignon grapes were
best of all.
So, drink to your health!
Grab a bottle of Cab, and
toast!
 RP needs 41 years
KARAPATAN
to lick poverty
By Darwin G. Amojelar , Researcher AT the rate the economy and the country’s
Thursday, October 07, 2004 population are growing, poverty in the
Philippines can be licked only by 2045 at the
earliest, according to a study presented at
the Ninth National Convention on Statistics.

For a potential growth rate of real

income per capita of 1 percent a year,
which is consistent with the medium-tem
performance of the Philippine economy [of a
growth of 3 percent with a population growth
rate of 2 percent, which effectively is a
growth per capita of 1 percent], the average
time taken to exit poverty would be 41.2
years if this growth were continuous and
uniform across the population, said Jose
Ramon G. Albert and Paula Monina Collado
of the Statistical Research and Training
Center.

The two research staff based their findings

on simulations detailed in a recent paper
titled Profile and Determinants of Poverty in
the Philippines.

The 41-year timetable the authors laid

down, however, may be considered as the
best-case scenario for poverty eradication in
the country, as the problem may persist well
beyond 2045 considering that the benefits
from previous economic growth episodes
accrued more to the rich.

[Poverty eradication] is clearly an unrealistic

scenario because growth is often skewed
toward the higher income brackets, and
even more rarely continuous, yet this
simulation provides rather meaningful
information at the extent of work that needs
to be done, the study said.

The authors noted that poverty in the

country is largely a rural phenomenon, with
seven in every 10 poor Filipinos residing in
the countryside.

The poverty rate in rural areas is almost
three times higher than it is in urban areas,
they said, adding, Nearly half of all persons
living in rural areas are poor [as compared
to a poverty rate of nearly one in five
persons in urban areas].
The overwhelming numerical importance of
the rural poor means that poverty programs
must be concentrated in improving the plight
of peoples living standards in rural areas
and that we ought to promote policies on
rural development, which include support
for rural entrepreneurial activities and rural
competitiveness, as well as enabling the
improvement of farmers access to markets
KAUNLARAN
through infrastructure development and the
creation of farmers markets in the cities [to
ensure that less middle men reap the fruits
of farmers labors], they said.
Earlier, the Social Weather Stations
disclosed that 15.1 percent of Filipino
household heads it polled said their families
had nothing to eat on more than one
occasion in the last three months.
This, the SWS said, was triple the number of
Filipinos that went hungry the previous year.

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+41 79 604 1564
idabuser@myPhilippinehome.com
www.myPhilippinehome.com
 A glimmer of HOPE
KARAPATAN
I cannot forget being rebuffed by a young boy in his teens who
was selling flannel cleaning cloth in the streets.

“Eight for a hundred,” he chanted, fixing his eyes on me. “I just

need to sell one more set before I go to school,” he said in a
tone of exhaustion. Indeed, he was in a school uniform.

“Sorry, I just bought some the other day,” I responded with

genuine regret, “but here take these,” I said, offering him a
couple of peso coins.

He looked at me unsmiling, and chided me with these

words: “Sir, I am not begging, I am selling.”

I felt slighted. I wanted to tell him that I meant well and that he
should not be so proud. But, I checked myself: why shouldn’t
he be proud?

As he walked away, I silently rejoiced in the thought that at

least one boy in the streets would someday make it in the
world.

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News/Announcements

KAUNLARAN
A.P.I. Bowling Tournament in Meyrin
Community Directory
On December 12, 2004, Association
Anahaw Garden Restaurant
Philippine International (API) will sponsor Rue de la Servette 31, 1202 Geneva
a bowling tournament at Meyrin bowling Tel.: +41 79 688 8446
center. For more information, contact: Bahay Kubo Restaurant
Dell Graezer +41 76 348 3191 14 Rue de la Faucille, 1201 Geneva
Charly Hernandez +41 78 878 4545 Tel.: +41 22 733 1407
Rose Steiner +41 79 627 5557 Best of Uniform Shop
Chemin de Sur-Beauvent 2b
APO Hiking Society in Concert Confignon
The APO Hiking Society will be having a Tel.: +41 79 752 7626
concert on November 13 (Saturday 20h00) Boutique Charlie
at the Auditorium Arditi-Wilsdorf located Rue Rousseau 16, 1201 Geneva
at 1 Ave de Mail. Tickets are available at Tel.: +41 22 732 60 65
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The regularisation campaign for Geneva-Manila-Express
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following groups: Tel.: +41 22 731 3865
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 Do you speak FRENCH?
KARAPATAN good morning/day ------------ bonjour
good evening ------------------ bonsoir
good night ---------------------- bonne nuit
hello/hi --------------------------- salut
please ---------------------------- s’il vous plaît
thank you ----------------------- merci
you’re welcome ---------------- de rien
excuse me ---------------------- pardon/excusez-moi
I’m sorry ------------------------- Je suis désolé
yes -------------------------------- oui
no --------------------------------- non
Mr. -------------------------------- Monsieur
Mrs. ------------------------------- Madame
Miss ------------------------------ Mademoiselle
My name is ... ------------------ Je m’appelle ...
What is your name? ---------- Comment vous appellez-vous?
I’m from ... ---------------------- Je viens des ...
I would like ... ------------------ Je voudrais ...
I have ... ------------------------- J’ai ...
Do you speak english? ------ Parlez-vous anglais?
I understand. ------------------- Je comprends.
I do not understand. ---------- Je ne comprends pas.
Please repeat. ----------------- Répétez, s’il vous plaît.

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