Filipinos@SG

A Take on Foreign Worker Levy

For Filipinos working here in Singapore who employ domestic workers, the term Foreign Worker Levy would be very familiar. It's part of their monthly bills so they must know. For OFWs who don't need a househelp, it's just another term that passes their head. And like them, I don't really bother what that really means. But when this topic was brought up in a recent beer session by some fellows who are complaining with the price of the levy, I began to ask myself. So what exactly this levy is? What is it for? Who are the beneficiaries of the levy?

A search in various Singapore government sites and some help from Google has defined "Foreign Worker Levy" as some kind of pricing mechanism to control the number of foreign workers (including foreign maids) in Singapore. It's main purpose is to curve the demand for foreign workers flocking to Singapore including domestic workers. For others, it is simply a tax, a big one at that, for hiring foreign workers.

EZ Link Starts Replacement of Cards

Starting last Friday, 9 Jan 2009, EZ-Link has started selling its new CEPAS compliant cards. At the same time, exchange of the old card has also started on the same day for the Adult Anonymous cards. It's the start of the process to retire the old ez-link card to adopt the new Singapore Standard for Contactless ePurse Application that the company hopes to expand use progressively to non-transit and retail applications like McDonalds, 7-Eleven and SMRT Taxis. The new card will eventually be used for Electronic Road Pricing(ERP) transactions and Electronic Parking Systems(EPS) payments.

The public can change their ez-link cards at any of the 42 TransitLink Ticket Offices. Card exchange is also available at 62 Singapore Post Office branches and there will be roving centers for selected bus interchanges and community clubs. Your best bet is in your nearest TransitLink ticket offices which are located in most MRT stations.

Things to Note

Any remaining value will be transferred to the new card.
Maximum of 3 Cards at a time.
Card should have remaining value before exchanging
The new card will no longer have deposit
Should have a minimum of $5 at all times
Auto Credit Card or Giro Top-up will be discontinued, new card will be sent by respective banks

Advantages

Can store a value of up to $500
Future Expanded use (public transport, retail, ERP, EPS)

Jolly V Fried Chicken - A Taste of Home

Tucked in a quite corner of Lau Pa Sat is a small stall named Jolly-V. Yes, the name do sounds like your favorite Jollibee but more than the similarity in name is the undeniable resemblance of taste and texture of that juiciliscious and crisypyliscious Chicken Joy. Right from your first bite, you'll know just how good Jolly V was able to replicate the original chickenjoy.

jollyv chickenjoy

Caregiver, Millionaire

by RAMONA ALVIR as told to CANDICE Y. CEREZO
and OFW Journalism Consortium with support from the Netherlands Embassy in the Philippines.

I WILL never forget Edward Fabish; he made me rich.

I never thought things would turn out this way. Eight years ago, I was working as a stenographer at the Manila Prosecutors’ Office in City Hall.

When I left my job, my bosses –all prosecutors, my colleagues, and fellow stenographers never thought I would take the job of a caregiver. They said I was not the type.

An officemate warned me not to take the job of caring for the elderly because I might become intellectually obtuse.

They learned three years after I set foot in the United States of America that I became a millionaire.

I didn’t know I was the talk of the town until I got back in the country and someone told me people from my workplace were talking about my luck. News, indeed, travel fast.

But what happened to me, I guess, changed their prejudices on menial jobs, like caregiving.

I also never planned on being a caregiver.