Would this make up the 200 Fiilipino workers Mr. Valencia claims protested against Tiglao at the Embassy?

The  demonstration  by some 30 people   10 October at the embassy in Athens was actually part of a smear  campaign against me  by Marcos “refugee” Jose Valencia – a professional anti-government agitator — and  the operator of an  unauthorized school for Filipino children ,  so that they can continue fooling  OFWs in Athens, and  bullying the Embassy through black propaganda.

Mr. Jose Valencia in fact has made it a career, and a profession, to use OFWs  to undertake demonstrations against  nearly all Philippine ambassadors in his wish to force  them to recognize him as the sole representative of  OFWs in Athens.  He even undertook  a demonstration against President Fidel Ramos, during his state visit in Athens in 1997, which unfairly portrayed the country as a nation ruled by dictators.

While Mr. Valencia, who led the group, raised ridiculous, totally false issues against me, they couldn’t hide one of its major unscrupulous aims.   One Mrs. Imelda Goutas,  married to a well-off Greek lawyer and her relatives were the most vitriolic during the protest,  even hurling curses against Embassy personnel.  Mrs.Goutas owns and operates the so-called PCEA “school”, which has been operating since 2006 without any permit from both the Philippine and Greek government.   Mrs. Goutas has been lobbying to take me out as ambassador, because she thinks she can pressure a new envoy to recognize PCEA. She refuses to believe that an ambassador has no authority to do so.

Mr. Valencia heads Kasapi Hellas, which unfortunately has degenerated into his own personal gang, which only he commands.  Mr. Valencia has been claiming to Greeks that he represents all Filipinos in Greece, even if his Kasapi has declined to just two dozen members. There is a confederation of Filipino associations in Greece, representing about 10,000 OFWs, with which the Embassy holds monthly meetings.

Mr.Valencia has been able to live in Greece and enjoy European standards of living since 1985 by telling Greek authorities to this day that he is a refugee from the Marcos dictatorship – which ended 24 years ago.  That is a very unpatriotic excuse for insisting to live in comfort in a foreign country, as that portrays our country as still under military dictatorship. He has effectively denounced being a Filipino by refusing to secure a Philippine passport, offered to him by all Philippine ambassadors here.

In contrast to OFWs whom he claims he represents, Valencia has never had a regular job all his life. He cannot explain how he can live in Athens without a job or a business.  It appears therefore that his income in Greece is coming  from membership fees in Kasapi, donations by European NGOs to Kasapi,  earnings from the events like the May ‘Santacruzan’ he organizes, and to his kindergarten school his wife runs.  These funds are not audited by anyone else except the Valencia couple.

Mrs. Goutas threw all her support and resources for Mr. Valencia’s  demo, as only the “recognition” of the school by a new ambassador could reverse the school sharp drop in enrollment in this schoolyear that started last month, as Filipinos here have realized that because it does not have the permits to operate as a school,  their children’s grades will not be recognized in the Philippines nor in Greece.  Mr. Valencia’s kindergarten similarly was determined by authorities in January this year  as not meeting safety requirements. Mr. Valencia however has been exploiting this problem by telling charitable Greeks and organizations,  that the school needs €180,000, and that they should deposit funds into his bank account.

There is only one school for Filipinos in Athens recognized by both Philippine and Greek authorities, the Katipunan Philippines Cultural Academy (Kaphilca) , which President Ramos himself ordered set up in 1997.( Click here for Education Department’s categorical statement  that Mrs. Goutas school, PCEA, is not authorized to operate as a Philippine school.)

Mrs. Goutas’ PCEA has been unable to get the necessary permits since  its poor facilities and personnel could not meet the minimum standards  set by either our Education Department or by the Greek government’s Ministry of Education. Mrs. Thalia Dragona, the official who only recently took the post in charge of foreign schools in the Ministry of Education, in a meeting with me 12 October informed me that the Ministry’s inspectors had recommended that the school be closed in 2008, and that she was surprised that the school is still operating.

Mrs. Goutas is calculating that the school can be made ”legal” if the Philippine ambassador recognizes the school as a legitimate one. However, I have repeatedly told Mrs. Goutas that I cannot do this, as it is our Department of Education and Greece’s Ministry of Education that have this authority.

The ambassador had been resisting her  pressure, especially as parents of the school’s children had been angrily complaining that when they returned to the Philippines, they find that their children’s schooling are not recognized by any Philippine school.

A school can generate a lot of money for its owners if run unscrupulously.   Students of PCEA are charged a minimum of €120 to €170 (roughly P6,000 to P9,000)  per month, so the school’s revenues could reach a minimum of €12,000, for huge net profit for its operators  – if it scrimps on  facilities and pay the teachers  only €700, which is below the required minimum in Greece.

Because they couldn’t stomach any longer the Mrs. Goutas’ questionable  practices, all of the nine teachers who originally made up PCEA’s staff have left it, even if  she  threatened  them that her husband lawyer holds all the documentation for their stay in Greece.

A key officer of PCEA, Mrs. Chari Bataan, left PCEA this year in disgust over the fact that Mrs. Goutas totally disregarded the vote of the parent-teachers’ association for her to replace Mrs. Goutas as PCEA chairman. Another key member, the auditor Mrs. Ida Herico, left the school as she couldn’t stomach Mrs. Goutas’ insistence that she sign PCEA’s financial report, even as she was not given any information on where its income was going to.

(There have been other projects of Mrs. Goutas that are questionable. .  Last year, she conducted a ‘Popularity Contest’ by which the student for each grade who can give the most money to the school will be the winner. The school’s former auditor claimed Mrs. Goutas generated more than €10,000 from this project, but has not reported how the proceeds were disbursed.)

An OFW protester? An amiga of Valencia's wife, has a money-remittance business in Athens, married to a British.

A corrupt lawyer in Manila, which claims to be with DepEd, had told Mrs. Goutas that he would be able to get DepEd recognition of the school, only if the ambassador is taken out of his post. “I can bribe or threaten any ambassador there, except Tiglao,” the DepEd official said.  Mrs. Goutas, according to a former board member of the school, has a two-year contract with this official that  started 2008 for P20,000 a month to secure the DepEd recognition. The contract ends this year, so it is imperative that I be removed.

Other issues raised in Mr. Valencia’s press release (download his press release here):

That the ambassador’s residence has “a swimming pool in a posh village in a suburb of Athens.”

This is a total lie.

There is no swimming pool in the residence. The residence is located five minutes away from the Embassy, the smallest ambassador’s residences in the area. I moved there only to take advantage of the adjacent garden (not a part of the residence, but the landlord’s) for our reception for Independence Day, in order reduce the Embassy’s costs for hotel facilities.  I often drive the embassy car or my motorcycle to skimp on gasoline costs and reduce the car’s rate of depreciation.

“He has been spotted by OFWs touring the fabulous islands of Greece like Corfu.”

I was in Corfu a month ago in order to interview a candidate for a position of Honorary Consul for Corfu.   I have a program to setting up Honorary Consulates all over Greece as this is the most effective way to provide assistance to OFWs in these far-flung areas.

So far, I have succeeded in establishing honorary consulates in Patra, Crete, and soon, Piraeus.  Not only as a person keenly interested in Western civilization,  but as an envoy who should  know his assigned territory, I indeed have visited several islands – but all, except Corfu, on my vacation leave and my expense.

“He has nothing to show in terms of performance after more than 4 years.”

This is a total lie.

Barely six months after I arrived in 2006, I managed to convince the Greek government to set up its Embassy in Manila, an accomplishment which eluded my four predecessors’ efforts for nearly twenty year. It corrected a diplomatically anomalous situation in which our country has an Embassy in Athens, but Greece didn’t in Manila.

The embassy has been a big boon to our OFWs. Before it was set up in Manila, OFWs had to spend a lot to get their visas not only for the plane fare to Jakarta, where Greece had its embassy covering our country. They were victimized the minute they landed in Jakarta by fixers and even taxi-drivers.

How did I manage to do so? By establishing friendships with the Greek officialdom and its elite, which after all still often determine government decisions.  Now Mr. Valencia condemns me for “hobnobbing with social elites.”

Consular services have been improved vastly, with the consular offices open regularly on certain Sundays.  Two major Independence Day celebrations, one a formal one in the evening and one a whole-day fiesta style for the Filipino community.  For many years, the fiesta was held in a basketball court under the searing summer heat. Since I arrived, I managed to convince Greek ship-owners to provide us with huge tents to shade our countrymen. There are regular monthly meetings with the Filipino community, which Mr. Valencia and his organization have totally snubbed.

My performance in fact is an open book,  as I have posted documentation of these in our website www.athenspe.net.

I “snub Filipinos with problems. A case in point is a Filipina who has been detained in the national state penitentiary since March 2010, who has not received even a visit from any of his embassy staff.”

This is a total lie.

My staff as well as the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) has actually been complaining that I have been too “accommodating” in helping all Filipinos with problems. A case in point: We rescued just last month a 22-year old Filipina prostituted in a town (Glyfada) near Athens, after she sent us an SOS through our website (which I set up).  My staff risked their lives in undertaking surveillance work.  We could not publicize this, especially its details, as the girl’s father begged us not to do so as it would be embarrassing to their family.

The Filipina Mr. Valencia is referring to who has been in a national penitentiary since March 2010 is in fact the mother of a locally-hired staff, who is very close to me.  This staff expressly told me that their lawyer expressly requested that she not be helped by the Embassy as “this might complicate matters.”  After the lawyer failed to release her mother, I disregarded my staff’s request, and ordered the Embassyt to throw all out support for his mother. They have visited the lady several times already. It is sensitive, complicated case as the complainants are Filipinas who claim they had been swindled in an illegal recruitment scheme.  The lady though has denied the charges.

That I and the Embassy “did not help 12 Filipino seafarers marooned in their floating prison for almost a year from July 2009 to first quarter of 2010, their salaries unpaid…because of the help of Filipino  migrants led by KASAPI HELLAS the organization of Filipino migrants in Greece.”

This is a total lie.

The case he is referring to is that of Filipino crewman of the ship Aeta Sierra, and the complete account of this case has been posted in our website, particularly at http://www.athenspe.net/?s=Aeta+Sierra.  The Embassy, particularly the Philippine Overseas Labor Office gave all out support for the crew, and even provided a lawyer for a few of the crewman. Mr. Valencia in fact endangered the crewmen’s case when he convinced one crewman to reject the legal services by the International Confederation of Transport Unions, the most powerful federation for seamen in the world. The ICTFU felt insulted and threatened to entirely pull out of the case if not for the POLO’s intervention.  My staff several times visited the ship – docked in the open sea to save costs – to provide foodstuffs and drinks to the crew to check on their situation.

I have not moved “against the proliferation of illegal drugs like shabu from the Philippines that is victimizing mostly innocent young Filipinos.”

This is a total lie.

In fact, it was I who initiated the campaign against illegal drugs among Filipinos in Athens early this year, despite fears expressed by some in the Filipino community that this would  risk even our lives, as the drug-pushers are connected to ruthless, organized crime.  The Filipino community can attest to this as I devoted several meetings with them solely for this purpose, and even an entire issue of our newsletter. I sent a letter to our National Bureau of Investigation asking it to send an official to Athens help embassy deal with the problem. We have determined who the identities of a few of the pushers. Unfortunately we still building up a case, necessary to convince the Greek police to act against these pushers.

I am challenging Mr. Valencia to debate before the Filipino community on these issues before I leave Athens. He did not accept a similar challenge I made in 2006 when he first started criticizing my person and the Embassy. I hope he has the guts to do so now for the sake of truth.

I will answer any questions you might have. Contact me through my email tiglao.inquirer@gmail.com

The hijacked supertanker Maran Centaurus (from vesseltracker.com)

(18 Jan. 2010).  The supertanker Maran Centaurus and its 28-man crew, 16 of whom are Filipinos, were released by Somali pirates at 8:30 a.m. (Greece time) today  and is now headed for Durban, South Africa, escorted by a Greek naval ship.

Maran Centaurus, a Greek 300,294- dwt tanker,  was hijacked some 762 miles off the coast of Somalia on November 29, 2009 enroute to New Orleans, USA from Mina Al Ahmadi, Kuwait.  The vessel had on board nine Greeks, two Ukranians, one Romanian and 16 Filipinos. It has been the biggest vessel, as well as the farthest from the Somali coast,  hijacked  by the Somali pirates, facts which created a shock wave in the global shipping industry.

Capt. Manthos Koutsothanasis, the crew manager of Maran Tankers Management Inc., informed the Athens Philippine Embassy labor office that the crew had undergone medical check-up and were found to be all well. Their manning agent in the Philippines is Friendly Maritime Services, Inc.

A  New York Times article claimed that, a ransom of $5.5 to 7 million was dropped yesterday, the biggest ever paid to the Somali pirates,  followed by a feud among the pirates which caused a delay in the release of the ship.

Maran Centaurus was carrying about 2 million barrels of oil worth roughly $150 million. The hijacking of Maran Centaurus is thus  considered the largest and most audacious highjacking in maritime history. It was only the second oil tanker captured by Somali pirates ever. The Saudi-owned Sirius Star, with a crew of 25 men, was hijacked on 15 November last year. The 330-meter ship held 2 million barrels of oil valued at about $100 million and was released on 11 January 2009 upon payment of a $3 million ransom, the largest ever paid at that time.

The Filipino crew released are as follows: Vincent M. Ombid; Marvin P. Montecillo; Movo T. Aragon; Allan Bayocboc; Salvador Quiocho; Paul Anthony Piraza; Ulysis T. Velasquez; Eric A. Castro; Fermin A. Panaligan, Jr.; Vincent C. Amante ; Lester C. Estrada ; Jessie B. Basalo; Ezemar Vlla Soreso ; Franscisco de Guzman ; Ronald F. Lecitivo; and Henry Suano.

The Athens Philippine Embassy labor office  continues to monitor the conditions and safety of 37 other Filipino seamen on board two Greek-owned ships –Filitsa and Navi Apollon – seized by Somali pirates on 11 November and 28 December 2009, respectively, and now berthed off the coast of Somalia. There are 22 more Filipino seamen on three other ships owned each by Taiwanese, Thai and British companies, also hijacked by the pirates. Atty. George Eduvala, Labor Attache

The problematic Aetea Sierra ship off Piraeus

( 22 Dec. 2009) The ordeal of 12 Filipino officers and seamen, as well as of the  Ukranian and Montenegrin crew,  manning  the problematic Cayman Islands-registered Aetea Sierra  will soon end  with lawyers of the International Transport Federation (ITF)  and the Philippine Embassy succeeding in convincing a Piraeus court to immediately  settle the unpaid salaries of the ship’s crew and to undertake arrangements for the crew to leave the ship and return home.

The Piraeus court of first instance issued an order 21 December, directing the shipowner of cargo ship Aetea Sierra to pay the salaries of the crew, including the 12 Filipinos on board. Eleven of them were represented by ITF lawyers and one, Jesus Hantic, was represented by Atty. Christos Moschos, a lawyer provided by the Philippine Embassy’s Philippine Overseas Labor Office.

A favorable element of the court’s order was its directive to the shipowner to pay the entire crew salaries at prevailing Greek standards, rather than the salaries specified in the crewmen’s original conrtacts.

According to Atty. Moschos, in the case of Mr. Hantic,  he  stands to receive about $26,000 – or more than four times the salary provided in his POEA contract, using Greek salary standards.

Should the ship owner fail to pay the crew, the ship would be held for public auction. Next to taxes, the wages of the crew enjoy preference in payment from the proceeds of the sale. If the sale becomes necessary, the process is expected to take from one to one and a half months.

 The return home of the Filipino crew is being arranged.  Eleven of them have completed their contracts and have indicated the wish to go home.  They can leave as soon as a replacement crew takes over the ship. Under the law of the seas, officers and seamen are bound not to abandon a ship unless there is a relief crew.

However, Greek regulations require that the ship be manned by seafarers from the Common Market (EEC or European Community).  To date, however, the ship owner is unable to fulfill the requirement but it is seeking permission from the Greek Ministry of Mercantile Marine to hire from Ukraine or Sri Lanka to facilitate the early return of the Filipino seamen.   

If necessary, the Embassy may consider requesting the Greek Ministry to allow the Filipino seamen to go home even before the arrival of the relief crew.

The Filipino crew are 2^nd mate Jose Cardenas,  2^nd engineer  Gardner Monte, 3^rd engineer Jesus Hantic, oiler Wilfredo Ranara, oiler Ric Leano Camina,  AB Florvic Labaco, AB Gil Jhun Moneva, AB Constnacio Cubay, Jr., 2^nd Cook Primo Fernandico,  messman Erolin Chiong Jr., messman Jerry Laride, and deckman Julius Caesar Flores.

The  Aetea Sierra was impounded in the Piraeus Port in September near Athens when a case was filed against its owners by the ship charterers  for its alleged failure to unload the cargo at the agreed port  (not in  Greece).  

Contrary to rumors, the ship crew  were being regularly supplied with the normal provisions, with Greek port authorities quite strict in monitoring the quality of food and water delivered to ship crewmen by Greek companies engaged in such business.

The Philppine Embassy’s Labor Attache George Eduvala and even the Consul General Constancio Vingno, were in regular cellphone communication with Jose Cardenas, the highest ranking Filipino officer, and with other crewmen to determine what the crew needed. Labor attaché Eduvala had early talked to the entire crew to explain to them their options.

 When Mr. Hantic refused to agree with the 11 other Filipino crewmen to contract the ITF lawyer, labor attaché Eduvala provided him with a Greek lawyer who had an excellent record in handling cases of seamen in Piraeus.  The embassy also delivered Filipino foodstuffs and other provisions to the crew, who were on the ship moored about 20 kilometers off Piraeus.

Philippine Ambassador to Athens Rigoberto Tiglao had written a note verbale to Greek authorities to allow the Filipino crewmen to immediately return home, even with only a skeletal crew on the ship.#