Day 3 (Feb. 06, 2009) - Back to Phil. Embassy, et al

Today I woke-up ever so early again to accompany my hubby to the Phil. Embassy for him to see LabAtt Sonny again, and for me to see the lady Vice-Consul (whose name I forgot - again!), only to witness a van driven by Kuya George ran-away workers from their employers. One passenger had a broken back, who jumped from her employer’s residence because she was not allowed to leave. While waiting for LabAtt Sonny (who had an early breakfast meeting somewhere outside his office), I thought why not talk to them?

and of course, hindi naman nawawala, and picture-taking namin:

ConGen Mel appeared at the office of LabAtt Sonny (while waiting for him - it was really nice of LabAtt Sonny to allow me to use his office), and we had a long discussion about the plight of Filipina maids in Malaysia - especially those coming in as “Tourists” - changing their status later.

 then I learned that this system does not at all give our fellow-Filipinas the proper protection, especially that there is no agency in Manila to run-after, if ever they get into trouble. A new plan is being deviced by the embassy in order to create more jobs for our OFWs (mostly HSWS) to Malaysia, facing the global economic crisis. 

Another visit to Yen Mei’s office ensued, and we were escorted out of the office no other than the boss (Managing Director) herself:

  apologizing that she couldn’t join us for lunch as she has her Indonesian agent coming-in at such short notice, Ate Beng will accompany is to have lunch (and a little shopping) at Midway Mall. Our pictures:

     … from lunch to a geomancy store. The prices are really cheap! In that same mall (at the upper floor) was Asia’s famous Lilian Tu, but I didn’t bother to go.  I’m satisfied with this place (forgot its name), where prices are 10% of what the store of Lilian has to offer.

Also tried some native Malay formal clothes  and boy, were they beautiful! But it should fit the occassion, and the weather, so I decided to go for the simple long “batik” gown, hand-painted and custom-made.

Back to the hotel, Kim (Kimberly) came with his hubby (Kenneth - a lawyer) and their children.  We talked about franching my fashion jewelries and perfumes in KL, hoping that we could do business together. She bought the rest of my jewelries, while her hubby and mine talked to another table (the smoking area!). Her son’s picture wasn’t here because he was already sleeping when we were taking this one.  The meeting ended at almost 2:00am.