CONCEPCION Lomibao-Van Der Veen, the first woman president of the United Filipino Organization in the CNMI, believes that overseas Filipino workers could be proud of two things: respect and responsibility.
Respect, she says, is a very significant trait as “we are well-known for being very respectful of everyone” and thus in return “we must also make sure that we get respect from others.”
Responsibility, she says, is mirrored through the Filipinos taking their jobs seriously, making sure that “we all work very hard to make sure that it gets done, not only properly but promptly as well.”
But there is a third “ingredient” that Van Der Veen believes Filipinos should have to minimize or even stop their becoming victims of exploitation: knowing one’s rights.
“We should always be well-informed about the current rules and regulations. Everywhere we go, we have to make sure that we are well-educated about our rights as workers and as human beings,” Van Der Veen told members of UFO, an umbrella organization of 20 Filipino groups in the CNMI, during the induction of officers and advisers on Saturday at Daichi Hotel.
