Ambassador Crescente Relacion

By CHRIS V PANGANIBAN

DOHA: The Philippine Embassy in Qatar is seeking comments from the Filipino community members if they agree to be part of a survey being conducted by Georgetown University on a research project, “Qatar Study of Migrant Families.”

An embassy circular sent through e-mail has asked permission from various groups of the community if they have any objection if their names and contact numbers are forwarded by the embassy to the organisers of the survey.

The study which is funded by Qatar National Research Fund is jointly conducted by Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar, the University of the Philippines and the University of Michigan in the US.

Philippine Ambassador to Qatar Crescente Relacion has found nothing wrong with the survey if only this could help Overseas Filipino Workers particularly on how they would wisely invest their hard-earned money back home.

But Relacion asked the project manager Wendy Verstraete not to single out any private bank in the Philippines in the survey questionnaires otherwise this would appear to be a private undertaking.

“We were made to understand that the project is part of Georgetown University’s corporate responsibility,” Relacion said referring to his recent meeting with Verstraete and Dr Ganesh Seshan, the project director.

Flor Cabrito, president of Filipino Community Organisations Alliance (Filcoa), has welcomed the study saying this could help OFWs understand better in making the right decision on their finances while they are still actively working abroad.

He, however, suggested project organisers should meet with leaders of the community and Embassy officials to thoroughly discuss the project before the names and contact numbers would be used for the survey. Cabrito said a staff from Georgetown University has been calling him about the project but he told her that he would still consult with other leaders of the community.