Apr 3, 2022 | News
BMKQ Women – a major program of Bayanihan ng Manggagawa sa Konstruksyon ng Qatar (BMKQ) for women in collaboration with International Marketing Group (IMG) organized a Personal Financial Management Seminar on Friday, 01st April 2022 at IMG Qatar Financial Center Business Hub, and was attended by 15 women members of BMKQ.
The seminar was facilitated by Ms. Candy Marudo, a Certified Associate Financial Planner and the CEO Marketing Director of IMG.
Apr 3, 2022 | News
In line with the membership expansion program of Bayanihan ng Manggagawa sa Konstruksyon ng Qatar (BMKQ), ten (10) new members swore-in on Friday, 01st April 2022. They are also members of Guardians Legions Qatar (GLQ), an organization of brotherhood among Filipino overseas in the country.
Seven (7) out of ten new members are women.
Mar 13, 2022 | News
The International Women’s Day was celebrated here in Qatar on Friday, March 4, 2022 at Skills Development Center, New Salata in Doha. It brought together 90 women leaders from 11 countries such as the Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, India, Nepal, Philippines, and Spain.
The event was organized by Bayanihan ng Manggagawa sa Konstruksyon ng Qatar (Association of Construction Workers in Qatar) – Women (BMKQW) and Kenyan Household Service Workers’ Association (KHSWA) in cooperation with the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), and hosted by Mr. Babu Rajan, the President of Indian Cultural Center. This is the third time BMKQ spearheaded an event on the occasion of IWD through the initiative of BMKQ Women.
Under the event theme “A Get Together of Women Leaders; Be Inspired, Be Engaged, Women Empowered” together with BWI global campaign “WE BUILD A GENDER EQUAL FUTURE”, the celebration was a combination of face-to-face and online (via Zoom) platform, and was hosted and moderated by Liza Ramirez, Mygle Gabi from BMKQ Women Philippine community, Fatma Hassan from Tanzanian community and Shweta Koshty from the Indian community.
In her opening remarks, Margaret Kabue, Leader of Kenyan Household Service Workers Association (UHSWA), placed the celebration in context, saying, “as all of us know, when women face challenges or difficulties, we do not give up. We do not complain. We do not put blame; in short, we just find solutions and in order to be women empowered we must love our selves. While Myla “Mags” Laja BMKQ Women Program Coordinator shared the objectives in her introduction to the program that being inspired and be more engaged towards genuine empowerment of women, this will push further our commitments as individuals and as a collective in building a gender-equal future, and the key is the participation and leadership of women in the social economic and political arena. When we are being sidelined, we create our own table, we create opportunities for women empowerment.
Ms. Rita Schiavi, chairperson of BWI International Women’s Committee delivered and inspirational message while Poala Cammilli, BWI Global Campaigns Director, Elizabeth Tang, General Secretary of International Domestic Workers Federation shared their messages of solidarity on the occasion. Whereas Nuria Berrenger from
the International Transport Federation graced the event and personally shared her message of solidarity with all women leaders.
Aside from the inspirational solidarity messages the event was also highlighted with a showcase of traditional dances, traditional foods, and poster making “Artworks” portraying commitments to “Build a Gender Equal Future” participated by different national communities. The traditional dance award, a top recognition for the fundamentals went to Bangladesh and Indian while the poster making award goes to the Philippines.
The event ended with a closing remark from Engr. Meliza Ortiguerra, President of Bayanihan ng Manggagawa sa Konstruksyon ng Qatar (BMKQ).
BMKQ Women Program Coordinator Myla “Mags” Laja, commended each participant from eleven countries, from different nationalities of women migrant workers from different sectors of Qatar. This year’s theme has its focus on building a gender-equal future, it means women empowerment, equal rights, opportunities and responsibilities for all women regardless of color, race and social status. Being inspired and engaged to get a better chance to explore the horizon of endless possibilities that provides the freedom to whatever we wanted to be as women empowered.
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Feb 6, 2022 | News
Amidst the weather conditions, Filipino communities are actively supporting and raising awareness about Qatar’s clean-up initiatives.
28 January 2022 – DOHA. The Bayanihan ng Manggagawa sa Konstruksyon ng Qatar (BMKQ), Bantay at Kasangga ng OFW (BAK) Qatar Chapter, and other allied organizations collected around 110 kilos of trashes removed from the seaside during DEAP Qatar’s Beach Clean-up Campaign held on Friday, January 18, 2021 at Madinat Ash Shamal Beach, Freiha Archeological Site.
“In nearly 5 years of active campaigning, we have recorded 278 beach clean-up activities and will continue to work with the communities to educate them on the negative impact on the environment. Plastic waste is the most common type of ocean pollution all over the world, but Qatar has continued to fight against plastic pollution.” said Mr. Jose Saucedo of the Doha Environmental Actions Project (DEAP Qatar).
Mr. Saucedo thanked the volunteers for their tremendous and ongoing support to the recent beach clean-up activities.
Meanwhile, according to Ms. Meliza Ortiguerra – BMKQ President, and Mr. Eliseo Bermido – Chair of BMKQ’s Education & Training Committee, the BMKQ with allied community organizations will continue to support DEAP as it carries out its cleanup efforts as well as promoting members involvement.
Beach clean-up volunteers adhere to coronavirus (COVID-19) protocols other safety precautions such as wearing masks, maintaining social distance, wearing gloves and using tools, and disinfection of hands.
We encourage everyone to participate in this community-wide beach clean-up activity, as well as the environmental and climate change efforts. For more information, visit www.bmkq.me or email us at info@bmkq.me. You can also follow DEAP social media pages at @deapqatar.
Jan 27, 2022 | News
BMKQ kicks off 2022 on nurturing and developing future leaders to carryout challenging goals of the organization for this year.
21 January 2022 – DOHA. The Bayanihan ng Manggagawa sa Konstruksyon ng Qatar (BMKQ), an association of Filipino construction workers, through the support of Building and Wood Workers International (BWI), a Swiss-based global organization, organised a Leadership Training Session for its new officers and members of working committees in order to achieve significant improvements in personal engagement and leadership capability. The training was held at Inspire Management Training Center in Hilal.
The participants were able to learn from selected specialized topics of leadership fundamental principles and various group activities (Leadership SWOT Analysis) including communication and townhall meeting (Fishbowl) exercise where timely and relevant subjects were brought up for brainstorming and which will also serve as one of the strategic objectives of BMKQ leadership for this year and onwards.
The BMKQ Education and Training Committee has successfully managed and structured the training sessions and workshops to address multi-learning level of 19 participants noting they are from various backgrounds, such as construction, hospitality, medical, and domestic services.
According to BMKQ training team, namely Mr. Eliseo Bermido, Mr. Leo Dote, and Mr. Alliver Revilla, the training was designed to assist participants in developing effective strategies for dealing with internal/external leadership and performance modelling at the workplace and beyond. Moreover, the whole day activities intended to educate and equip each attendee with competence so that they can confidently express themselves in front of others, overcome their fear of public speaking and boost their confidence in whatever form of communication.
Meanwhile, the participants were able to gain a clear understanding of the most pressing OFW issues in the Philippine context, apply their creative and critical thinking skills to analyze the various aspects of these issues, and to reach conclusions through logical and rational analysis.
In addition to this leadership training session, BMKQ is expected to hold various trainings and workshops for its members and other community organizations throughout the year, targeting at least one session every month.
Dec 12, 2021 | News
BWI General Secretary Ambet Yuson lauded the newly elected BMKQ officers and wished them success in their mission.
10 Dec 2021 – DOHA. The Bayanihan ng Manggagawa sa Konstruksyon ng Qatar (BMKQ), an association of Filipino workers in the construction sector, held its 6th General Assembly on Friday, 10th December 2021 at Inspire Management Training Center in Doha. Complying with COVID-19 protocols, limited number of members attended the assembly which is held back-to-back with Bayanihan Qatar’s general assembly.
BMKQ President – Mr. Joseph Catarungan presented the highlights of the organization’s achievements in 2021, along with the gradual lifting of COVID-19 restrictions by Qatar authorities. These focused on workers education and members capability building through trainings and seminars, blood donation program, beach clean-up and tree planting programs, and sporting events for men and women in the construction and other job sectors.
Mr. Ambet Yuson, General Secretary of BWI
It can be recalled that at the height of pandemic in 2020, BMKQ has assisted more than 3,000 workers who received emergency assistance from the organization such as grocery packs.
In collaboration with Building and Woodworkers International (BWI), BMKQ organized for the first time, the BWI Basketball Cup – a basketball tourney for Filipino construction workers in the country. According to Mr. Catarungan, the BWI Cup is planned to be organized yearly, with high hopes that Qatar will successfully win over the pandemic and bring situations back to normal.
“Sports especially Basketball is highly common among Filipinos, and organizing a basketball tournament among workers would somehow promote camaraderie, entertainment amidst limited mobilities due to restrictions, and a hopeful prelude to overcoming the pandemic in the country.”, adds Catarungan.
Mr. Joseph O. Catarungan – outgoing president of BMKQ
Meanwhile, women leaders dominated the new set of officers elected by the general assembly to serve the term 2021-2022, as follow: Meliza Ortiguerra – President; Ian Baldesco – Vice-President; Evelyn Florendo – Secretary; Elenie Nicomedes – Treasurer; Alliver Revilla – Auditor; Mau Trinidad – Business Manager; and Maurin Matalubos – Public Relation Officer. Moreover, there are eleven new members who took their oath of membership.
Mr. Ambet Yuson – General Secretary of BWI, who graced the assembly, shared some of BWI’s missions in Qatar, such as the establishment of Migrant Workers Center, which will benefit not only the Filipino migrant workers but all other nationals as well, working in the country. Mr. Yuson also lauded the dominance of women in the seats and considered it to be aligned with BWI’s campaign to empower women in the construction industry. Amidst great opportunities and challenges ahead, Yuson wished the newly elected officers best success as they commit to serve the organization, and encourage them to closely partner with Qatar authorities such as the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Interior, and the Philippine government offices in the country.
Engr. Meliza Ortiguerra – newly elected president of BMKQ who will serve the term 2021-2022
Engr. Meliza Ortiguerra – the newly elected BMKQ President thanked the general assembly who elected her to a new challenge. While she is not making a promise, Ortiguerra assured that she will do her best to achieve the organizational directives, with the support of other officers and the general membership as well.
Also highlighted in the General Assembly is the relaunching of BMKQ website – www.bmkq.me, designed by Engr. Ressie Fos – the former president, and now adviser of the organization. Fos explained that the website will also include members’ portal and other applications that will benefit members and other Filipino migrant workers in the country.
