21 December 2015 – The Philippine Embassy in Brasilia conducted a Seminar on First Aid, Health and Safety Training and a Lecture on the Labor Laws of Brazil for Domestic Workers on December 13 at the Embassy as part of its Gender and Development program.

The First Aid, Health and Safety Training seminar employed a combination of lecture and simulated exercises with the active participation of the attendees. The three resource speakers were from the Fire Prevention and Combating Department of the District of Brasilia, namely: First Sergeant Everaldo Oliveira da Silva, Corporal Sarah Kissila de Araújo, and Sergeant Eliveston Da Cruz Viera. The objective of the seminar was to promote awareness among the Filipino community of the ways and means to render/perform emergency first aid procedures in urgent medical/accident situations.

The Lecture on the Labor Law of Brazil for Domestic Workers, on the other hand, was delivered by Dr. Lara Parreira de Feira Borges, a lawyer and a Legal Advisor of the Brazilian Superior Labor Court. Dr. Lara’s presentation was divided into two parts. The first hour was her masterly lecture, followed by an hour of open forum – the question and answer portion.  The Lecture aimed to provide the Filipino community a working knowledge of the labor laws and regulations of Brazil, especially of their rights and obligations as migrant workers.

The Embassy opted to give focus on First Aid, Health and Safety Training as it believes that personal knowledge of  First Aid is useful not only to oneself but to society in general. The lecture on the labor law was timely as the Brazilian Government had just recently passed significant amendments to the Labor Law for Domestic Workers. It was the hope of the Embassy that through this lecture, the Filipino community, as migrant workers, will be provided with the necessary information to help and guide them during their stay in Brazil.

About 40 members of the Filipino community and family members of some Embassy personnel attended the GAD activities. Some members of the Filipino community took time to express to the Embassy their gratitude for the training/lecture, finding it informative and helpful for their safe and productive stay in Brazil. END