Filipinos in Sokor rally behind Filipina bet for parliament

By OVP Media
March 31, 2012

MANILA  –  The Filipino community in South Korea is rallying behind the candidacy of Jasmine Lee, a Filipina married to a Korean national who is running for Parliament under the ruling party, and Vice-President Jejomar C. Binay said her strong showing “gives hope not only for Filipinos but for all migrants and immigrants.”

“We are all very proud that a full-blooded Filipino is being given the opportunity to be a member of the Korean Parliament,” Binay told South Korean media. “It shows that Korea is prepared to extend the opportunity to become a public servant even to those who were not born here.”

Binay said if elected, Lee “will be an advocate not only of Filipino workers’ rights, but the rights of all migrants in South Korea.”

Lee is a popular TV host, and heads the Global Resource Center (GRC) in Seoul, a non-government organization serving as a support group for foreign wives of Koreans.

She became a naturalized Korean in 1998, three years after she married Korean Lee Dongho and moved to South Korea.

The ruling Saenuri Party included her in the list of 46 candidates for the proportional representative seats in the April 11 elections in South Korea.

Lee, who was present during the Vice-President’s dialog with the Filipino community at the Philippine Embassy, wrote down the concerns raised by the OFWs, among them the plight of “Stateless children,” or children born to migrant parents who are not recognized by the host countries.