PASAY CITY — Early evening here in an air-conditioned room, Sandra dela Cruz performed what she does every morning far south in her rubber plantation: stretching a hand.

But while the 50-year-old spouse of a seaman is used to doing the latter, there was a lifting feeling as she did the former.

(First of three parts)

I AM A CONSORT in waiting, waiting to be petitioned by my fiancé to Australia, a country open to marriage of both males.

This is our story.

Our engagement is a very long one: I said yes in 2009. Marriage proposals are usually followed by the marriage itself a year or within a year after engagement. I know mine will take longer.

MANILA — A ladybug walking on a green leaf may excite advocates more than the mere mention of migration in government’s new six-year growth plan.

Edwin Corros of the Philippine Catholic bishops’ Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People (ECMI) says this is due to the absence of a long-term vision for migration, and for the Philippines, in the 2010-2016 Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP), which government will begin printing in January.

QUEZON CITY — It was originally a gabfest, but three delegates from the Philippines may have had enough of the talks and are itching for something more solid action from government delegates in the annual Global Forum for Migration and Development.

“GFMD was just talk show among the delegates where space is given for them to talk about migration issues [and nothing more],” remittance-for-development expert Ildefonso F. Bagasao told the OFW Journalism Consortium after arriving from the four-day GFMD in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

BERLIN, Germany — APPRECIATION for the Tagalog language is gaining ground in Germany, as young Filipino-German children gets re-exposed to their “native tounge,” courtesy of religion-related activities in Berlin.

Since late last year, the church-sponsored Filipino Community-Berlin, commonly called Bayernallee has been giving formal language appreciation classes to Germany-born children.