Manila Express & Manila Cargo Express have been a trusted remittance and cargo company of OFWs in Canada ever since it established its first office 1985. Most recently, it named its new COO for Vancouver who came in from the Philippines to take his post.
Jessie Palma, Jr. is Manila Express and Manila Cargo Express’ new Operations, Business Development and Internal Audit head. Prior to his assignment, he worked for ManCarEx, Manila Cargo’s Manila office. His roles include developing agent networks collaborating with other freight forwarding. He will also be in charge of hiring and will represent the company to official functions especially those in the Fil-Canadian community in Vancouver.
“I’m very thankful to the shareholders of Manila Cargo Express who put their trust in me when they assigned me to this post,” Jessie shares. He is currently on a working permit and has an ongoing PR application. “I’m hoping I can be reunited with my family very soon. I know that will be all in God’s perfect time,” he adds. Jessie’s wife and two daughters, 12 and 15, are still in Manila.
Jessie looks forward to working and eventually migrating to Canada, as he is very well aware of the plight of OFWs who return home to the Philippines after a long stint in a foreign country, with the challenges they face especially because they are unemployable when they return. “Working with OFWs and remittances, I have seen how difficult the transition back to Philippine life is after they come home, especially if they did not have any savings put away for their retirement.” He hopes that his family will come soon, and that they share in his joy of coming to Canada to stay permanently.
Arriving in January of this year, Jessie is residing in Richmond to be closer to the home office, but he is slowly making his rounds to the different branches in Vancouver and Surrey. While he is still adjusting to the climate, he says that the diversity of food is great, and the nice, crisp and clean air is so different from back home.
Jessie shares that Manila Cargo is excited to launch its automated booking schedule that will make booking for a pick-up more timely and manageable.
“We understand that our kababayans here are very busy, and that window of hours they need to wait for a pick-up could have been spent at work, earning money for their loved ones, and so we came up with this idea to make pick up more accessible and timely,” he shares. They hope to launch it by the fourth quarter of the year.
Manila Cargo hopes to rekindle its relationship with the Filipino-Canadian community this year once the restrictions have been lifted, and the events start kicking back in.
“We plan to join all the events this year so that we can let our kababayans know that Manila Cargo is here to serve them,” Jessie adds.