KAKAMMPI News

The 88.6 million Filipinos in the country as of the third quarter of 2007, there is an estimated five million overseas Filipino workers (OFW) abroad right now. Since the 1970’s, when the Philippines began deploying OFWs, many Filipinos followed suit year after year at an increasing rate. In 2006, POEA recorded 1,221,417 OFW contracts for employment overseas. The positive impact of the OFW migration Record-high The Philippines received US$ 6,050,450,000.00 in remittances from OFWs in 2000, and in 2007, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported the remittances to have reached a whopping US$14,449,928,000.00. YEAR TOTAL OFW REMITTANCE 2000 US$ 6,050,450,000 2001 US$ 6,031,271,000 2002 US$ 6,886,156,000 2003 US$ 7,578,458,000 2004 US$ 8,550,371,000 2005 US$ 10,689,005,000 2006 US$ 12,761,308,000 2007 US$ 14,449,928,000 From the lifestyles of the families of OFWs alone, it is perceived that they are better off in terms of purchasing power and property ownership than famil...

The Philippine government recognizes the importance of the Migrant Workers and their families. It is the first country to acknowledge the need to manage the deployment of its migrant workers through the establishment of the Overseas Employment Development Board (OEDB) and the National Seamen Board (NSB), the predecessors of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). It is the first country in the world to create a Welfare Fund for its migrant workers which eventually evolved into the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). The appointment of Labor Attachés and Welfare Officers from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and OWWA to countries with heavy concentrations of Filipino Workers to monitor their welfare emphasized how the Philippines values their contribution. And with the eventual enactment of Republic Act No. 8042 otherwise known as “Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act of 1995,” protection of Filipino Nationals overseas became the third pil...

MANILA, Philippines - International employers blame the country’s poor basic education program for the lack of seafarers qualified for higher positions on maritime vessels. International Maritime Employers Committee (IMEC) board member Belal Ahmed said there is a need for the government to strengthen programs in Math, Science and Physics to make Philippine maritime school graduates competitive in the global market. Weakness Mr. Ahmed said Filipino employees’ weakness in these subjects give them less opportunities to upgrade their skills and get a promotion. "You issue 7,000 to 8,000 licenses every year. But when we get them and start to train them, some are not very knowledgeable in Math, Science and Physics," Mr. Ahmed said in an interview following IMEC’s meeting last week. "There is still a lot to do to improve the primary level education and basic education," he added. IMEC Philippine Representative Michael J. Estaniel agreed that these are indeed the areas that...

MANILA, Philippines - The government expects more investors and tourists — especially from China and India — visiting the Philippines as it implements a “liberalized" system of granting visas to foreigners. In a statement released on Monday, Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said the agency had put in place the PVUA or the pre-arranged visa upon arrival system wherein visas of foreigners traveling to the Philippines would be processed from their countries of origin. He said the new process would also require foreign chambers of commerce in the Philippines “to vouch for the good character of visiting foreign nationals." Libanan said the new system would also help curb human trafficking in the Philippines. “The sponsoring organizations would be the ones to be in charge of the visiting foreigners in case that he would have to leave so this process curbs human smuggling instead of providing a loophole for this illegal activity as purported by crime syndicates,...

MANILA, Philippines - Two foreigners allegedly involved in human smuggling activities, including a 17-year old Sri Lankan national, were held by airport and immigration officials Monday morning. Clodualdo Penera, head of the Migration Compliance and Monitoring Group, said the minor was accompanied by Owhthevarajah Haykaran Collin, 47, Singaporean national, who claimed to be the boy's relative. Penera said the two were about to board Northwest Airlines flight NW 72 going to Toronto, Canada at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport when immigration officials noticed the difference between the boy before them and the picture on his passport. He said the immigration officials subjected the two to secondary passenger profile check where they found out that the boy tried to pass off as a Singaporean national. During the initial investigation, Collin said he does not know where his companion got his passport but he admitted that he will bring the boy to Canada to save him from the violenc...

LIFE IN SAUDI WITHOUT PINOYS? At least one Arab journalist thinks it would be difficult. Shown in this photo from Malacañang are female OFWs in Saudi with RP President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.MANILA, Philippines - Muhammad Al-Maghrabi, owner of a flower and gift shop in Jeddah, felt like losing his limbs when his Filipino employees left him and returned to the Philippines. He valued Filipinos so much that when Al-Maghrabi decided to replace his employees, he again hired Filipinos. Al-Maghrabi’s preference for Filipino workers is not an isolated case in Saudi Arabia. Arab journalist Abdulla Al-Maghlooth says Saudi employers depend so much on overseas Filipino workers (OFW) that living without them would be difficult. “If Filipinos decided one day to stop working or go on strike for any reason, who would transport oil, food and heavy equipment across the world? We can only imagine the disaster that would happen," Al-Maglooth said in his article, Imagine a world without Filipinos, wh...

Where in France could Filipinos often be seen? There are at least three areas in that country in Western Europe where Pinoys gather, and all of them are places of worship – the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, the Chapelle Sainte Bernadette d’Auteuil, and the American Church in Paris. The St. Joseph’s Catholic Church located at 50 Avenue Hoche, 75008 Paris, is one of the few churches in France where Mass is said in English. According to the church’s Web site, St Joseph is a “well-established church playing a vital role in the spiritual life of the city's English-speaking Christian community." Saying Mass in English at St Joseph was a product of a long struggle, dating back to 1863 when an English priest, Fr J.S. Rogerson, tirelessly looked for priests to minister the growing population of English-speaking Ramon Catholics in Paris. However, despite getting promises from government and church hierarchies, Rogerson failed to have the priests he was asking for. It was Fr Ignatius Pol...