KAKAMMPI News

By HECTOR PASCUA ABS-CBN Europe News Bireau, Austria The announcement by the Arroyo government that inflation in the Philippines rose to 12.2 percent in July, the highest in almost 17 years and amid a rise in food and fuel prices, has shocked a number of average Filipino earners in Austria. A Philippine National Bank official in Vienna told ABS-CBN News that this could be a big blow to overseas Filipino workers, many of whom take jobs as domestic helpers. Raquel T., 45, has held such a job in Austria for 16 years. She earns about 600 Euros a month. In peso terms, she earns P42,000, (1 Euro = 68 Pesos). She used to send P20,000 (300 Euros) a month home, but the higher living costs in Austria have cut that to P15,000 (220 Euros). In addition to this are the expenses for her personal needs such as apartment rent, food and other things. Raquel helps support her family in the Philippines – three are in college and her husband maintains a small welding shop. "Ako’y nag-aalinlangan na ng...

Banks’ past abuses still haunt migrant savings pool – ILO study by ISAGANI DE LA PAZ www.ofwjournalism.net MANILA–MIGRANT workers have yet to be convinced errant banking processes are things of the past before they see the veracity of pooled savings for investment in development projects, a recent study by the International Labor Organization revealed. The study titled “The Contribution of Migrant Organisations to Income-Generating Activities in their Countries of Origin” focused on the experience of the Philippines in developing money from overseas Filipino workers as pooled investments. The study placed under a microscope the experience of the nonprofit Economic Resource Center for Overseas Filipinos in promoting time deposits in microfinance rural banks in the Philippines. “The possibility to save at an MFI [microfinance institutions] is still not widely known among Filipino migrants,” the study said citing the Ercof experience. Ercof said attracting migrant workers to put money in ...

by JEREMAIAH M. OPINIANO www.ofwjournalism.net MANILA–A US-generated financial crisis is testing overseas Filipino workers’ ability to send cash home, an economist said using government data on remittances. “If OFWs persist in sending more money, it will not be physically sustainable for them,” Alvin Ang told the OFW Journalism Consortium before monetary authorities reported on August 15 that OFWs sent home a record $1.5 billion in June. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas linked the 30-percent year-on-year remittance growth rate to an increase in the number of Filipinos who left for work abroad from January to June. The BSP cited government recorded more than 600,000 Filipino workers left the country using official channels during the first six months of the year. That figure just above to the total number of oversea contract workers deployed in 1991: 615,019. While acknowledging the increasing rate of remittance from these Filipinos, Ang warns that remittance flows especially from the Un...

by ISAGANI DE LA PAZ www.ofwjournalism.net MANILA—FIFTEEN down, 15 organizations more to go, and the global conference on migration and development (GFMD) organizers remain optimistic these advocates can use the conference to lobby for greater protection for migrant workers. "We're aiming to come up with recommendations na mapipilitan ang gobyerno na ma-consider [to pressure the government to consider] such recommendations", Second Global Forum on Migration and Development organizer Ildefonso Bagasao told the OFW Journalism Consortium. There are now 15 groups representing the island groups of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao for the second global forum that began in Brussels, Belgium last year. There are 30 slots reserved for the Philippine civil society sector to the forum in October where they would join an expected 200 people representing CSOs around the world. The POC subcommittee would choose nine more groups during the national consultation of nonprofit groups early Octo...

MANILA, Philippines - Global money transfer firm Western Union Co. has identified a potentially fertile new ground which Asian governments, including the Philippines, could tap to spur economic growth: collective remittances, or the pooling of funds from migrant workers. Developing Asian economies, however, still lack the mechanism for channeling these pooled funds to have an impact on the local economy, with most of the remittance channels remaining informal, according to a Western Union-sponsored study released by The Economist Intelligence Unit this month. "Collective remittances are now recognized as an important development by researchers and development economists," the study, titled "Building a future back home: Leveraging migrant worker remittances for development in Asia," read. "Nevertheless, as a relatively new phenomenon and one that is often carried out in an ad hoc way or through informal mechanisms, serious gaps remain in the understanding of thi...

PASCKIE PASCUA, Philippine News LOS ANGELES — Childish grins intermittently escape from Stephanie Solis’ waif-like face like tiny arrows that cut through the concrete facade of America’s heart. “I don’t feel very Filipino," she said," I’m told I am not American, but the only thing that rings true to me is the English language." Stephanie arrived in the United States when she was only three years old. At that time, her parents only taught her to speak in English, “as if in preparation for something," she said. With a poignant mix of bashful restraint, sharp wit, and nonchalant humor, other “undocumented undergrads" like Stephanie narrated their stories before an entranced Sunday gathering at the Remy’s on Temple Art Gallery in Filipinotown here last Aug 10. The “book party" aims at raising awareness about the plight of Asian-American undocumented college students, most of whom were brought to the U.S. as young children, and grew up in working class, immigr...

MANILA, Philippines - Militant lawmakers are seeking an investigation into tough immigration measures passed by the European Union, and their effects on some 953,519 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) there. The lawmakers urged the House Committees on Overseas Workers' Affairs and Foreign Affairs to look into the human rights impact on the OFWs, 112,990 of whom are undocumented. In a statement on the House of Representatives website, the militant lawmakers said migrant workers across Europe face threats to their jobs and human rights following the passage last June 18 by the European Parliament of the Directive of Return. Such a measure will allow up to 18 months of detention without trial of undocumented immigrants who fail to voluntarily leave the bloc and face a re-entry ban of up to five years. Gabriela Reps. Luzviminda Ilagan and Liza Maza, Bayan Muna Reps. Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casino, and Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano issued House Resolution 682 seeking the inquiry. According...