KAKAMMPI News

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia - After two months in a hospital, a diabetes-stricken Filipino worker in Jeddah whose employer disowned her due to ballooning hospital bills has finally returned to the Philippines. Aida Gutierrez, a sewer in the western Saudi Arabian city, was taken to the Saudi German Hospital on October 2 and was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus and renal failure. Gutierrez was confined at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, causing her hospital fees to hit 100,000 Saudi riyals or about P1.3 million. Unfortunately for her, she was not covered by any health insurance so she had to shoulder her own hospitalization. Most domestic helpers and other low-paid workers in Saudi Arabia are also not accorded health insurance coverage. It was Precy, her younger sister, who shouldered the initial payment of 2,000 riyals just to get her sister into the emergency room. She said she asked her sister’s employer to pay for the hospital bills but was turned down and even demanded that Gutierrez l...

MANILA, Philippines - Eight fishermen who foundered at sea for two days and were fished out by a vessel that took them to Japan, would be arriving home on Saturday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said. Carmelito Lapez, Danilo Labesores, Glenn Silva, Renato Peñaranda, Angelito Najaro, Elmer Perges, Manuel Suncad and Jason Consejeros are set to return to their hometown in Loon, Bohol more than two weeks since they encountered trouble in the South China Sea amid stormy weather while on a fishing trip. DFA spokesperson Claro Cristobal told reporters on Friday that the eight would be flown via JAL flight 745 and would arrive in Manila at around 10 p.m. The eight fishermen were on board the F/B Richard when they met rough seas last November 9. At that time, typhoon Quinta (international name: “Maysak") had passed through the Philippines and was estimated at 470 km west of Laoag, Ilocos Norte. Two days later, Japanese cargo ship Torben Spirit spotted the Filipinos as it sailed t...

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine government will be more stringent in the facilitation of thousands of Muslim pilgrims performing the Haj in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as several Filipinos were found to haved overstayed and worked there. Datu Ali Sangki, Office of Muslim Affairs (OMA) executive director, told GMANews.TV on Monday that they have asked Muslim elders to sign an affidavit of undertaking so that they would be held accountable for Filipino pilgrims they recruit for Saudi Arabia. Sangki said the Muslim leaders organize Filipino Muslims in different parts of the country to make the annual pilgrimage to Makkah. “There are certain sheiks involved in nefarious activities," Sangki said, referring to the illegal recruitment of Filipinos to work in the Middle East. About 320 Filipino pilgrims are set to leave for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, according to Sangki. The pilgrims are the first of 13 batches that would make the annual trip. The OMA, which has facilitated the pilgri...

MANILA, Philippines- A Filipino worker who has been jailed in Taiwan for 20 months is being petitioned for parole and immediate repatriation after being diagnosed with hepatitis C. In a statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) managing director Antonio Basilio reported that they have appealed for the early release of Jorge Ferdinand Bondoc from a Taipei prison. Bondoc entered Taiwan on a tourist visa and was later convicted for jewelry theft, MECO managing director Antonio Basilio said in his report to the DFA. Bondoc was arrested with three other Filipino associates as members of a syndicate of jewel thieves by Chiayi County in Taiwan. The four were found guilty and each were given a four-year prison term. Bondoc and the other Filipinos began serving their sentence in March 2007 and are supposed to complete their sentences in January 2011. But Bondoc was diagnosed with hepatitis C last May, which caused cirrhosis of the liver. "...

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino peacekeepers are helping in the search and rescue operations in the school building collapse in Port-au-Prince in Haiti, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported on Monday. The DFA got word of the effort from Ambassador Hilarion G. Davide Jr., Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations. "Filipino Blue Berets were the first to arrive at the scene and immediately went to action, using their bare hands to roll over concrete slabs and dig through the rubble in their bid to pull out both the living and the dead," Davide reported to the DFA. A total of 157 officers and enlisted personnel from the Philippine Army, Navy, and Air Force, as well as 13 other officers from the Philippine National Police, are serving with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). According to a Palace statement, Second Secretary Elmer G. Cato, press officer of the 8th Philippine Peacekeeping contingent, said the Filipinos under Col....

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwan's coast guard says patrol boats are searching for 19 missing seamen after their fishing boat foundered in rough seas. The Coast Guard Administration says another nine crewmen have been rescued from the "Fu Ji Hsiang 767." The Taiwanese fishing boat sent out a distress signal early Monday giving its location as 49 miles (80 kilometers) south of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan. The boat's crew includes 12 mainland Chinese, two Filipinos, eight Vietnamese and six Taiwanese. The nationalities of the rescued were not provided. - AP

MANILA, Philippines - Vice President Noli De Castro on Sunday said he would wage a serious campaign against illegal recruiters. “We should attack the problem at the source by arresting illegal recruiters before they can even victimize our poor countrymen," De Castro said. “Instead of repatriating our OFWs who suffer maltreatment, it is better to prevent them from leaving for destinations where they will only encounter problems." De Castro is the head of the newly created Task Force against Illegal recruiters through Executive Order 759 issued by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last October 23. The task force is also composed of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA), Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG). De Castro said the task force recently arrested a woman and her Turkish husband for illegal recruitment during an entrapment. - GMANews.TV