KAKAMMPI News

MANILA, Philippines - Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo promised to take the cudgels for Filipino workers during his four-day visit to Lebanon and Syria this week. Romulo, in a departure statement Sunday night, said he will meet with officials and Philippine envoys in the two countries to follow up programs for Filipino workers. "The welfare of Filipino workers will be a key topic that I will bring up with the Lebanese and Syrian officials. I will meet with our Ambassadors in Beirut and Damascus to discuss follow-through action and programs for the promotion of bilateral ties especially the welfare of Filipino workers," he said. The text of the departure statement was posted on the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) website late Monday. Romulo's visit ends Feb. 19. Romulo said he will also meet with the highest officials of these Arab States to further enhance the Philippines' interaction with the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League. Leb...

MANILA, Philippines - The government’s plan to send jobless Filipino nurses to rural areas for training will not make them any attractive for overseas jobs, a recruitment leader said. Jackson Gan, vice-president of the Federated Association of Manpower Exporters said the government’s Nurses Assigned in Rural Areas (NARS) program might be laudable in giving Filipino nurses the job experience they need but hospitals abroad require nurses to have training in specialty areas that are only available in urban hospitals. “Trained nurses in specialty areas like surgical ward, burn ICU (Intensive Care Unit), neo-natal icu, cardiac cath lab, nursery nurses, pedia, cardio-vascular, emergency, therapy, and clinical wards which are in demand in the Middle East and Western countries like the USA, UK, Australia and Canada," Gan said. Launched by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, NARS aims to address the glut in inexperienced nurses; the proliferation of volunteer nurses who pay the hospitals to...

MANILA, Philippines - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has appointed three new ambassadors to Poland, Bahrain and Ireland, a statement said on Monday. The Commission on Appointments (CA) under the new leadership of Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile has just received the appointment papers of the three new envoys: Alejandro del Rosario, to Poland; Ma. Corazon Bahjin, to the Kingdom of Bahrain; and Ariel Abadilla, to Ireland. Along with the three Philippine ambassadors, the CA also signed the promotion of 19 Military officers to become generals, as well as the fresh batch of 36 chiefs of mission, foreign service officers and career ministers at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), said Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas, head of the House contingent to the CA. - GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines - While various groups have been clamoring for the government to lift the deployment bans to five countries and take advantage of the job demands for Filipino workers there, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is quick to say ‘ not so fast.’ Foreign Affairs spokesperson Bayani Mangibin said the DFA cannot immediately lift the deployment bans to Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Jordan and Nigeria until the safety of the workers is assured. “Safety of the workers comes first before the job security, that’s our primordial concern," Mangibin told GMANews.TV. Emmanuel Geslani, a recruitement consultant, said the Philippines stands a chance of losing job opportunities in Iraq and Lebanon as the deployment ban stays. Geslani said Filipino construction workers could benefit from the US-funded $80-billion infrastructure project in Iraq. He also said that the Filipino domestic helpers who opted to stay in Lebanon are now working as restaurant and hotel workers, proving th...

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine labor officials have set up an online portal in the United Arab Emirates to help retrenched Filipino workers find new jobs. The Khaleej Times reported that the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (Polo) set up the portal in Deira for job-matching. The portal will connect to the database of the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) in Manila. Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) overseas operations coordinating service director Jocelyn Hapal said 830 retrenched Filipinos have so far reported to the team for job matching. She said most of the retrenched workers used to work in the banking, construction and real estate sectors, and the marketing departments of companies in Dubai, Sharjah and Jebel Ali, including the free zone areas. Hapal said labor attache Virginia Calvez will manage the special portal in Deira after the team departs from Dubai. "As we leave the UAE, this special online portal becomes the permanent repository and cleari...

MANILA, Philippines - Despite the death of a Philippine Embassy worker in Iraq, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) sees no reason for the incident to gravely affect the assessment of the safety of Filipinos in the conflict-ridden area. DFA spokesperson Bayani Mangbin told GMANews.TV that the government team set to leave for Iraq this month would be looking into several aspects of the real situation in the area. The Philippine team will be led by Ambassador Roy Cimatu, head of the Middle East Preparedness Team, which will be leaving for Iraq this month to study the possibility of lifting the ban. Cimatu’s team will also visit Lebanon and Nigeria — two other countries with existing bans on Filipino workers. The DFA is set to decide on the possible lifting of deployment bans next month after the security assessments. “While we are concerned with the incident, I don’t think it should stop Ambassador Cimatu from seeing the bigger picture. He won’t be swayed easily just by one detail,...

Agence France-Presse As thousands of Filipino workers face the grim prospect of being laid off due to the global financial crisis President Gloria Arroyo has called for an intensified effort to place more workers overseas. The Philippines is already one of the world's leading sources for skilled and unskilled workers with up to nine million people, about 10 percent of the population, living and working in 140 countries. In the first 11 months of last year these workers sent home 15 billion dollars, contributing around 10 percent of the country's gross domestic product and helping to keep growth for the year at a respectable 4.6 percent. While remittances have managed to shield the Philippines from the full impact of the financial crisis, the small manufacturing and garment sectors -- the country's main export earners -- are bleeding as factories close and thousands lose their jobs. The Labour Department says some 15,000 workers have been laid off over the past two months wh...