KAKAMMPI News

By Maria Aleta Nieva-Nishimori, abs-cbnNEWS.com Nestor Figaroa had sold his tricycle’s sidecar to add to the money that they used to buy a return plane ticket for his wife who is still in Oman. “Naghanap po kami ng pera. ‘Yong sidecar ko naibenta ko para lang maidagdag sa pambili ng plane ticket ng asawa ko dahil yun po ang sabi ng agency ng Oman,” Figaroa said. Figaroa’s wife Maribel Calisaan, 37, is one of the seven Filipino women that according to Migrante International are being used as “bonded labor” by their recruiter. During a press conference organized by Migrante International, Figaroa said that they bought the plane ticket for his wife on June 22 and expected her to arrive in the Philippines last June 29. “Noong umabot po ang June 29 inaasahan ko pong makakauwi na ang asawa ko pero hindi po pinauwi. Kung bakit hindi pinapauwi ang asawa ko ay dahil hinihingan po siya ng replacement fee na wala naman po kaming sapat na pera para mabayaran ‘yon,” Figaroa said adding that the...

MANILA, Philippines - Filipinos were among 20 suspects arrested for a health care scam in the United States, the US Department of Justice has said. In a statement, the (US DOJ) said the 20 suspects arrested last Thursday are accused of being part of a group in California that defrauded health care provider Medi-Cal out of nearly $4.6 million or more than P222 million. An Associated Press report quoted U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Thom Mrozek as saying that most of the people involved in the scam are Filipino citizens – half of whom are in the US illegally. Filipino nurse Susan Bendigo, accused as one of the brains behind the scam, has reportedly fled the United States and is being suspected of hiding in the Philippines. The US DOJ said the suspects were unlicensed individuals who faked their way into being hired to provide in-home care to disabled patients – mostly children with cerebral palsy or development disabilities. “We believe that this is the largest single case alleging Me...

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines has finally designated an officer to coordinate with an international anti-piracy contingent patrolling the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. Tasked to coordinate with the Combined Maritime Forces in Manama, Bahrain was a senior officer of the Philippine Navy, said Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr., who heads the Department of Foreign Affairs’s office of migrant workers affairs. Vice President Noli de Castro had pushed for a Philippine presence in the Combined Maritime Forces in view of the high number of Filipino seafarers manning the world’s ocean-going vessels. De Castro said the presence of a liaison officer should help speed up information-gathering on hijacking and abduction incidents involving Filipino seamen off Somalia. Aside from coordination work, the assignment of a naval attaché in the US fleet aims to “establish a command" that will provide guidance and safety instructions to vessels with Filipino crew members passing through the da...

MANILA, Philippines - The World Bank (WB) has denied sending e-mails telling overseas Filipino workers (OFW) about the alleged manipulation of dollar exchange rates and rigging of lotto draws in the Philippines. In a statement, the international lending agency said that an e-mail saying that Philippine officials are manipulating exchange rates and lotto draws is circulating in the Internet and is being attributed to them. The e-mail read: “Your government is manipulating the exchange rate for some years now. It is very much improbable and impossible that the Philippine peso is appreciating compare[d] to euro, British pound, riyal, and any other foreign currency." It went on to say that the Philippine government also dictates the outcome of lotto draws. The e-mail solicited a lot of negative reactions from OFWs who thought that the Philippine government was cheating them from the real worth of their remittances. This prompted the World Bank to finally deny issuing such letters. “Th...

MANILA, Philippines - The renewed deployment deal between the Philippines and South Korea does not hold anyone accountable for the fate of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) onsite, local recruiters said. Under the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last May, the deployment of Filipino workers to Korea will be facilitated by the Employment Permit System (EPS). The EPS is a government-to-government recruitment system implemented by both countries since 2004 that was supposed to correct the exorbitant mobilization costs charged by recruitment companies and their brokers in South Korea. But the Federated Association of Manpower Exporters, Inc. (Fame) told GMANews.TV that since the EPS operates between governments, it leaves no one accountable for the fate of distressed Filipino workers. "There are clear gaps. With us [private recruiters], there is a very clear coverage, in the government there is not," Fame executive director Lito Soriano said. He said that when deployment is...

MANILA, Philippines — Another group of Filipino seamen received financial rewards from the United States government on Thursday for helping in the prosecution of a shipping company accused of polluting ocean waters. A statement by the US Embassy in Manila said three seamen, whose names were withheld for security reasons, received rewards ranging from $30,000 to $90,000. According to the statement, the Filipino seamen testified against the GenMar Defiance, a ship owned by the Portugal-based General Maritime Management, and the ship’s two officers. US prosecutors had accused the company and its two ship officers for violating maritime pollution laws by alleged pumping waste oil overboard through a hose designed to bypass pollution controls. Last year, a court trial in the state of Texas found the two officers guilty of making false reports to the US Coast Guard and for failing to maintain an accurate Oil Record Book designed to prevent pollution of the world’s oceans. Two of the cooperat...

MANILA, Philippines - Unless next month’s registration deadline for overseas voters is moved, a militant lawmaker foresees the government’s failure to have a million new absentee voters for the 2010 elections. Bayan Muna Partylist Rep. Satur Ocampo filed House Resolution No. 1249 seeking to move the August 31 deadline to December 15 to give Filipinos abroad enough time to register for the Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV). Quoting earlier reports by GMANews.TV, the lawmaker said that it is impossible for the government to get 1 million absentee voters since it should have had at least 166,666 registrants every month since the registration opened last February. But as of Wednesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs’ OAV Secretariat reported that only 127,758 are registered to vote for the 2010 polls. If the government is determined to meet the 1-million target, it would need 872,242 overseas registrants. “The House of Representatives call on the Commission on Elections to extend the regist...