KAKAMMPI News

A Filipino toy salesman in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) pleaded guilty to stealing 15,000 dirhams (P198,985) from his employer, saying he did so for his sick mother, a news report said Friday. UAE-based news site Khaleej Times (www.khaleejtimes.com) said the 36-year-old salesman had appeared in the Court of First Instance in Deira on Thursday and said he regretted very much what he did. He then asked for a swift verdict, which is expected on September 14. Court records showed the Filipino took more than Dh15,000 on June 4 from the gift and toy store he was working for at a shopping center in Deira. The manager of the store said other employees discovered the theft at about 7:30 a.m. that day. “One of the door locks was not there," the British manager said when questioned by prosecutors. He also said that the cashier’s drawer was opened. Also, the manager said the surveillance cameras were “put out of work." He added the stolen cash was of different currencies and it was mor...

KIDAPAWAN, Philippines – A 30-year-old Filipino domestic helper from the southern Philippines, who escaped from her employer in Kuwait because she could no longer bear alleged physical abuses, has been arrested by the police. But unlike many other runaway overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who either languish in jail or get stranded in the host country, Amelita Rebuya will be able to return home to the Philippines very soon. This assurance comes from Rebuya’s recruitment agency, Phiilquest International Management & Service Contractor, which said it took action right away after learning of the OFW’s plight. Conrad Crisostomo, head of Philquest in the southern city Kidapawan City, said the agency learned of Rebuya’s plight from her elder sister Nora Laudatu, who resides in Barangay Kibia in Matalam town of North Cotabato. Crisostomo said Philquest immediately contacted its partner agency in Kuwait and coordinated with other government agencies to search for Rebuya. Officials of the Ph...

Wed to strangers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Beware of syndicates recruiting Filipino women as brides for Korean nationals. The Philippine Embassy in Seoul has issued the warning as it reported having received many complaints from Filipino wives of abuses committed by their foreign husbands lately. Such abuses resulted in “abandonment of the marital home, separation and divorce," Ambassador Luis Cruz was quoted saying in a report posted Thursday in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) website (www.dfa.gov.ph). The report said many Filipino women were quick to accept the whirlwind marriage to seek employment abroad and have better opportunities in life. "However, they receive false information on the partner’s family background and face abuses after the marriage," it said. Republic Act 6955, the Anti-Mail-Order Bride Law, makes it illegal for a “person, natural or juridical, association, club or any other entity...

BILLS ON OFW HOSPITALS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- House Bill 6297 by Rep. Diosdado Arroyo Senate Bill 421 by Senator Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada" Senate Bill 1867 by Senator Manuelito Lapid The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said Wednesday that it is already taking steps to create hospitals and hospital wings that would specifically cater to the medical needs of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) and their dependents. “We always say that we are grateful to OFWs, this is a way of showing them," OWWA chief Carmelita Dimzon told GMANews.TV on Wednesday. Dimzon said they plan to build either a whole hospital or just a wing in a government hospital, depending on the availability of areas in each of the 17 regions in the Philippines. “Depende pa rin sa available space, sa Metro Manila mahirap (It depends on the available space, it’...

Despite an American lawmaker’s recent proposal to cut down the number of foreign workers in Guam, the US territory’s officials said Wednesday that the projected 15,000 to 20,000 job openings there will still be up for grabs – preferably to Filipinos – come 2010. “We have affinity for foreign workers, especially for Filipinos," said Guam Senator and Majority Leader Rory Respicio during a press conference held Wednesday at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) office in Mandaluyong. Respicio made the assurance after US Representative Neil Abercrombie filed a bill that would cut down the percentage of work for foreign workers in the Guam labor market to only 30 percent. But Guam Senator and Assistant Majority Leader Judith Guthertz said that their Senate will have to pass a similar proposal as Abercrombie’s before it can even take effect. “We do not believe it will pass. He will not get everything he is wishing for," she said. ‘Hard-working, loyal’ Guam offici...

Two of three men posing as policemen were brought to trial in the United Arab Emirates for robbing a group of Filipinos in an apartment, a UAE-based news site reported. A report on Khaleej Times (www.khaleejtimes.com) described the suspects as Syrian and Jordanian, adding one of them remains at large. It did not name the suspects, however. “The Syrian and the Jordanian suspects are believed to have used knives to intimidate the plaintiffs and force them to give up their belongings," the report said. It said the men entered an apartment of Filipinos at night and stole cash and valuables after posing as Criminal Investigation Division (CID) officers. The report said the men took items including mobile phones, sunglasses, cash money, laptops, ATMs, health cards, labor cards and other belongings. - GMANews.TV

Cristeta Comerford holds the distinction of being the only Filipino chef to have served three US Presidents in the White House. - Philippine NewsTwo overseas-based Filipino professionals awarded for their world-class skills urged Pinoys to choose their leaders wisely in next year’s elections. All Filipinos must put a lot of thought on who would they vote for next year, White House executive chef Cristeta Pasia-Comerford and Eli Remalona, chief representative for the Asia and the Pacific of the Bank for International Settlements, said. Both Comerford and Remalona, along with renowned painter Anita Magsaysay-Ho, were chosen by the Bank of the Philippine Islands as this year's 4th BPInoy Awardees. The recognition is given to outstanding Filipinos all over the world who have served as excellent examples of how to “Be Pinoy" even when one is working outside the Philippines. The BPInoy Awards is an annual initiative of BPI to encourage nationalism among Filipinos abroad and to commu...