KAKAMMPI News

abs-cbnNEWS.com MANILA, Philippines –An alliance of Filipino migrant organizations on Thursday blamed the government for its alleged inaction on the case of an OFW who was a victim of rape in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. In a press statement, Migrante International said the OFW’s family fears that Saudi authorities would soon carry out the 100 lashes penalty before releasing Camille (not her real name). Camille got pregnant as a result of the rape. However, she lost the baby on her fourth month of pregnancy. The group learned from Camille’s relatives that the OFW had a miscarriage last December 2009 while detained at the Hafer Al Baten jail. Camille’s mother told the group that no one from the Philippine Embassy in Saudi Arabia visited her daughter when she was hospitalized. The foreign affairs department in Manila also could not give them any information about Camille’s condition. The Filipina was working as a janitress at a dental clinic for about 3 months when she was attacked by a co-work...

CARMELA LAPEÑA, GMANews.TV 01/21/2010 | 09:09 AM (Updated 1:30 p.m.) The body of yet another Filipino UN peacekeeper was recovered from the rubble of a collapsed building in Haiti, bringing to four the number of Filipinos confirmed killed in the deadly earthquake that struck the Caribbean nation last week. Haiti peacekeeping forces commander Col. Lope Dagoy identified the casualty as Sgt. Janice Arocena, whose body was retrieved from the ruins of Christopher Hotel in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday afternoon, Manila time. "Meron tayong bad news. Kahapon nang hapon natagpuan na po ang bangkay ni Sgt. Janice Arocena," Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. told GMA News' Unang Balita on Thursday. The victim's family was immediately informed, he said. On January 15, two days after the magnitude-7 earthquake rocked Haiti, Arocena's older sibling posted a plea for help on CNN's iReport. Arocena was a clerk at the Chief of Staff, Central Re...

An "evolving" email scam is targeting prospective overseas Filipino workers heading for Berlin in Germany, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday. The DFA said the scam appeared to be a variation of the one involving Markel Power International, which was uncovered earlier this month. Philippine Ambassador to Germany Delia Albert advised Filipinos to be “very cautious" of recruitment emails that claim to involve “Power International companies." Albert told prospective OFWs not to pay a single cent to complete the recruitment process. She said two Filipinos had contacted the Embassy via email to verify the authenticity of one Maleko Power International and Moss Power International, allegedly in Hamburg and Dortmund. “These Filipinos received emails telling them that they were being hired through an employment agency allegedly based in Messina, Italy," the DFA said. But a check showed Maleko Power International does not exist in Hamburg, while its add...

Three Filipinas were convicted and sentenced to long jail terms for drug trafficking in Hong Kong, one of whom had small plastic bags of cocaine inside her body, according to the Philippine Consulate General there. The three, all of whom pleaded guilty, were sentenced by the High Court of Hong Kong to imprisonment of 14, 12 and eight years, respectively, according to a release posted on the website of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). The first Filipina was arrested by customs authorities at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) on February 20 last year, after 1.2 kilograms of a drug mixture containing 750 grams of heroin were found in her luggage. The drugs were concealed in four books the Filipina carried with her from Malaysia, which were allegedly given to her by another Filipino who arranged her trip. The Filipina was represented by a Hong Kong law firm and was sentenced to 14 years in jail. Sentenced to 12 years in prison is another Filipino who arrived also from Malaysia...

Starting February 8, British passport applications from the Philippines will be processed in Hong Kong, hinting that the move will make it difficult for criminals to produce counterfeit documents. The UK Embassy said it wants the British passport to remain trusted as a secure document, and to make it hard to forge or obtain through fraud, an article on its website said. “The British passport is trusted as a secure document the world over. We want to keep it that way so that British travellers continue to enjoy the convenience and benefits of a travel document which is known to be difficult to forge or obtain fraudulently," the website quotes British Consul Joanne Finnamore-Crorkin as saying. “Limiting the number of locations where passports are printed will reduce the risk of them falling into the wrong hands." Teams specialized in passport examination, fraud detection, and secure document technology will run the new processing centers, the article said The embassy also said ...

53 An overseas Filipino worker launguishing in a Saudi Arabian jail suffered miscarriage and now fears getting a hundred lashes before finally being freed. Camille (not her real name) has been in prison since August last year after her employer turned her over to authorities because she got pregnant out of wedlock by a co-worker who raped her. Camille, who lived with her in Quezon City, went to Dammam on May last year to work as a janitor in a dental clinic on a two-year contract, the victim’s mother told GMANews.TV in an interview. Three months into the job, a co-worker – a Bangladeshi national – raped her. But Camille chose to keep quiet, fearing her rapist would kill her if she reports the incident. In September, after undergoing a medical check-up – a requirement before she decided to return to the Philippines – she discovered she was pregnant and was reported to Saudi authorities by no less than her employer. However, hard life in Hafr Al-Baten prison caused the miscarriage of her...

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday denied due to time constraints the petition filed by a group of overseas Filipinos seeking to extend the overseas absentee voting (OAV) registration. “Today the petition for extension of overseas absentee voting registration was denied. There will be no extension of OAV registration and that’s official," Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said at a press briefing. He was referring to the appeal made by overseas Filipino Maritess Salientess Bloom of Massachusetts, USA, last January 8 asking the poll body to grant them 28 more days of registration. The petition was filed by the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations, which said overseas Filipinos deserve the same privilege as their fellowmen at home when it comes to registering for the May 10 elections. “What’s good for Filipinos in the Philippines should be good for Filipinos everywhere. Ano kami (What are we), chopped liver?" said Loida Nicolas Lewis, chairman emeri...