KAKAMMPI News

04/22/2010 | 07:37 PM At least 651 Filipinos repatriated from the Middle East will arrive in Manila Friday afternoon, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said. The DFA said President Arroyo will personally welcome the repatriates at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. "Majority of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are from Jeddah, with 302 repatriates; followed by Riyadh, with 150; and Abu Dhabi, with 60. The other repatriates will come from Dubai (50), Jordan (49), Al Khobar (26), and Bahrain (14)," the DFA said in its website (www.dfa.gov.ph). It said the repatriates include distressed OFWs sheltered at the Filipino Workers Resource Centers. Also expected to meet them are DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (DFA-OUMWA) Executive Director Enrico Fos, DFA-OUMWA Principal Assistant Maurice Tiempo and representatives from the DFA-OUMWA and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). The DFA said the mass repatriation project was conce...

04/24/2010 | 06:01 AM President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to meet on Friday with almost 500 overseas Filipino workers (OFW) who were repatriated back to Manila from various Middle East countries where they encountered problems and became stranded, according to Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) director Eduardo Bellido. Due to arrive Friday afternoon in three batches were 574 OFWs—465 women and 52 men—with Mrs. Arroyo leading the welcoming ceremony at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Bellido said in a Malacanang briefing. The first batch is composed of 454 workers from Saudi Arabia. The second batch has 37 from Syria and Bahrain. The third batch of 83 came from the United Arab Emirates, mostly from Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Also included are 57 children, mostly OFW kids. According to Bellido, said the repatriation was a goodwill gesture offered by different Middle East countries following the recent visits made by the President. The repatriated OFWs from Metro Manila...

A 43-year-old Filipino is now being held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the killing of his Filipina girlfriend in Dubai one month ago. UAE news site Khaleej Times reported on Wednesday the Filipino confessed to killing the woman, with whom he had a love affair for three years. The incident occurred in the Al Twar area of Dubai, prompting police to question some 421 Asians in a span of one month to get to the suspect. But Dubai police, with help from the victim’s relatives in the Philippines, managed to identify and track down the suspect. Investigation showed the Filipino killed the woman after they had a fight in a parking lot of a residential area, with the man losing his temper when the woman threw sand in his face. The man held her by her neck and pushed her into his car. He returned to the car after washing his face. When the woman continued to argue with the man, he caught her again by the neck and strangled her with his belt. The woman lost consciousness soon and the boyf...

The Philippine Ambassador to Indonesia eased fears that Filipinos might have been hurt in the 7.7-magnitude quake that jolted the northwest island of Sumatra early Wednesday morning. Ambassador Vidal Querol said no Filipino was injured in the quake that struck at 5:15 a.m. He said the information came from his "focal person" in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital and the largest city of Aceh that is located in Sumatra. "Ang ulat po sa atin, wala pong Pinoy na nasaktan. Pero wala lang pong power doon. Ang pagkawala ng power ay resulta ng lindol (We received a report that no Filipino was hurt but there is still no power in the area)," Querol, a former Philippine police general, said in an interview on dzBB radio. According to the December 2008 records of the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority, there are more than 11,600 overseas Filipino workers in Indonesia. An Associated Press report said state meteorologists in Indonesia have issued a tsunami warning after the...

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Monday opened its new multi-million consular and passport services building along Macapagal Boulevard in Parañaque City. In a release posted on the agency’s web site, DFA officials held a blessing for the new office of its Office of Consular Affairs (OCA), a 7,000-square-meter, four-storey building. The building is currently on lease to the DFA by its owner, Development Bank of the Philippines, for P530 million. Consular clients will now have the comfort of waiting their turn while seated on ergonomically-designed, stainless steel benches, the DFA said. Instead of long queues, clients can shorten their wait by accessing the DFA's online appointment system and would to move from ground to second floor only for their consular applications. The facade of the new Department of Foreign Affairs building along Diosdado Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City awaits finishing touches and landscaping. The new facility will provide better and efficient servi...

A Filipino doctor was killed while evacuating to safer grounds when a town and airport in Mbandaka, Congo (DR Congo) was attacked by rebels. The Department of Foreign Affairs cited a report from the Philippine Embassy in Nairobi identifying the fatality as Dr. Jay Basilio-Bool. It said Bool worked with the United Nations contractor PAE Group, and died due to cardiac arrest during the evacuation. A report from Charges d'Affaires Donna Celeste Feliciano-Gatmaytan cited a report from a representative of the doctor's employer, Willem Ackerman. "The PAE Group is a contractor providing airport support services to the United Nations Organization Mission in DR Congo (MONUC). His family has been informed of the incident," the DFA said. On the other hand, the DFA said four other Filipinos from the same company are reported as safe and accounted for. It identified them as Fire Officer Juanito Sape, Firefighter/Equipment Operators Noel Lee and Laborce Hilario, and EMT Lead Roland...

A Filipina was victimized in a payroll robbery staged by at least two men, one of whom was her co-worker, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last week. But Sharjah police arrested two suspects shortly after the crime, after noting some booboos committed by the co-worker, UAE-based Khaleej Times said in a report on Monday. Police investigators indicated the crime was amateurish, with the suspects seeming to take cues from police television shows. Brigadier Yousef Musa al Naqbi, head of the Sharjah Police Criminal Investigation Division, said the crime was motivated by a series of police drama series on television as the two criminals were not experienced in whatever they were doing. “The robber threatened the driver verbally and the Filipina with a knife, the robber tied the driver with a rope and the driver made no resistance at all. Even after the robber fled, the driver stayed in his seat. It was the Filipina that moved out to seek assistance," he said. The incident occurred last...