KAKAMMPI News

Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) stand to benefit from the Department of Foreign Affairs’ reopening of its passport extension office at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). The DFA reopened its Passport Extension Office (DFA-PEO) at the POEA building along Ortigas Avenue in Mandaluyong City early this week. “This facility is mainly for the benefit of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and seafarers. Their immediate family may be allowed to file their application simultaneously, provided that they are traveling together," the DFA said in its website. (http://dfa.gov.ph/main/index.php/newsroom/dfa-releases/1466-dfa-re-opens-passport-office-in-poea-for-ofws). It said the PEO was re-opened after passport data-capture equipment was installed to enable electronic passport (ePassport) issuance. Located at the ground floor of the POEA Building, the PEO is open from Mondays through Fridays, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., excluding public holidays. Passport fees range from P950 f...

Recruitment agencies have scored the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for the supposed delay in the processing and release of electronic passports (ePassport) despite the agency’s modernized facilities. “This is very deplorable especially [since] overseas Filipino workers (OFW) have to be at their jobsites at the agreed time and any delays in their arrivals are hurting their chances in earning income for their families," said Jackson Gan, vice president for marketing of Federated Association of Manpower Exporters. Gan said passport processing has gone from 20 working days to 40, resulting to backlogs. He said even the more expensive express service to speed up passport processing is now taking longer than usual. “Even if the applicant is willing to pay the express service fee of P 1,200, the current backlog still results in a long processing time of 15 working days, [even as] the applicant was promised that the passport would be released in 10 days," he said. Waiting time ...

The Philippine Embassy in Saudi Arabia is confirming if the dead body found inside a drum in Riyadh is of a Filipino. Vice Consul Roussel Reyes told GMANews.TV in a phone interview that the Embassy received reports Sunday of a dead body found dumped inside a drum in Riyadh’s major district of Al Bat’ha. “We have confirmed that there is indeed a dead body found in Al Bat’ha, and we are now verifying the victim’s nationality," Reyes said in Filipino. Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said in a separate interview that based on reports from the Filipino organization Kapatiran sa Gitnang Silangan, the drum was found in front of the Riyadh branch of Sky Freight Forwarders morning of Sunday. According to Monterona, bystanders first thought the drum was a cargo container scheduled for delivery. The drum, however, was noticeably different from the ones usually used by the forwarding company, prompting the bystanders to open it. Unconfirmed rumors are circulat...

A Filipino engineer in Saudi Arabia died of heart attack last week while at work. Labor Attaché David Des Dicang of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Al Khobar confirmed that 60-year old Wilfredo Bautista suffered a heart attack inside his office past noon on June 14. Bautista's office was on the fourth floor of the Gulf Center Building in Al Khobar. An engineer for Tariq Hajj Architects, Bautista is a native of Baliuag in Bulacan where his family resides. Dicang said Bautista’s family has already been informed of his death.. “Hindi ako makapaniwala dahil limang minuto lamang nang dumaan siya sa harap ng opisina ko at nagbatian pa kami (I could not believe what happened as he even greeted me five minutes before he died when he passed by my office)," said Ricardo Senapilo, a secretary at a nearby office, in an email to GMANews.TV. Senapilo added that the company’s doctor tried but failed to revive Bautista. He said Bautista’s heart attack was caused by extreme heat based ...

For the 17 female overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) stranded in Saudi Arabia inside a company-owned facility, Father’s Day brought more grief. “Wish naming (We wish) we could personally greet our respective fathers and husbands a happy Father’s Day, if we are only in the Philippines," the workers said in a text message to migrants’ rights group Migrante-Middle East. Virtually detained in their accommodation for as long as six months for some of them, the 17 have refused to return to work due to several labor malpractice allegedly committed by their employer, the Annasban Group. Among their complaints were unpaid salaries, illegal deductions, extended work hours without overtime payment, and absence of benefits such as health insurance. Annasban’s management has yet to respond to several e-mails sent by GMANews.TV seeking their side, while representatives from the recruitment agencies have earlier said they are assisting their workers in their plight. Help us Migrante-ME regional co...

Many Filipino workers in Sudan are suffering from abusive employers and no longer expect Philippine officials to help them, a Filipino missionary has said. Fr. Melito Pinili, a Filipino Franciscan assigned in Khartoum, said some Filipina home caregivers run away from their employers due to maltreatment and non-payment of wages. “We will no longer seek shelter at the honorary consulate because we will just be turned over to our previous employers," Pinili quoted concerned Khartoum-based overseas workers as saying, in an article posted Saturday on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines news site. He said workers who earlier escaped from their employers usually sought refuge at the honorary consul’s residence but most workers said they are returned to their employers. There are no Filipino diplomats in Sudan as the country falls within the jurisdiction of the Philippine Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, he added. “All we have is an honorary consul in Khartoum and a Filipino staff...

Even a shift to high-tech passports might not help the Department of Foreign Affairs in efforts to rid the agency of passport fixers. The DFA admitted this over the weekend as it warned the public anew against fixers charging exorbitant fees, this time for a passport appointment. "DFA-OCA does not authorize any of its personnel to offer passport-related services (particularly appointments) to the public inside or outside of its premises," it said on its website. It noted there are now "unscrupulous and enterprising individuals" who charge exorbitant fees in exchange for a passport appointment. The DFA Office of Consular Affairs (DFA-OCA) said getting an appointment for passport processing is free and may be done in two ways. One is to call telephone number 737-1000, while another is to log on to www.epassport.com.ph. "The public is further advised not to deal or transact any business with any of these people or even offices near the DFA offering passport-relate...