KAKAMMPI News

Dubai-based Prime Medical Center is providing free medical check-up and consultation to Filipinos in three of its branches every Friday during the month-long Ramadan, according to a report. The free consultation will be held from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at its branch located adjacent to the BurJuman Metro station along the Trade Center Road towards Creekside in Bur Dubai on August 20; on Salahuddin Road opposite Reef Mall in Deira on August 27; and at Jumeirah Plaza along Beach Road in Jumeirah on September 3, according to a report in Khaleej Times. Dr Jamil Ahmed, Prime Healthcare Group director, said the free medical consultation is part of the company’s community outreach initiative. Filipina medical practitioner Dr. Daffodils Guevarra will be available for consultation to visitors, who will undergo blood pressure measurement and blood sugar check. The article noted that Guevarra, a specialist in
rehabilitation medicine, has experience in general medical cases like hypertension, diabetes, ...

Around 800 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remain stranded in Jeddah despite government efforts to repatriate them, according to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). OWWA administrator Carmelita Dimzon said these OFWs are waiting to be cleared by their foreign employers before they can return to the Philippines. “The 800 remaining OFWs in the Jeddah center could be growing again as more runaways and unregistered OFWs from outside Jeddah seek sanctuary," she said in a statement posted on the agency’s website. Dimzon vowed to send home all Filipinos sheltered in various Philippine welfare centers overseas. She said the agency has shouldered the repatriation of 466 OFWs and their children from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait from June 27 to August 9 this year. Nonstop repatriation “The repatriation of distressed overseas Filipino workers and children in Filipino Workers Welfare Centers abroad will continue until all are flown home under the accelerated repatriation ...

Resource centers of Philippine embassies will be "transformed" to offer a wider range of "care and services" for overseas Filipino workers (OFW) instead of simply being sites for skills enhancement. This was announced by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Friday, citing President Benigno Aquino III’s agenda to further strengthen OFWs. Under the agenda, Filipino Workers Resource Centers (FWRCs) — subsumed under the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) of embassies — will offer expanded onsite services for Filipinos working abroad. As a result, "full psychosocial assistance will be provided by the POLO and its network of reputable social workers and faith-based non-government organizations," a statement issued by the DOLE said, quoting Labor secretary Rosalinda Baldoz. The FWRCs’ new role will complement the “wholistic approach" in providing welfare and protection as well as “reintegration assistance" to OFWs, the statement said....

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 ...