KAKAMMPI News

Criticism against the compulsory insurance policy of the Philippine government for overseas Filipino workers continue to mount, with Taiwanese employers also threatening a moratorium on hiring Filipino workers unless the policy is scrapped. The Pilipino Manpower Agencies Accredited to Taiwan Inc. (PILMAT) said companies in Taiwan have threatened to cancel some 50,000 job orders for Filipinos next year and instead source workers from other countries, such as Indonesia and Vietnam, if the government insists on implementing the policy. “With the imposition of this insurance scheme, we will lose our competitiveness in the labor market," PILMAT president Jackson Gan said. Gan said Taiwanese companies have expressed “strong opposition" to the policy, as labor laws in the island already mandate insurance coverage for contract workers. According to Gan, Taiwan’s labor laws mandate personal insurance for contract workers, with coverage amounting to $800,000 NT dollars or about P1.2 mi...

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz will meet with Vice President Jejomar Binay to thresh out the problem involving mandatory insurance for overseas Filipino workers. Baldoz said the meeting will be held this week, where she will update Binay on the implementation of the mandatory insurance, and get his inputs on the matter. “I will be meeting with the Vice President this week. One of the agenda will be to provide him an update on what’s happening in the implementation of the mandatory insurance for overseas Filipino workers," she said in an article posted on the government portal. Baldoz said she asked for the meeting, and will bring her officials including Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac instead of Undersecretary Danilo Cruz, who is attending the Global Forum on Migration and Development in South America. She said she will also bring with her the heads of the various Labor agencies involved in the implementation of the mandatory insurance for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), includ...

As the tension in Korea is still high, Philippine labor officials are drawing up a list of undocumented Filipino workers there who may need assistance if the situation worsens. Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said they have coordinated with the Filipino community in Korea to locate these undocumented workers, radio dzBB’s Carlo Mateo reported Friday. According to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), there are 50,000 to 60,000 Filipino workers in Korea, Baldoz said. On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr. had said their records as of December 2009 show there are 50,270 Filipinos in Korea. Tension in Korea is expected to rise further this weekend when the United States and South Korea engage in joint military exercises. The exercises stemmed from North Korea’s artillery attack on South Korea earlier this week. P25-M fund for OFWs in Korea On Thursday, Baldoz said labor officials have readied ...

More than 25 percent of the recorded Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-positive patients in the Philippines are overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said. In a statement issued on Monday, the TUCP said out of the 5,729 HIV-positive cases listed in the National AIDS Registry since 1984 up to the end of October this year, 1,501 cases are OFWs. The country's first case of HIV was recorded in 1984. In October, 104 HIV-positive cases were reported. Twenty cases involved OFWs, and the median age of the HIV-positive OFWs was 36. "This is very unfortunate because at 36 years old, they are at the prime of their lives and productivity," said TUCP secretary general and former Senator Ernesto Herrerra. Out of the total number of HIV cases among OFWs, about 75 percent of the infected patients (or 1,127 persons) are males. Around 96 percent of the HIV-positive OFWs were infected through sexual contact. Herrera said the figures underscore...

Foreign companies with projects in Algeria continue to prefer overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), saying they intend to employ more people for construction and oil and gas projects. At least three companies intend to hire more OFWs for various projects in Algeria, according a release by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). The release is based on a report by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Tripoli, Libya. Labor Attaché Nasser Mustafa said he conducted site verification and ocular inspection of Algeria-based companies COJAAL, Samsung, and Doodsal and found that work conditions in the companies’ sites are “satisfactory." He also met with the management of MITAC, the Japanese firm which built a 220-km road project with the Algerian National Agency for Highways. The road project was clinched through COJAAL, a consortium of five Japanese companies including Kajima, Taichi, Nishimachu, Hajana, and Ituchu. Mustafa said that COJAAL is now starting the construction of anoth...

Some Filipino students in South Korea do not seem to mind the tension in the Korean peninsula caused by last week’s artillery attack by North Korea on a small South Korean island, Sen. Edgardo Angara, who is in Seoul, said on Monday. “I was surprised that when I arrived here there was no sign of panic, contrary to what is being reported in the Philippines," said Angara in a statement. Angara, chairman of the Senate education committee, met with 82 Filipino scholars in Seoul last Saturday to assure them that the Philippine government is closely monitoring the situation there. Angara was in South Korea as a keynote speaker at the Korea-Philippines Multi-Industry Cluster (MIC) Development Cooperation Forum held last Sunday. He and Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri went there on Wednesday, a day after North Korea’s attack. Four South Koreans, two of them civilians, died after Pyongyang rained artillery on the small Yellow Sea island of Yeonpyeong, which is home to both fishing communities an...

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said six Filipinos died and 21 others were hurt in a road accident in Japan over the weekend. According to the DFA website, the Philippine Consulate General in Osaka reported that 12 slightly injured Filipinos who figured in a road accident in Kameyama City, Mie Prefecture were discharged from the hospital. The minibus driver, a Japanese citizen, was among the injured. Nine other seriously injured Filipinos remain confined in six different hospitals, the DFA said. The Filipinos, including one naturalized Japanese citizen, were on the way to work at the Sharp Kameyama facility. The victims' minibus collided with a truck at an intersection at about 7:45 a.m. on Sunday. Six passengers died in the accident. In a report by radio dzBB's Nimfa Ravelo, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration head Carmelita Dimzon identified the six fatalities as: Randy Bayron Cornel Alma Dula Adarlo Remedios Bertoldo Cargullo Ceferino Salengua Pedro Jr. Mabini Ba...