KAKAMMPI News

By Saundra Amrhein TAMPA, Fla. - Epifania Rojas' family broke apart in stages. At age 12, she learned how to live without her father. At 16, she is learning how to live without her mother.   The disintegration of Rojas' family began four years ago when she, her parents, and four US-born siblings became one of many thousands of families separated by immigration regulations or record-level deportations.   Hopes of reunification for many families swelled this summer with the passage of a sweeping immigration reform bill in the US Senate, only to be dashed by subsequent efforts to kill the bill in the US House of Representatives, where members are focused instead on piecemeal bills heavy on enforcement and more spending on border security.   "It has been an emotional roller coaster," said Cheryl Little, executive director of the Miami-based advocacy group Americans for Immigrant Justice.   US immigration policy has long favored families, though...

By Fr. Shay Cullen The incredible courage, bravery, and dedication of young people is what the world needs to inspire and lead us into the future. Malala Yousafzai is a striking example of the capability of the youth to give the good example where adults are failing. Her speech to the United Nations ignited the hope and activism of youth around the world.  Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban assassin because she was such a powerful determined advocate of the universal right to education. She shows just how influential young people can be if only we listen to them and allow them to have their role and to take the lead at times.  The adult leaders, parents, teachers politicians, and the general public should realize that there are great youth leaders  and youth groups who are giving their time and energy to saving the planet, helping the hungry, the oppressed, jailed children and they are campaigning for one important cause or another. They need the encouragement and...

The Philippine Consulate General in New York is “in the dark” about the identities of 18 Filipinos who were among 50 undocumented workers allegedly exploited for over 13 years at several 7-Eleven stores on Long Island, N.Y. and Virginia, the Filipino Reporter has learned. This despite the Consulate’s repeated requests from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the names of the Filipino workers and possible access to them, according to Consul Bong Cariño (pictured above), head of the Consulate’s assistance to nationals unit. “We surmise that since the case is under the control of the Prosecutor’s Office and they treat the case as exploitation of labor workers, they probably would want to protect the workers’ privacy and keep their identities from the public,” Cariño told the Reporter. “Even the Filipino workers themselves never tried to contact the Consulate,” he added. “The Consulate has already sent word through the prosecutors that we’ve been trying to reach them so we can offer them co...

Tags:  Japan KOYA, Japan - Ryusho Soeda, 66, has taken on a job for which his career as a Buddhist priest never prepared him: forensic accounting.   Soeda's temple is the 1,200-year-old Koyasan, a World Heritage site deep in the mountains of western Japan and long prized as a haven for quiet contemplation. But in recent months monks here have been debating a very worldly question: How did a complex bet on the yen go so horribly wrong?   Soeda, who was picked to head Koyasan in June after his predecessor was forced out, has promised a full accounting of the temple's losses, which at one point last year threatened to wipe out half of its endowment.   "My duty is to find out exactly what has happened and to publish it. Just like Greece published its window-dressing only after they had a new government, the truth will not come to the light unless you change the power," Soeda told Reuters.   The financial crisis at Koyasan is an example of an o...

A homesick Filipino in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who tried to commit suicide as he missed his children, was sentenced to one month in jail on Tuesday. According to a report of the  Gulf News site , the 33-year-old Filipino, who works as a household helper, tried to kill himself last November 17 after he could not take a leave to visit his children in the Philippines. The Filipino, who stabbed himself and jumped from the window, said he was going through "very rough times" and had "grave personal problems." The Dubai Misdemeanor Court sentenced him in absentia to one month in jail. The judge also ordered him deported once he serves his sentence. The investigation showed that the man walked into the kitchen and stabbed himself in the stomach twice with a knife. He lay on the floor for nearly 90 minutes before jumping from the window of the first-floor kitchen. The Filipino said he was not drunk or under the influence of drugs when the incident happened.  - VV...

A group of local recruitment agencies deploying household service workers (HSWs) to Singapore will temporary suspend sending Filipinos there starting September 2.   At a general membership meeting on Saturday, a total of 120 members of the Association of Licensed Recruitment Agencies to Singapore (ALRAS) agreed to stop deploying household workers to protest continued collection of placement fees by  their counterparts there. ALRAS president Lucy Sermonia announced the decision to implement a self-imposed moratorium so that member agencies can convince some partners in Singapore to abide by the Philippine policy of “non-collection” of placement fees. Also, Sermonia said collection of placement fees by some counterpart agencies has resulted in several cancellations of licenses or suspensions of some ALRAS members.   “In order to protect the industry, the association has agreed that a moratorium be implemented in order to convince Singapore agencies that the Philippine O...

Tags:  Taiwan TAIPEI - Taiwan's coastguard has rescued three Filipino fishermen who spent five days adrift when a storm blew their small boat hundreds of kilometers off course, officials said Monday. The three were found Sunday 37 nautical miles (69 kilometers) south of Taiwan, the coast guard said. They were healthy even though they had to subsist on seaweed and drink rain while drifting in rough seas. The men were slightly dehydrated but otherwise "in good shape," Hung Kuo-hsing, a senior coast guard official, told AFP. The three said they set sail from Santa Ana, at the northeastern tip of the Philippines' main island of Luzon, on July 15 but were blown off course by Tropical Storm Cimaron last week. They told the coast guard they feared another Filipino sampan might have been hit by the storm, prompting a joint search by Taiwan's coast guard and an airborne rescue unit. The incident follows a major diplomatic row between Taiwan and the Philippines ...