KAKAMMPI News

KUWAIT CITY - A Kuwaiti court on Monday sentenced a Filipino woman to 10 years in jail after convicting her of joining the Islamic State jihadist group and plotting attacks. The ruling, which is not final, also calls for deporting the 32-year old after serving her term. The woman was arrested in August, two months after arriving in the oil-rich Gulf state to work as a domestic helper. At the time, the interior ministry said she had confessed to being a member of the Islamic State group and was plotting terrorist attacks in the emirate. The woman told interrogators that her husband was an active fighter with IS in Libya and he had asked her to come to Kuwait from the Philippines as a domestic helper, according to the ministry. An IS-affiliated group in the Philippines has conduced a string of bombings as well as kidnappings for ransom of foreign tourists and Christian missionaries in the country. Kuwaiti courts have sentenced to various jail terms a number of members, sympa...

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has intercepted some 22 pieces of diamonds which were allegedly stolen and smuggled into the Philippines by a Filipino from Kuala Lumpur. "It is disheartening to confiscate a Balikbayan Box believing it contains gifts and items for loved ones of overseas Filipinos in the Philippines. However, we could not tolerate, too, Filipinos abroad using these boxes in all forms of smuggling as it violates our laws," Customs Commissioner Nicanor E. Faeldon said in a statement. According to Faeldon, the diamonds were found in a plastic resealable pouch hidden inside a wallet in a balikbayan box sent by a certain Arturo R. Rivera in Kuala Lumpur and consigned to Lajane Basilio of No. 34 Luakan, Purok-1, Bataan. Following information bared by Director Dante A. Gierran of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Faeldon said the box was shipped as part of 246 loose packages in a container van on board the ocean vessel Sima Genesis, which arrived from the...

Thanks to the internet, Christmas spirit is reaching Filipinos abroad who are missing their loved ones in the Philippines. According to Jam Sisante's report on "Unang Balita" on Monday, many OFWs spent Christmas Day talking with their families in the Philippines through the internet. "Iba ang saya, mas feel mo ang saya tsaka yung spirit of Christmas pag kumpleto ang pamilya," said Glaiza Dalbert, who is based in Norway and who hasn't been home in two years. Dalbert's mother, Anita Dakal-Dakal, said she misses her daughter, moreso her grandkid who she has yet to see personally. "'Di ko pa nakita sa personal yung apo ko," she said, as she credited the internet for, in a way, bringing her daughter and grandkid closer to her on Christmas Day. The same goes to siblings Carl Joshua, John Clarence and Charles Jerome Cunanan, whose parents are both OFWs in Kuwait. The report said the siblings' father, Jimmy, has been an OFW in K...

The airports Nasa airport na 'ko! Malapit na ‘ko makauwi!  It is his first time coming home as an OFW. The hum of the airport is loud with the Christmas rush of passengers and ground personnel.  Naku, sana Pinoy yung nasa counter para pagbigyan ako kung may excess baggage.  He wishes he could take home more goodies for his family, his nieces and nephews, his brothers. He has a large family and he cannot wait to see them all. His check-in baggage allowance is not enough but he takes home as much as he can, utilizing every kilogram allowed. The chatter of balikbayans running through the airport is in his ears and he cannot help but smile at the thought that all these people are going home for the holidays to be with the people who matter most. After his 6 hour flight, the plane lands and all the balikbayan OFWs on board let go a round of applause; a uniquely Filipino practice that puzzles the other foreign passengers in the plane. The happiness and excitement is thick ...

For some OFWs, December 25 is just an ordinary date. Although many will be reunited with their families for Christmas, there are those who will depart just days ahead of what is considered as the most festive holiday of the year. At the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), sights of kids crying as they bid a departing parent goodbye are commonplace two days before Christmas, according to Chino Gaston's report on "24 Oras" on Friday. "Magpa-Pasko na. Nakakalungkot na hindi kami magkakasama-sama," said Janru Samonte, nephew of Rose, who was departing for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Both Rose and her young daughter, who was with her at the airport, cried as they embraced each other for the last time before she entered the departure area, knowing it would be a long time before they see each other again. Another young girl was shown in the video crying and hugging her father tightly as if she did not want him to go. Though sad for the departure, some OFWs are ...

A court in Auckland has fined a Filipina and her company for exploiting five migrant workers she recruited from the Philippines under misleading circumstances, reports said Friday. A  report on NZ Herald  said Rosanna Imai and her company, Imai Japanese Food Service Ltd, were fined $10,000, an additional $5,000, and another $5,000 as emotional harm payment to her victims. Imai was charged with seven counts of violating New Zealand's Immigration Act for failing to pay minimum wage and providing false and misleading information to an immigration officer, the report said. A report on NewsHub in 2015 said two of Imai's employees were made to sign new contracts upon their arrival in New Zealand with different terms than those they signed in the Philippines. Their passports were also reportedly confiscated by Imai, and they both received no compensation for the first two months despite their 70-hour per week schedule. Imai would later pay them $250 a week or $3.57 an hour...

MEXICO CITY - At least 27 people died in an explosion at a fireworks market outside the Mexican capital on Tuesday, according to a local emergency services official. The blast at the San Pablito fireworks market in Tultepec, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Mexico City, also injured at least 70 others, according to a tweet from federal police. Isidro Sanchez, the head of Tultepec emergency services, said the death toll was preliminary as rescue workers scoured the site. Local television showed a flurry of multi-colored fireworks exploding in all directions as a massive plume of smoke rose above the market while people frantically fled. Aerial footage showed charred stalls and destroyed buildings. A blast struck the popular market in September 2005 just before independence day celebrations, injuring many people.  (Reporting by David Alire Garcia and Lizbeth Diaz; Editing by James Dalgleish)