KAKAMMPI News

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) is seeking an investigation over the plight of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW), who was stranded for days in two airports due to an issue with her flights. advertisement In a video, OFW Ivy Luz Quintin shared that she no longer has funds as she was stranded in Indonesia for eight days then she returned to Ethiopia airport, where she stayed for two days. Quintin's employer arranged her three connecting flights before arriving in the Philippines. Her flight went smoothly from Saudi Arabia to Ethiopia. But, upon arriving in Indonesia, she missed her connecting flight to Malaysia, which is her destination before arriving in Manila. Over JP Soriano's "24 Oras" report, OWWA administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said they are requesting Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to investigate Quintin's "chop-chop itinerary." Cacdac said authorities should've let Quintin return to Jeddah, Saudi Arab...

Published July 29, 2021 4:16pm The number of repatriated overseas Filipinos has reached more than 405,000, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday. advertisement During the briefing of the House overseas workers affairs committee, the DFA bared that a total of 405,769 overseas Filipinos have already been repatriated since the COVID-19 pandemic started in March 2020. Of this number, 105,606 were sea-based overseas Filipino workers while 300,163 were land-based overseas Filipinos. The figures were as of July 28, according to DFA. The DFA said a total of 4,960 overseas Filipinos would be repatriated by next month. Meanwhile, the Department of Labor and Employment revealed that the COVID-19 infections among OFWs has reached 23,121. Of this number, 12,528 have already recovered while fatalities were at 1,181. — Anna Felicia Bajo/RSJ, GMA News

By CONSUELO MARQUEZ, GMA News The monthly deployment of Filipino seafarers has reached almost 40,000, which is close to pre-pandemic numbers, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Bernard Olalia said Wednesday. advertisement In a Department of Labor and Employment online briefing, Olalia said the continuous deployment was made possible by the interventions of national government, including vaccination efforts and the crafting of guidelines. "Nari-reach ang 40,000 level na monthly deployment ng seafarers. Kung susumahin natin ang nakaraang deployment noong pre-pandemic nasa halos ng 50,000 monthly deployment ng seafarers," said Olalia. [We are already reaching 40,000 level of monthly deployment of seafarers. Before the pandemic, there was an almost 50,000 monthly deployment of seafarers.] Last month, the government allocated thousands of vaccine doses to seafarers and overseas Filipino workers to fast-track their deployment. They were also gi...

By JAMIL SANTOS, GMA News Published July 28, 2021 1:23pm The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) on Wednesday reported that it was able to assist about 586,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) through its online training program. Interviewed at the Laging Handa public briefing, TESDA deputy director-general Aniceto Bertiz added that 383,000 returning OFWs were assisted through the One-Stop Service Center for OFWs (OSSCO). He said OFW Re-Integration via Skills and Entrepreneurship (RISE) was also launched for repatriated OFWs who would like to make a living in the country. Meanwhile, Bertiz reported that TESDA was able to produce 2,978 contact tracers all over the country under its contact tracing program. "Almost 1,800 of those are already hired in local government units," Bertiz said. In President Rodrigo Duterte's State of the Nation Address in 2020, he directed the TESDA to offer special training programs which can provide new job opport...

A total of 48 Filipino caregivers left Manila for Israel on Tuesday, part of the first batch of 377 workers to be deployed to the Middle Eastern country under the government-to-government track. advertisement The said track was a result of the bilateral labor agreement signed by the Philippines and Israel in 2018, according to a report by Dano Tingcungco on GMA News' Unang Balita on Wednesday. Under the government-to-government track, applicants do not need to go through private recruitment agencies. They only need to apply for jobs through the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). The setup aims to stop the practice of charging overseas Filipino workers placement fees which would reach up to P78,000 per person. "Ito 'yung ating programa ng ating pamahalaaan ngayon para tugunan 'yung issue ng mataas na placement fee na sinisingil sa ating mga caregivers papunta ng bansang Israel," POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia said. (This is the program...

Thailand's exports have been a rare bright spot in the struggling economy, but migrant worker shortages are threatening labour-intensive sectors, undermining a fragile recovery as the country struggles with its worst COVID-19 outbreak yet. BANGKOK: Thailand's exports have been a rare bright spot in the struggling economy, but migrant worker shortages are threatening labour-intensive sectors, undermining a fragile recovery as the country struggles with its worst COVID-19 outbreak yet. Even as global demand rebounds and this year's 9per cent drop in the baht makes Thai goods more attractive, a lack of migrant workers is threatening exports as the economy already faces a tourism slump and sluggish domestic consumption due to virus containment measures. Key exporting industries such as food and rubber production can rely on migrant workers for as much as half of their workforce, according to company and industry officials. Exports accounted for 45per cent of Thailand's ...

Special rapporteur urges security council to call for ceasefire amid fears Covid will spread across wider region Myanmar is at risk of becoming a super-spreader Covid state that fuels outbreaks across the region, the UN special rapporteur for the country has warned as he urged the security council to call for a ceasefire. The south-east Asian country is facing its most severe outbreak yet, on top of a deep political and economic crisis brought about by the military coup in February. Its vaccination programme has ground to a standstill, testing has collapsed, and government hospitals are barely functioning. Doctors, who have been at the forefront of an anti-junta strike and are refusing to work in state hospitals, have been forced to treat patients in secret because they face the constant threat of military violence or arrest. The exact number of cases and fatalities in Myanmar was unclear, said Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, in...