KAKAMMPI News

HONG KONG - The Hong Kong government acted Wednesday to suspend monthly fees some residents must pay to employ maids, a controversial move that critics fear could cost many domestic workers their jobs. The new measure, which goes into effect Friday and lasts until August 2010, would exempt employers who hire or renew contracts with foreign maids from paying a HK$400 (US$51) monthly fee for two years, Secretary for Labor and Welfare Matthew Cheung said. The suspension was proposed by Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang to help relieve inflation and passed Wednesday by his Cabinet. However, it has drawn criticism because it will not apply to employers who already have maids. Opponents fear foreign maids could lose jobs as employers fire them and hire new ones to take advantage of the waiver. Hundreds of foreign maids protested Sunday over the suspension. "We are still upset and very angry with the decision of the government," said Eni Lestari, a spokeswoman for an Asian migrant worke...

MANILA, Philippines - Money sent home last year by Filipinos working abroad was nearly one-fifth more than the official figures reported by the government, according to a study by a London-based organization. Instead of receiving $14.45 billion, the Philippines actually got some $17 billion in remittances last year, the research unit of the London-based Economist Magazine said in its July 2008 report. This indicated that the difference—estimated at $2.6 billion—was sent via unofficial channels, a figure that is five times more than the $500 million estimated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Besides friends and relatives of overseas workers, unofficial channels also refer to door-to-door services, which also deliver shipments from abroad—usually consumer goods sent home by Filipinos abroad. Earlier, the central bank predicted that remittances for this year would reach $16.4 billion. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the Philippines is the fourth-largest recipi...

MANILA, Philippines - The Council of Europe, the region’s top human rights watchdog, criticized Italy’s new immigration rules, which could affect thousands of Filipinos illegally staying in the country. In a statement released on Tuesday, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg, said that Italy’s new immigration measures “lack human rights and humanitarian principles and may spur further xenophobia." The Associated Press (AP) reported last week that as a response to street crimes that were often being blamed by Italians on foreigners, the country’s parliament passed a bill that toughens rules on illegal immigration. The report said the measure that was approved with a wide margin from the Senate included “increasing jail sentences by a third for offenders who are also illegal immigrants and expelling any foreigner who has been sentenced to more than two years in prison." The report also said that the measure makes it a crime to rent an apartment to i...

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos were among 55 people arrested at a gay party at a farm in Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia, an online news site reported on Thursday. Arab News (www.arabnews.com) reported that Labor Attaché David Des Dicang, head of the Philippine Embassy’s Eastern Region office, is working with police to help the detained Filipinos. "I know that some Filipinos have been arrested in that area and we are trying to help them," he told Arab News, but declined to give further comment. A report on Al-Arabiya TV said two young men were allegedly found wearing women's makeup and dancing on stage in what has been described as a gay party. It said the detainees were handcuffed when arrested. Police said drugs and alcohol were found at the farm and that many of those arrested were Filipinos and Pakistanis. Pakistan embassy community welfare attaché Waqar Ahmed said he had no knowledge about any arrest so far. Most gatherings that could result in mixed crowds are forbid...

The southern Japanese prefecture is home to about 20,000 US soldiers and has since been in hot water for previous rape scandals including that of a 14-year-old Japanese school girl who was forced to have sex with a 38-year-old Marine staff sergeant. The red marks indicate the US camps on Okinawa (photo: Wikipedia)MANILA, Philippines - The US military is investigating the American soldier who allegedly raped a 22-year-old Filipino worker in Japan's southern island of Okinawa. Army spokeswoman Amanda Kraus told the Associated Press (AP) that an army-appointed investigator began the military equivalent of a pretrial probe on Monday into the allegations against a 25-year-old specialist assigned to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa. According to Kraus, the soldier is reportedly restricted to the base but is not facing formal charges on any of the allegations. In May, Japanese prosecutors in Okinawa dismissed charges against the soldier after finding insufficient evidence. Army investigators ha...

MANILA, Philippines - Household workers who have previous employment contracts in Jordan may return to the Middle East country after the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) partially lifted the deployment ban there. The labor department in a statement said that Household Service Workers (HSW) who are returning to work with the same employer in Jordan will be exempted from DOLE's previous ban. "This is provided that the salary of the returning HSWs shall in no way be lower than the prescribed monthly pay for Filipino household service workers of US$400," the department order said. Labor Secretary Marianito Roque has recently issued department order No. 93-08 series of 2008 that grants partial exemption to the returning HSW in Jordan. Roque also instructed the Philippine Overseas and Employment Agency (POEA) and the Philippine Labor Office in Jordan (POLO) to resume the processing of employment documents of qualified returning HSWs. The POEA and POLO-Jordan were also ...

The Department of Foreign Affairs has ordered the stoppage of sending overseas Filipino workers to the following countries due to hostilities and conflicts: *Afghanistan A total ban on the deployment of Filipino workers in Afghanistan took effect only in 2007. *Iraq OFWs were prohibited from going to Iraq in 2004 after a series of suicide bomb attacks and abduction of foreigners followed the US-led war. *Jordan Reports of widespread abuse to Filipino workers prompted the government to ban deployment here on Jan 2008. The Department of Labor and Employment however, partially lifted the OFW deployment ban in this country in July 2008. *Lebanon Following the Israel-Lebanon conflict, Filipino workers were not allowed to enter this conflict-ridden country on June 2007. *Nigeria Deployment ban in this country was implemented on Dec. 2007. Several OFWs have protested the imposition of the deployment ban on these countries. Reports claim that some workers resort to illegal papers to enter thes...

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will play an important role in the ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) later this month with the election of a Filipino diplomat as chair of one of the preparatory committees. A statement from the Philippine Mission to the United Nations said Ambassador Leslie Gatan will head the Economic and Social Committee (Ecosoc) of the senior officials meeting. Philippine permanent representative to the UN Hilario Davide Jr. reported to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo that Gatan was "elected by acclamation." The Ecosoc will prepare for the 15th NAM Ministerial Conference in Tehran, Iran. Davide said Gatan, as chairman, will steer the meetings of the Ecosoc Committee to thresh out pending issues that were not resolved by NAM members in New York. These include human rights, economic cooperation and other social and economic concerns. "The most important initiative of the Philippine Delegation to Tehran is seeking the ap...

MANILA, Philippines — A 32-year-old woman was arrested on Monday for allegedly gypping two would-be overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) of over P132,500 for non-existent jobs abroad, police said on Tuesday. Police said the suspect, Annie Lou Palo, of 2 Orillano St., Lower Bicutan, Taguig City, was cornered during an operation at Room 302 of Tiaoqui Building in Plaza Sta. Cruz, Manila. Senior Police Officer 3 Ricardo G, Magbanua, of the Manila police’s Mayor’s Special Action Team (MSAT), said the arrest stemmed from complaints filed by Sheryl Sante, 30, of Bigatan village in Tanza, Cavite and Leonardo Cabanela Jr, 27, a seaman from Bagong Silang in Cutod, Angeles City. Sante alleged that she and her husband paid P60,000 cash to the suspect as placement and processing fees while Cabanela claimed that he was duped of P72,500. The two sought the help of MSAT personnel led by Abet Villanueva. Sante claimed that her husband, Dexter, was recruited by the suspect as a fisherman. They paid P67,000...

MANILA, Philippines — Two Filipino-Americans and their American cohort who have allegedly been victimizing people selling laptops via shopping website eBay.ph were arrested in an entrapment operation by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) last Sunday. The NBI on Tuesday identified the suspects as Filipino-Americans Virgil Anthony Pineda and Reynaldo Lumbo and their American colleague as Robert Andrew Hornick. Estafa (fraud) charges were being readied against the three suspects. Regional Director Ric Diaz, chief of staff of the NBI’s Office of the Deputy Director for Intelligence Services, said the arrests stemmed from complaints filed separately by Emmanuel Dris, Paulo Madamba, and Ken Koga. “This group has been purchasing laptops, iPods, cellular phones and other high-tech gadgets via e-Bay.ph, then they would meet the sellers and pay them with falsified checks," he added. An investigation conducted by the bureau’s Anti-Terrorism Division (ATD) showed that sometime last Ju...

MANILA, Philippines - An American immigration lawyer reminded undocumented foreigners in the US that they are not required to divulge any information regarding their nationality should US immigration authorities arrest or detain them. According to Atty Robert Reeves, founder of a law firm that specializes in immigration and deportation, illegal immigrants still have the right “to remain silent" regarding their place of birth or nationality. Reeves made the statement amid the recent crackdown of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on undocumented immigrants in several states in the US including California. ICE is the US Department of Homeland Security's primary investigative arm. It identifies, investigates, and dismantles vulnerabilities in the country's border, transportation and economic sectors, and infrastructure. Based on data from the US Census Bureau, in 2006 there were more than 36 million Asians living in California, which is about 12.3 percent of the st...

MANILA, Philippines - No Filipino was initially reported injured in a magnitude-5.4 earthquake that shook Los Angeles, California before dawn Wednesday (Manila time). But Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Claro Cristobal said Manila has instructed its consulate in LA to coordinate with Filipino-American communities in the area. "Sa kasalukuyan walang nauulat na naapektuhan sa ating kababayang Pilipino sa lugar na yan (As of 9 a.m., we have received no report of any Filipino affected by the quake)," Cristobal said in an interview on dzBB radio, citing initial reports from the Philippine consulate general there. "Mabuti ang balita na wala pang nire-report na casualty ang kababayan natin (It is good news that as of this time we have not received reports of Filipino casualties)," he added. He said the DFA ordered the Philippine consulate there to be in constant touch with Filipino-American organizations in the LA area for reports on Filipinos' condition there....

SAN JOSE, Saipan – A visiting Florida-based human rights advocate has said that Filipinos and other foreign workers in the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) should not lose hope on having granted “green card" or a lawful permanent residency. A law signed by President George W. Bush in May puts CNMI immigration under federal control as early as June 2009. Those critical of the law, led by CNMI Governor Benigno R. Fitial, say a change in foreign workers’ immigration status or a grant of green card is impossible under a federal system. The CNMI, a 14-island US territory in the Western Pacific, is home to some 19,000 documented foreign workers mostly Filipinos and Chinese. Human rights advocate Wendy Doromal, a former teacher on the island of Rota, said she believes the granting of green cards to long-term foreign workers will happen before 2014 or the end of the transition period. “If you really think about it, they (CNMI government) always say there will be zero...

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Manuel Villar on Wednesday urged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to make up for her “oversight" in not mentioning the sacrifices of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday. In a press statement on Wednesday, Villar said while he concedes that “not all issues and not all sectors" could be accommodated in the speech, the oversight was sad considering “the sacrifices of OFWs." “It was a speech peppered with ‘thank yous’ but not one went to those who are eking out a living abroad and the families they’ve left behind who are living the pain of forced separation," he said. “It seems that the SONA was only meant for those living within the country’s boundaries. It didn’t reach across the seas where there are 7.9 million Filipinos who pay their citizenship dues in the form of foreign exchange remittances to the homeland," Villar said. Not counting the money sent home via informal ch...

ANGIE DE LARA, Migrant Watch MANILA, Philippines - Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are being dried out before they can start to work abroad. According to Migrante International, 76 signatures are needed for 76 documents before they can get their passport. These include Community Tax Certificate (CTC), barangay clearance, birth certificate, National Bureau of Investigation and police Clearance, among others. Each document costs from P50 to P100 ($1.13 to $2.26 at an exchange rate of $1=P44.23) or more. An OFW shells out around P17,665 ($399 at an exchange rate of $1=P44.23) in government fees alone before being able to leave for abroad. The following table shows the breakdown. Migrante International said that 3,400 Filipinos are leaving the country every day to work abroad. From these OFWs, the government earns more than P60 million ($1,356,545) a day or P2.92 billion ($66,018,539) per year. Filipinos hoping to work abroad will also have to pay additional charges for recruitment agenci...

MANILA, Philippines - Militant overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) based in Hong Kong questioned President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday for keeping mum on measures to promote their welfare in her State of the Nation Address (SONA). Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Hong Kong (Bayan-HK) said poverty has become so rampant that the economic and political crises are even felt abroad. "(Government) keeps on exacting from the earning of OFWs through various government fees. It even takes money from what we send to our families through the documentary stamp fee in every remittance," said Norman Uy Carnay, Bayan-HK country information officer, said in a statement on the Kilusan website. Carnay said that Filipino migrants are enraged with the refusal of the Arroyo government to heed the people's demands to remove the value-added tax on oil and the scrapping of oil deregulation. Also, he said government remains silent on issues affecting OFWs in the host country. In her 57-minute speech...

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will now accommodate weekend applications for machine-readable passports from Filipino workers in Dubai and Northern Emirates. A report by online news site Khaleej Times on Tuesday quoted Consul General Benito Valeriano as saying the extended service will benefit Filipino workers who cannot go there on working days. "Companies with a large number of Filipino workers could put in a similar request. The Philippine Consulate is trying to reach out to the large number of overseas Filipino workers in the emirates needing the new passport," Valeriano said. Dry Docks earlier requested the time adjustment in behalf of its hundreds of Filipino workers. Last Saturday, at least 80 workers of the company visited the consulate on board two buses to apply for new passports. Valeriano urged all OFWs in the emirates to apply for a new passport as early as possible and not wait for the expiry date. He said it takes t...

MANILA, Philippines — Scoring President Arroyo's State of the Nation Address (SONA) as a pack of lies, militant groups based in the United States called on American taxpayers to demand the end of US military and political aid to the Arroyo government. In a statement, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan-USA) said it is time to end "another year of lies, deception and treason" from a government that continues to fail the Filipino people. "The answer for Filipinos in the US is clear: the struggle to remove Arroyo, as the President of the Philippines by impeachment, resignation, or ouster is a just and necessary struggle, but we must hold no illusion that it is the only means to end the Filipino people's suffering," the group said in a statement on the Kilusan website Monday afternoon. According to the US-based group, Mrs Arroyo's ouster is the first step to "pressuring" for a new type of government, one that truly imbibes pro-poor and pro-worker...

MANILA, Philippines — Aspirants for the top position at the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) were asked on Tuesday to lay down their planned “program of action" so that overseas Filipinos could decide intelligently who to endorse. Rashid Fabricante, a migrant workers’ rights advocate in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, made the request as Filipino expatriates appeared undecided over who to support. Nominations started since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo gave erstwhile OWWA administrator Marianito Roque a permanent appointment as labor secretary early this month. OFW e-groups have, meanwhile, launched their own campaign against the possible appointment of former Surigao Rep. Prospero “Butch" Pichay as the new OWWA administrator. Pichay, an administration bet during the May 2007 polls was not able to make it to senate after losing the senatorial race. According to the Center for Migrant Advocacy and the Philippine Migrant Rights Watch they want someone from their own ran...

Group urges RP govt to monitor abuses on Sabah deportees MANILA, Philippines - Amid the weekly deportation of an average of 300 undocumented Filipinos from Sabah in Malaysia, a women’s rights group urged lawmakers to ensure that the deportees are not subjected to abuse or maltreatment. Party-list group Gabriela said that the Philippine government must exhaust all efforts to prevent any loss of lives arising from Malaysia’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. “We should not wait for the abuses to reach epic proportions or for a repeat of the 2002 crackdown on undocumented Filipinos in Malaysia, where 12 children died and dozens of women were raped in detention camps, before we make our move," Gabriela party-list Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan said in a statement. She also urged her fellow legislators in the Lower House to take up immediate measures to protect undocumented Filipinos, most especially women and children, who face the risk of being detained and abused in Malaysian jails. La...

MANILA, Philippines - Eight children - including three babies - of undocumented Filipino workers in Kuwait will be deported on Friday. In a report from QTV’s Balitanghali on Thursday, four of the Filipino children will be accompanied by officials from the Philippine embassy because their parents are still taking care of their immigration papers. Meanwhile, the three babies and the remaining child will be accompanied by their mothers. - GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines - Two Filipino women who were promised employment as waitresses in Malaysia but were later forced into prostitution lodged a complaint against their recruiter on Wednesday. Candy Almodovar Anonuevo, 21, and Mary Rose Bato, 21, both residents of Sta Rosa in Laguna filed a complaint against their Malaysia-based recruiter. A police report said Melody Barrinuevo Morales, 20, lured the two to work in a restaurant in Malaysia. But upon their arrival in Sabah’s capital city of Kota Kinabalu, they were forced to work as prostitutes. After enduring almost three months of sex labor, the two escaped on July 16 and returned to the Philippines. The Laguna police said it will file appropriate charges against Morales who currently resides in Kota Kinabalu. Citing data from the 2006 US Department of State Human Rights Report, online advocacy site humantrafficking.org said that about 300,000 to 400,000 Filipino women are trafficked to countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United ...

This was the startling discovery of Malaysia ’s immigration authority after more han 4,000 undocumented immigrants who were deported in the past returned to Sabah between 2004 and 2008 at the risk of being caned. Datuk Baharon Talib, director of the Sabah Immigration Department, recently told online news site The Star that some 4,326 illegal immigrants went back to work in the Malaysian state’s plantations, timber mills, and restaurants right after they were expelled from the territory, which is being claimed by the Philippines. "Some have been deported up to seven times and we have found them back here based on our statistics," Baharon said in the interview. The report said various sectors in Malaysia had been asking the government to impose caning as punishment on local employers hiring undocumented workers. These employers are now only being punished through fines and charges for not paying levies, according to Baharon. Caning is Malaysia ’s second highest form of corporal...

MANILA, Philippines - Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are just "milking cows" to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo because she refuses to remove charges on remittances from abroad. She should therefore avoid using the plight of OFWs as part of her State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday. That's how Migrante International described the Arroyo administration's treatment of OFWs in a statement issued on Thursday. Migrante, a militant alliance of OFW groups worldwide, want the charges scrapped to give OFWs and their families relief from skyrocketing prices of good and services, according to Migrante chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado. "While government through remittance taxes and big business, specifically banks, telephone carriers and other financial institutions are enjoying huge profits, OFWs are tightening their belts even more just to ensure that the average $200 that they send to their families can bring enough food to the tables,” Regalado said. OFW rem...

CLARK FREE PORT, Philippines - About 500 Norwegian shipping companies are looking for more than 30,000 Filipino mess boys, steward cooks and welders. This was learned from the officials of the Norwegian Marine Services Training Institute Corporation (NMSTIC) who have forged an agreement with Clark Development Corporation (CDC) for their training facility inside the Freeport. A memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed last Wednesday between CDC and NMSTIC officials. CDC president Liberato Laus represented the state-owned firm while Maria Rune represented the NMSTIC during the MOA signing at the CDC corporate headquarters. The signing, according to Laus, is a joint initiative of the two firms to provide jobs and opportunities for Central Luzon residents to meet the growing manpower demands of international maritime industry. Rune said NMSTIC has tentatively opened its training school at the Clark Polytechnic University here for mess boys, and cooks and specialized welding program on May ...

CHICAGO, Illinois – A Filipino-American community leader charged with fraud and embezzlement in California was given another chance to come up with the $48,000 restitution if he wants to avoid prison time. Ben Menor was given the “conditional offer" by Judge Ray Cunningham of the Sta. Clara, California Superior Court, at the scheduled sentencing on Thursday in San Jose, Deputy District Attorney Stephen Lowney said in an e-mail to this reporter. “Sentencing was continued until September 18, 2008," Lowney added. When reached for comment, Menor said in an e-mail, “Thank you for your interest in this matter. I have forwarded your request to my attorneys." Fernando M. Estrada, a resident of San Jose, California, who witnessed the sentencing, said “Mr. Menor appeared smiling after the judge issued the order." Menor had earlier pleaded “no-contest" to Count 1, a felony – filing false financial statements – that could land him three years in jail or three years probati...

MANILA, Philippines — Migrante International on Friday accused Malacaňang of a “cover-up" on the crackdown against undocumented Filipinos in Sabah, Malaysia. The group rejected Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita's claim on Thursday that the Philippine and Malaysian governments had laid down ground rules for the "orderly" repatriation of Filipinos living or working in Malaysia. "News stories have been rife with numerous accounts of human rights violations. And all (the) government can say is that they have laid down the groundwork? What hogwash!" said Connie Bragas-Regalado, chairperson of Migrante International in a statement on Friday. "How typical of this inutile and dense government to announce that they are still 'laying down the groundwork' even as the rights of our kababayans have already been violated," she added. Regalado also refused to accept Ermita’s assertion that the Philippines, in dealing with the issue, must be careful as i...

CHICAGO - Tuberculosis cases continue to fall in the United States, but some immigrants have disturbingly high rates of the disease, according to a study released Tuesday that called for more aggressive action. TB rates were highest among residents from lower Africa and parts of Southeast Asia. Most drug-resistant TB cases also were from foreign-born residents, according to researchers at the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers called for wider testing, including efforts to seek out latent cases of TB from long-term immigrant residents in certain populations. Rates of at least 250 TB cases per 100,000 were found among people from African countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia and from Southeast Asian nations including Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines. By comparison, the overall rate of TB in the U.S. is fewer than 5 per 100,000. The study is based on data from 2001-06. The findings are being published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical...

MANILA, Philippines — A seven-year-old daughter of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in Hong Kong is in critical condition after her short-tempered grandmother beat her up. According to a report from dzBB radio on Wednesday, Susan Librim, 50, a resident of ACM Subdivision in Imus town, Cavite is being investigated by police for allegedly maltreating her granddaughter. Police investigators from the women and children's protection desk said the girl sustained burns from an electric iron, and bruises from being hammered on the fingers and toes. She also had scratches in her genitals, allegedly due to pinching by her grandmother. "Medyo hindi maganda 'yong vital signs niya. Mabilis masyado ang heartbeat at ngayon ay nilalagnat siya, mukhang may sepsis na siya dahil matagal na 'yong sugat sa katawan (Her vital signs are not good. Her heartbeat is very fast and she has fever, it looks like she has sepsis due to the wounds in her body)," a doctor who attended the victim ...

MANILA, Philippines — The largest alliance of Filipino migrants’ groups worldwide expressed apprehension on Wednesday over the possible appointment of losing administration senatorial bet Prospero “Butch" Pichay as head of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). Pitchay is reportedly being eyed to fill the post to be vacated by Marianito Roque, who is now secretary of labor and employment. Connie Bragas-Regalado, chairperson of Migrante International, said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo should “plant Pichay somewhere else" and put someone who has no political baggage at the OWWA’s helm. Pichay, a former representative of Surigao del Sur province, lost in the 2007 senatorial race despite spending the most during the campaign period. He was considered a hawk among Arroyo’s allies in the House of Representatives. Bragas-Regalado said Arroyo should put in the OWWA someone who has a track record of helping overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). “We have seen the billions...

MANILA, Philippines — The Federation of Overseas Filipino Workers in Zamboanga Peninsula urged the government on Wednesday to immediately send a consular team to Sabah in Malaysia to monitor the mass deportation of Filipinos there. A report over radio dzXL quoted the group’s president, James Hassan, as saying consular officers are needed to assist Filipinos who do not have passports and other necessary travel and identifications documents. A number of Filipinos in Sabah have appealed to Philippine authorities to help them return to the country as some of them have been detained for months because they do not have passports. Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Esteban Conejos earlier said there are at least 200,000 undocumented Filipino workers in Malaysia. Last month, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak announced a massive drive to deport foreigners without travel or identification documents from the eastern Malaysian state, where at least 130,000 illegals are reported to be stay...

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino workers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, have started a campaign to make a pathologist the next head of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). Online news site Arab News (www.arabnews.com) reported Wednesday that Filipinos in Riyadh want Dr. Muhammad Ali Carlito Astillero to fill the post vacated by now Labor Secretary Marianito Roque. "Yes Madam President, it is high time that someone from among the OFW community leaders be appointed to the post of OWWA Administrator; one who understands by heart the every day problems faced by our overseas workers inside and outside their jobsites, and during and after the tenure of their work contracts; one who has been in the field, and has seen and attended to many OFW cases that were brought to his attention as a trusted community leader," said Francis Oca of the OFW Congress in a letter posted online. The OFW Congress in Riyadh, an umbrella group of different Filipino groups in Saudi Arabia, is spear...

Idan Tejano and Marjana Sakilan: Their cases are being heard in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The public aspect of the cases are being tried in the Jeddah Grand Court and the private aspects are being promulgated by the Supreme Judicial Cases. Rodelio Lanuza: The public aspect of his case is pending at the Dammam Grand Court . Edison Gonzales, Eduardo Arcilla, and Rolando Gonzales: They were part of the en masse arrest of 72 Filipino workers in April 2006. Their cases are being reviewed by the Tameez Court in Saudi Arabia . Nelson Diana: He is detained, and his case is being heard by the Malaysian High Court. -GMANews.TV

Idan Tejano and Marjana Sakilan: Their cases are being heard in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The public aspect of the cases are being tried in the Jeddah Grand Court and the private aspects are being promulgated by the Supreme Judicial Cases. Rodelio Lanuza: The public aspect of his case is pending at the Dammam Grand Court . Edison Gonzales, Eduardo Arcilla, and Rolando Gonzales: They were part of the en masse arrest of 72 Filipino workers in April 2006. Their cases are being reviewed by the Tameez Court in Saudi Arabia . Nelson Diana: He is detained, and his case is being heard by the Malaysian High Court. -GMANews.TVMANILA, Philippines - The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday denied reports that a court in Kuwait upheld the death sentence of a Filipino housemaid convicted for murdering her employer's daughter. Esteban Conejos Jr, DFA undersecretary for migrant workers’ affairs, told GMANews.TV in a text message that the death sentence of Jakatia Mandon Pawa is stil...

About 20 Filipino seafarers were held hostage in another hijacking incident in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia on Sunday. Last May, a Dutch-owned ship with five Filipinos on board was hijacked in the same location. Photo from Wikipedia(Updated 3:59 p.m.) MANILA, Philippines - A Japanese-owned bulk carrier with 20 Filipino seafarers on board was seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia last Sunday, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said. In a text message to GMANews.TV, Esteban Conejos Jr, DFA undersecretary for migrant workers' affairs, said the ship's owner, who is in contact with the pirates, reported that the crew of the hijacked MV Stella Maris were safe. As of posting time, the ship was sailing toward the northeast tip of Somalia. "I was assured that contact has been established between the crew and the owner of the ship, which is a Japanese company. (This was also) according to the captain who is a Filipino. All the 20 Filipinos are safe ...

MANILA, Philippines - A court in the US territory of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands dismissed the case filed against a Filipina who was earlier accused of overstaying in the CNMI, the Marianas Variety reported on Wednesday. The report said CNMI Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman granted the motion to dismiss the case against Dolores De Guzman after she complied with the requirements legalizing her stay in the Marianas. The Variety said CNMI immigration investigator Abram C. Togawa discovered in November 2006 that De Guzman stayed in the CNMI for six years and five months even after her “long term tourist" entry permit had expired in 2001. Togawa reportedly told the court that De Guzman, a citizen of the Republic of the Philippines, neither had a pending labor application for employment status nor a temporary work authorization, which made her a deportable alien. Another report by Saipan Tribune on Wednesday said that last April 24, De Guzman entered ...

MANILA, Philippines - If you are a female immigrant, and come from Asia or another non-Western region, chances are you will face difficulties in finding work in Canada even if you have already stayed there for five years, and have a university degree. According to a July 18, 2008 study by Statistics Canada, only 65.5 percent of university-educated Asian immigrants aged 25 to 54 found jobs in Canada from 2002 to 2007. The figure was low compared with 77.8 percent of immigrant professionals from the United States under the same age bracket who from the same period found employment in Canada. The Asian professionals' Canadian-born counterparts were the most employed, with a rating of 90.7 percent, the study showed. “Employment rates for these immigrants varied according to where they received their university degree, with those educated in Western countries generally having higher rates than those educated elsewhere," the study noted. Meanwhile, job hunting for degree-holder immi...

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang may look into the possibility of scrapping remittance fees being paid by overseas Filipino workers (OFW) amid the fuel and food crises faced by the country. Lorelei Fajardo, deputy presidential spokesperson, said government economic managers could mull over Migrante International's proposal to either give up the fees or lower the rate of OFW remittance being received by the government. "That could be studied. But for the meantime, the government is doing its best to mitigate the impact of the challenges that our country is facing now in all sectors of the society especially the poorest of the poor," she said. She acknowledged that OFW contributions helped the government in cushioning the impact of the global surge in the prices of basic commodities. Migrante International-Middle East Chapter earlier called for the scrapping of the remittance fees to enable the families of OFWs to cope with the economic crisis. OFWs are charged a 15-percent...

MANILA, Philippines - More than 300 Filipinos who were ferried back to Zamboanga City are seeking government assistance to bring them back to Sabah while struggling to adapt to life in the Philippines. GMA News’ Claire Delfin reported Monday that the recent batch of deported Filipinos from Malaysia feel like strangers in Mindanao after spending most of their lives in the Malaysian state in northern Borneo. The report added that most of the deportees were separated from their relatives. There were also several children who cannot speak a single word in Filipino. “I would always cry very late at night worrying about my loved ones," said Norsiah Osman, whose two young children were left in Sabah while her husband is detained in a Malaysian prison. Osman, who is also six months pregnant, told GMA News in the interview that she would return to Sabah if the opportunity came her way. Meanwhile, Salim Halil, a Borneo resident since 1973, echoed Osman’s concerns because his children were a...

MANILA, Philippines - Newly consecrated Filipino archbishop Bernardito Auza will face tough challenges in his new mission as apostolic nuncio to Haiti, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said Tuesday. A statement on the CBCP website said Auza, 49, would have to work amid "never-ending conflict and even bloodshed" as Haitians are longing for economic and political stability. "There a people wait to be helped in their efforts of material and spiritual progress ... (His work will be) not a small one," said papal nuncio to the Philippines Edward Joseph Adams. Adams made the remarks in his sermon during Auza's thanksgiving Mass at the Manila Cathedral Monday. Excerpts of his homily were posted on the CBCP website Tuesday. Haiti is one of the poorest countries on earth with about 56 percent of its 8.2 million populations live in extreme poverty. Also, Adams said Haiti is deeply in need and its economy virtually bled dry. He said violence is everywhere ...