KAKAMMPI News

The Philippines gained recognition anew in Cuba after two Filipinos graduated as new medical doctors from the Ciego de Avila in Cuba. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) identified the new doctors as Herbert Baguiza of Antipolo City and Robert Corpuz of Cabanatuan City. "Dr. Baguiza and Dr. Corpuz also received citations for academic excellence and awards for their contribution to the cultural life of Ciego de Avila. They capped their years of participation in Ciego festivities with a stirring rendition of Guantanamera, a song of Cuban origin," the DFA said on its website (www.dfa.gov.ph). It added the two were among 75 new doctors representing some 40 foreign countries who graduated from the Institute of Medicine in Ciego de Avila after six years of study Philippine Ambassador to Cuba Dr. MacArthur Corsino took a 500-kilometer, seven-hour trip by bus from Havana to Ciego to attend the graduation ceremony. Corsino was one of the guests of honor, who also included Ciego de...

IT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE The cases of abused Filipino domestic helpers abroad are actually nothing new. Singapore, specifically, has always had such cases. • In 2008, a 31-year-old pregnant woman faced a Singaporean court for hurting her Filipina maid with a spoon. Read more • In 2009, a 38-year-old Singaporean employer was charged for physically abusing her Filipina maid by kicking her and banging her head against a wall. Read more • Singapore is also the country where OFW Flor Contemplacion was hanged in 1995 after she was found guilty by the courts of killing fellow Filipino maid Delia Maga and Maga’s four-year-old Singaporean ward. - GMANews.TV A Filipino domestic helper found to have been maltreated by her employer in Singapore has assured Philippine officials that she will return to the city state to pursue a case against her former boss. “Magpapagaling muna ako tapos babalik ako sa Singapore para sa kaso (I will let my body recover first then I will return to Singapore to file a c...

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Inspired by the warm response to their outreach overseas absentee voting (OAV) campaign in the city of Yanbu, Philippine officials in western Saudi Arabia have scheduled a series of voter registration in Filipino schools in Jeddah. The OAV Mobile Team of the Philippine Consulate General said registration will be held at the Al-Hekma International School from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday (July 30). On August 7, registration will be held at the International Philippine School in Jeddah (IPSJ), followed by another one at the Pearl of the Orient International School (POIS) on August 14. Registration will also continue at the consulate every day from 8:30 a.m.to 4:30 p.m. until August 31, when the OAV registration ends. All that is needed by an applicant to present when registering is a copy of his or her passport or any other documents proving one’s identity. As the registration deadline neared, Consul General Ezzedin Tago appealed on Filipinos 18 years old and above...

Philippine officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) advised Filipinos there to provide the full names of their UAE-born children in applying for registration. Online news site Khaleej Times reported that the Philippine embassy in Abu Dhabi wants to properly document some children who were issued UAE birth certificates. “If the mother is not married, and no father has recognized the child, the surname should be the maiden name of the mother," it said. The report said the move aims to benefit children issued UAE birth certificates that stated only the name of the child without distinguishing the child’s name, middle name and surname. All three names are required in Philippine documents. The consular announcement said the surname of the child must be the surname of the father as it appears in his passport or the father indicated in the child’s birth certificate. It added that the maiden name of the child must be the surname of the mother when she was still single or as it appears ...

How does hepatitis B spread? • It is mainly transmitted in three ways: birth, blood, and sex • It is not spread through air, food, water, breastfeeding, casual contact, kissing, hugging, coughing, sneezing, and sharing eating utensils or drinking glasses. What do you do about it? • Get tested for the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). • If you are not infected, get vaccinated (3 shots over 6 months). (The hepatitis B vaccine is 95 percent effective in preventing the infection and its chronic consequences. It is the first vaccine against a major human cancer.) • If you are infected, see your doctor or a liver specialist for routine monitoring and treatment, if appropriate. • Help promote awareness in your community. - taken from the primer on hepatitis B of the Asian Liver Center at Stanford University As the world focuses its attention on the A(H1N1) pandemic, Filipinos in California are gearing up to fight hepatitis B, a disease which they fear has become a “silent epidemic." A...

STOP THE SKIMPY. Women are reminded to dress appropriately in Sharjah to avoid persecution in the Muslim emirate. AP photoPhilippine officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reminded Filipinos there against wearing skimpy, eye-teasing outfits and fighting in the streets, especially in the Sharjah emirate to avoid certain persecution. Online news site Khaleej Times reported that the public decency campaign by Sharjah police seeks to curb such objectionable practices and behavior. "Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) should be careful and should respect the laws and regulations," Philippine Vice-Consul Edwin Mendoza said. The Philippine Consulate in Dubai reminded OFWs in Sharjah that the Criminal Investigation Department is more vigorous and strict in implementing the eight-year-old regulation. Josephine Doria, a 34-year-old Filipino assistant nurse at Central Private Hospital, said she favors the strict enforcement. "Personally, I would like my blouse to be long that cov...

CHICAGO – The lobbying by human rights advocates to bring up human rights issues during the visit of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Thursday (July 30) appears to have paid off. A legal assistant of Rep. Jim Moran (Virginia, D) had called up the US State Department and "confirmed that human rights would be brought up by President Obama during Arroyo’s visit." Tamari Shai, legislative assistant to Moran, informed Joanna Quiambao, a volunteer of Katarungan and Migrant Heritage Commission Legal Resources program, in an e-mail that human rights “will be a major topic of discussion. We remain hopeful that Melissa’s (Roxas) case specifically would be brought up," said Roxas’ lawyer, Arnedo S. Valera. An e-mail message sent by this reporter to Shai for comment was not answered. Meanwhile, Valera, of the MHC’s Legal Resources program, told this reporter that he has filed an appeal before the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Professor Manfred Nowak under the Off...

Fourteen Filipina workers were rescued by the Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment (Tfair) from suspected Korean human traffickers in the northern province of Nueva Ecija last week, Vice President Noli De Castro has said. In a statement, De Castro said the women were found training for work as dancers and entertainers in Korea at a house located at Seville St., Primavera Homes, Aduas Norte, Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija. The four Korean suspects were arrested in a separate operation by combined elements of the task force and the Bureau of Immigration in Pampanga on the same day. De Castro said the suspects were arrested at the office of Yoojin Travel and Tours General Services Corp. at Unit B of Henson building at the corner of Nile St. and Friendship Highway in Angeles City. He identified them as Yusuk Jeung a.k.a. Ricky Jung, Jong Wook Song aka Ivan, Youn Seok Jang aka Elvin Jang, and Bokdool Shinaka Rich Shin Tfair operations chief Senior Supt. Gilberto Sosa said the four, led by J...

By Jeff Canoy, ABS-CBN News NEW YORK – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is set to take center stage on Monday for her annual State of the Nation Address (SONA). But unlike in previous years, expectations from Filipino Americans on what the chief executive will report to the public are higher since this will be her last after eight years in Malacañang. Like Filipinos in the Philippines, Filipino-Americans in New York are also gearing up for the SONA. Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-USA founding member Bernadette Ellorin said Mrs. Arroyo should stick with the truth when she describes the state of the nation. “I think her speech will be full of lies as always and that she'll make herself look good in the SONA,” said Ellorin. “Economic growth doesn't mean GDP (gross domestic product) growth. It means if your people have a good standard of living and if they are eating.” Ellorin said that the Philippines continues to reel from poverty and human rights violations. “That's why...

Published Date: July 27, 2009 By Ben Garcia, Staff Writer KUWAIT: An average of between five and ten Filipina housemaids are fleeing every day from their sponsors in Kuwait, according to Philippine Labor Attach頊osephus Jimenez. In a recent interview with the Kuwait Times, he revealed that there are currently around 176 runaway housemaids being housed at the embassy's Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC). He added that a number of the runaway domestic workers' cases are resolved daily by mutually amicable agreement; some of the absconding workers will return home, while others choose to stay and have their work visas transferred to other sponsors. The workers routinely cite non-payment of salaries, verbal abuse and sexual harassment as reasons for fleeing. There are some runaways whose cases have been dragging Filipino embassy for months or even years without resolution. Among these cases are those of six young mothers and their toddlers who are now being sheltered at the FWR...

WHEN THE LIGHT IS OUT. Mothers are the new face of migration in the Philippines. Often they are subjected to dirty, demeaning and dangerous jobs abroad.Filipinos have become so used to their countrymen going abroad they have become insensitive to the plight of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), a Catholic bishop lamented Friday. Tagbilaran, Bohol Bishop Leonardo Medroso said it is tragic that Filipinos are no longer shocked with the fast growing number of Filipinos exiting the country. "It bespeaks of an attitude that has become accustomed, if not calloused, to the alarming reality that the phenomenon does not cause us anymore unease," he said in his web blog . He said these migrants are not mere faceless individuals, but warm bodies with human feelings and Filipino needs that constantly call our attention. They also have the right to a decent environment that guarantees the protection of their human dignity, he added. "One of the greatest pains of our migrant workers is ...

GMANews.TVWhile Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council has passed a bill that would improve the condition of an estimated 1.5 million domestic workers in the country, an international rights group said the measure still falls short of international standards. Under current Saudi labor laws, domestic workers are denied their rights as workers, such as weekly day of rest, work hour limits, and overtime pay, a 2008 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report said. The report documented how domestic workers in Saudi Arabia reportedly worked 18 hours a day, seven days a week, and had “little power" to collect owed wages in labor disputes. It said excessive workloads and unpaid wages, for periods ranging from a few months to 10 years, were among the most common complaints. In addition, the New York-based rights watchdog found that many domestic workers were restricted to their workplaces, sometimes locked in and forbidden to leave. But according to the HRW, a bill recently passed in Saudi Arabia would requir...

Filipinos in Hong Kong will soon benefit from services of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) when the state agency launches a regular representative mission there. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the representative mission will spearhead information assistance, how to avail of benefits and membership registration services. "The PhilHealth official, who will be in Hong Kong for two weeks every quarter, will perform her duties for the first time on 03-16 August," the DFA said in its website (www.dfa.gov.ph). It said PhilHealth and consular officials will hold an open forum and presentation at the Bayanihan Center in Kennedy Town at 2 p.m. on Aug. 2, Sunday. PhilHealth president and chief executive officer Dr. Rey Aquino said the move is in response to the clamor of OFWs for PhilHealth to bring its services closer to its members. He said the PhilHealth is taking this initial step to partially address the PhilHealth needs of hardworking Filipinos in H...

Anti-illegal recruitment authorities are zeroing in on a Dubai-based recruiter who had enticed Filipino workers to take high-paying but risky jobs in Afghanistan despite a deployment ban there. Vice President Noli de Castro Jr. said Thursday he has instructed Labor Secretary Marianito Roque to bring the recruiter to the Philippines to face the music. "May nagre-recruit sa kanila doon [at] kilala na namin at yan pina-follow-up ko na kay Sec. Roque para ma-identify at maibalik sa Pilipinas. Kung ano ang papeles makikiusap tayo sa Dubai government (We have identified the Dubai-based recruiter of the Filipinos and I have asked Labor Sec. Marianito Roque to bring that recruiter to the Philippines. We will coordinate with the Dubai government on the paperwork needed)," he said in an interview on dzBB radio. The Philippine government had imposed a total ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Afghanistan in 2007. “May pangalan kami ng nagre-recruit sa Dubai. Ang amin lang gagaw...

Several OFWs have protested the imposition of the deployment ban on these countries. But some workers sneak into these conflict areas using fake documents.- GMANews.TV Vice President Noli De Castro urged the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Wednesday to look into a report reaching his office that three of the critically injured victims in Sunday’s helicopter crash in Afghanistan are Filipino workers. De Castro said he learned from Eduardo Najera, father of one of the crash victims and based in the Afghan capital, Kabul, that two more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were missing in the tragedy. Ten Filipinos were confirmed to have died Sunday when the Russian-owned civilian Mi-8 helicopter they were on board slammed into the tarmac at Kandahar Air Base shortly after takeoff at NATO's largest air base in Afghanistan. The DFA has said all 10 victims were employees of the US-based construction firm The AIM Group, Inc. Keith Stephens, spokesman for Flour Corp., a U.S.-based company ...

MANILA, Philippines - A woman who goes by different names is being hunted by the police for tricking more than 700 Filipino workers to part with their money for non-existent jobs in the United Kingdom. The Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment (Tfair) on Saturday said the suspect got at least P35,000 from each of her victims, or a total of almost P2.5 million, in an elaborate scam that involved giving the applicants language training. In an interview aired over Vice President Noli De Castro’s radio program Para sa Iyo, Bayan, Tfair operations chief Senior Superintendent Bernie Yang said the recruiter introduced herself to applicants as Valerie Valero, but her real name turned out to be Bridget Pedrosa Logarta. Yang said the suspect also goes by the aliases Bridget Lugarta, Bridget Ortiz, Maria Cristy Hope, and Gina Cruz, which is actually of one of her victims. She reportedly hails from Cebu and is married to a Dexter Insoy. During the program, De Castro appealed to the public to call...

TWISTED METAL. Police forensic experts inspect the damage inside the Ritz-Carlton hotel after an explosion in Jakarta on Friday. AP“These dastardly and inhumane acts all the more reinforce the need for vigilance and greater and deeper cooperation regionally and globally, to counter, prevent and suppress all acts of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations," Romulo said. Romulo did not issue any travel advisory for Filipinos going to Indonesia following the attacks. Ambassador Vidal Querol told GMANews.TV that none of the fatalities in the incident were Filipinos. Querol said there were no Filipino-sounding names in the list of the casualties reported to him so far. There are an estimated 12,000 Filipinos in the Indonesian archipelago, 7,000 of whom are working as managers, engineers, finance officers, auditors, teachers, and consultants in Jakarta. The blasts at the two hotels in Jakarta blew out windows, scattered debris and glass across the street, and kicked up a thick plu...

The Philippine government has condemned the twin bombings in Indonesia’s business capital on Friday and voiced support for its Southeast Asian neighbor in bringing the perpetrators to justice. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo conveyed President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s condolences to the Indonesian people especially to the families of the nine killed in the bomb explosions at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels located side-by-side in an upscale district in Jakarta. At least 50 more civilians were injured in the incident. TWISTED METAL. Police forensic experts inspect the damage inside the Ritz-Carlton hotel after an explosion in Jakarta on Friday. AP“These dastardly and inhumane acts all the more reinforce the need for vigilance and greater and deeper cooperation regionally and globally, to counter, prevent and suppress all acts of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations," Romulo said. Romulo did not issue any travel advisory for Filipinos going to Indonesia ...

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Embassy in Indonesia said no Filipinos were reported among the casualties in the bomb explosions that rocked an upscale Jakarta business district early Friday. The blasts at the neighboring Ritz-Carlton and Marriott hotels blew out windows and scattered debris and glass rubles across the street, killing nine and wounding at least 50 people. Ambassador Vidal Querol told GMANews.TV that none of the eight fatalities in the incident were Filipinos. Querol confirmed this after seeing that there were no Filipino-sounding names in the list of the casualties reported to him so far. There are an estimated 12,000 Filipinos in the Indonesian archipelago. Of the total, 7,000 are working as managers, engineers, finance officers, auditors, teachers and consultants in Jakarta. Alex Asmasubrata, who was jogging past the hotels in the area, told the Associated Press that he first heard a loud explosion at the Marriott. Five minutes later, a blast followed at the Rit...

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Embassy has opened its temporary office at a business center in Dublin, Ireland, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said. A report from Philippine Ambassador to Ireland Ariel Abadilla said the temporary office is located at the Fitzwilliam Business Center, Suite G03, 77 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2. "Its temporary business hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mondays to Fridays, except on Philippine and Irish holidays," the DFA said in an article on its website (www.dfa.gov.ph). For inquiries, the Embassy may be reached at tel. no. 01 6401946 and email address dublin.philembassy@gmail.com. Abadilla, in opening the first resident Philippine Embassy in Ireland, noted July is also the same month when diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Ireland were formalized in 1984. To prepare for the transition process, Philippine honorary consul in Dublin John Ferris held his last consular clinic last July 11 at the Teacher’s Club on ...

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Labor and Employment assured Thursday that they are looking into the plight of the 131 distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Libya. Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Tripoli has “promptly" looked into the plight of the workers after receiving complaints against their employer in Benghazi, Libya. The OFWs complained of poor accommodation, substandard toilets, insufficient food and medical facilities, absence of safety gadgets, and downgraded and delayed salaries. Citing a report from Tripoli-based Labor Attaché Nasser Mustafa, Roque said the POLO found the complaints “legitimate" and has started making representations with the employer to address the complaints. The DOLE chief said the employer had “acknowledged" the shortcomings and assured the POLO that it would “rectify" the problem on accommodation, food, and sanitary and safety needs of the OFWs. The employer, he sa...

GARDEN CITY, New York — A federal judge has rejected discrimination claims filed by 26 Filipino nurses in New York. The nurses said they were forced to quit their jobs at nursing homes in New York City and suburban Long Island. They said agreements made about working conditions before they left their homeland were not honored by their U.S. employers. An administrative law judge ruled June 30 that the resignations were not protected by federal immigration employment law. The nurses' immigration attorney said he was disappointed the ruling was made without a hearing. He is considering an appeal. Ten of the nurses had faced misdemeanor charges for endangering sick patients by quitting their jobs at a nursing home in Suffolk County on Long Island, east of New York City. A state appellate court ruled in January that the prosecution was unconstitutional. The nurses were recruited from the Philippines to help ease a staffing shortage in the U.S. The case sparked outrage and protests in th...

GARDEN CITY, New York — A federal judge has rejected discrimination claims filed by 26 Filipino nurses in New York. The nurses said they were forced to quit their jobs at nursing homes in New York City and suburban Long Island. They said agreements made about working conditions before they left their homeland were not honored by their U.S. employers. An administrative law judge ruled June 30 that the resignations were not protected by federal immigration employment law. The nurses' immigration attorney said he was disappointed the ruling was made without a hearing. He is considering an appeal. Ten of the nurses had faced misdemeanor charges for endangering sick patients by quitting their jobs at a nursing home in Suffolk County on Long Island, east of New York City. A state appellate court ruled in January that the prosecution was unconstitutional. The nurses were recruited from the Philippines to help ease a staffing shortage in the U.S. The case sparked outrage and protests in th...

Home > Pinoy Abroad > Top Stories 'Human trafficking cases in RP doubled in 2009' Human trafficking can involve the following methods: • Prostitution and sexual exploitation – Prostitution is one of the biggest problems when it comes to human trafficking. Women traded in this manner may not even be aware of where they are headed to. Most of them are promised domestic jobs, only to find themselves sold on the streets. • Forced labor, servitude and slavery – This is also a very common practice in the trafficking of human beings. Victims are forced to work against their will and without just compensation. • Organ market – The organ market has rapidly grown over the last decade. It has become a common underground practice for wealthy foreigners to buy organs. Victims willingly give up their organs for cash. They are paid a very small percentage of what the middleman actually gets. Other human trafficking methods usually involve the trade of children. Some of these methods are...

MANILA, Philippines - The process of speeding up the departure of outbound Filipino workers has in turn helped in the surge of human trafficking cases in Philippine airports, a recruitment consultant said. Emmanuel Geslani, the consultant, urged the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to re-impose the validation system, which was scrapped last year to expedite the processing of OFWs. The POEA on March 2008 dropped the validation of documents of OFWs leaving through the Labor Assistance Center (LAC) to further streamline processes in overseas deployment. This resulted in an increase in OFW deployment in the following quarter. Geslani said the function of validating exit or e-receipt is a key process that keeps syndicates from trafficking overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). He said without such measures at LAC, efforts to curb human trafficking would be “feeble" if not “useless." “The POEA has no direct way of accurately validating and recording genuine-POEA-proc...

MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino ambassador was the first envoy to be received by the new Basque president, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. The DFA said Philippine Ambassador to Spain Antonio Lagdameo met with new Basque Lehendakari (President) Patxi López in Vitoria last July 9. "Ambassador Lagdameo is the first foreign envoy to be received by President López who assumed the Basque presidency on the first week of May. Ambassador Lagdameo briefed President López of ongoing (i.e. academic exchange, deployment of Filipino health workers, Palawan development project) and proposed projects (fishery project in Casiguran, Aurora) between the two countries," the DFA said on its website (www.dfa.gov.ph). Lagdameo also extended an invitation to the Basque leader to visit the Philippines in the near future. President López expressed strong interest in and support for the efforts being made by the Philippine Embassy in Madrid in intensifying Philippine-Basque relations, said the...

MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino ambassador was the first envoy to be received by the new Basque president, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. The DFA said Philippine Ambassador to Spain Antonio Lagdameo met with new Basque Lehendakari (President) Patxi López in Vitoria last July 9. "Ambassador Lagdameo is the first foreign envoy to be received by President López who assumed the Basque presidency on the first week of May. Ambassador Lagdameo briefed President López of ongoing (i.e. academic exchange, deployment of Filipino health workers, Palawan development project) and proposed projects (fishery project in Casiguran, Aurora) between the two countries," the DFA said on its website (www.dfa.gov.ph). Lagdameo also extended an invitation to the Basque leader to visit the Philippines in the near future. President López expressed strong interest in and support for the efforts being made by the Philippine Embassy in Madrid in intensifying Philippine-Basque relations, said the...

MANILA, Philippines — Two inmates of a detention center in the United Arab Emirates are on trial for the death of their asthmatic Filipino fellow inmate last February, an online news site has reported. The Khaleej Times said the two who stood trial included a 19-year-old Yemeni and a 20-year-old "stateless" man. Both men, as well as the Filipino, were inmates of Rashidiya Detention Center. The two were also accused of assaulting the Filipino victim’s companion. On the other hand, the Court of First Instance referred an accomplice of the two to the Juveniles Court. The victim’s companion, also a Filipino, testified that he and the victim were allowed out of the detention center to buy grocery items. “We were trying to deliver ordered stuff to some inmates when the defendants accosted us. They wanted to take the things for free. We told them that it was ordered by other fellow mates," he said. After the two distributed the items, the Filipino said the three blocked their w...

MANILA, Philippines — Before leaving for his new post at the United Nations, Philippine ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Libran Cabactulan received a warm farewell from the Filipino community. Online news site Khaleej Times reported that the Filipino community gave him a farewell party at the St. Joseph Church. Cabactulan is to depart from the UAE this week to take up his new assignment as president of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Preparatory Committee. At the party, he said his new assignment would take him to member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is due to attend the NAM's summit in Egypt. In July 2008, the Philippine government endorsed Cabactulan as president of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Preparatory Committee. Cabactulan had ended his six-year term as envoy to UAE. Last April, the 118 member-countries of NAM endorsed his candidature. Last May, the 198 countries involved in the treaty elected him president during their t...

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino workers bound for Saudi Arabia have been advised to make sure that no items in the electronic gadgets they are carrying are in violation of the host government’s beliefs and practices. Migrante-Middle East said airports in Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah are strictly re-implementing procedures in receiving migrant workers carrying electronic devices. Upon arrival at the airport, the migrant group said all electronic devices are to be submitted for checkup at the immigration section. These devices include cellular phones with camera and memory card, flash disks, external hard drives, laptops, notebook computers, iPods, and MP3 players with memory cards. Migrante said Saudi immigration authorities use a special device to scan all the contents of the devices and record them to the main scanning computer. Devices found to contain pornographic items or pirated software are confiscated immediately. No fine would be charged for the violation but refusal to surrender ...

MANILA, Philippines - Amid mounting complaints of would-be overseas Filipino workers losing their money for non-existent jobs, a non-government organization is proposing a rogues gallery for illegal recruiters. The Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (Ideals) unveiled the proposed “Illegal Recruiter’s Facebook" on Tuesday during one of its roundtable discussions with sectors concerned with migrant workers in Quezon City. Lawyer Julyn Ambito, coordinator of Ideal’s Migrants Defense Program, said the proposal calls for the posting of photographs of top illegal recruiters in government offices and other strategic places, similar to the police’s “most wanted" posters. “We take with optimism that the posting of the photographs of these top illegal recruiters, including their modus operandi at strategic places that our would-be workers frequent to process their overseas employment will deter crimes of illegal recruitment, more so, syndicated ...

MANILA, Philippines - Did an unemployed and now-heralded overseas Filipino worker in Hong Kong really return a total of P2.1-million pesos worth of cash and checks or was her heroic act of honesty just rubbish? When the story was first reported last May, Mildred Perez became the latest OFW lionized for her extraordinary virtue. She was showered with cash donations and praise. President Gloria Arroyo was even televised presenting her with a commendation. But a Filipino community paper in the Chinese territory has challenged the so-called honesty of the 38-year-old domestic helper-turned-garbage scavenger who claimed to have found and returned the bag of treasure last April in exchange for a can of butter cookies. Daisy Mandap of The Sun wrote on Wednesday that Perez’s celebrated story of returning a total of HK$350,545 was only half true as the $176,000 in cash she claimed to have found never existed. "The more important half that caused many Filipinos to put her on a pedestal was ...