KAKAMMPI News

Two Filipino seamen were injured after their ship caught fire five miles off Khor Fakkan port in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last Wednesday. UAE-based Khaleej Times reported Friday the two Filipinos were among four crewmen injured in the incident. A Greek crewman died while an engineer from Ghana and a Sri Lankan national were also injured in the incident, the report said. The Khaleej Times report quoted a Sharjah police officer as saying fire broke out in the engine of the Liberian-flagged ship, which was being used as a bunker to refuel other ships. “Apart from the Greek, four others suffered serious burns," the officer said. He added the Greek man likely died after inhaling smoke that billowed out into the sky after the engine caught fire. The four other crew members were immediately taken to a Fujairah hospital with one of the survivors discharged the same day. Investigators are working with Sharjah Ports Authorities to find out what caused the fire. The injured ...

Organizers of the third annual international meeting on global migration are being criticized for allegedly silencing the sector that they were supposed to serve. An advocacy group claimed that the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) recently held in Athens, had “deliberately sought to alienate the role of migrants in the discussion process." “(It) has demonstrated a clear lack of transparency and accountability where many non-binding agreements are made in closed-door meetings outside the scrutiny of rights-based observers," the Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility Asia (CARAM) said in a statement. While the group acknowledges the GFMD as the largest platform for international dialogue on issues related to migration, CARAM said the annual meeting had failed to address the real problems of migrants. “The GFMD will never become a platform of positive change in the field of migration until it seeks to engage directly with migrants and their communit...

A Filipino woman visiting Hong Kong for the first time would be staying in the Chinese province’s jail for four months after immigration authorities found out she had fake passport entry/exit stamps, the Philippine Consulate there reported Thursday. The tourist, who hails from Batangas province, was returning to the Philippines with her family last Oct. 28 when Hong Kong airport authorities discovered that her immigration stamp showed she had been to the former British colony a couple of times before. According to the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong, the Filipina was brought to Shatin Magistrates’ Court two days later and pleaded guilty to the offense of possession of a false instrument. She was sentenced to four months imprisonment. "The Consulate has made a recommendation to authorities in Manila for the investigation of the case," the office of Vice Consul Val Roque said in a statement. Filipino tourists and workers are often lured by unscrupulous agencies to obtain forg...

Besides bringing discrimination and threats of job losses, the global crisis has also restricted the movement of migrant workers the world over, a United Nations official said. This has reduced migrant workers’ opportunities, causing a slowdown in remittance flows, said Carlos Lopes, executive director of the UN Institute for Training and Research. “Many countries which depend upon these flows will be adversely affected not only economically, but also socially," Lopes said at the opening of the 3rd Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in Greece on Thursday. The 2nd GFMD was held in Manila in October last year. Lopes, who also chairs the Global Migration Group, said that while remittance was relatively resilient, the World Bank forecasts that flows to all developing regions will decline between seven and ten percent in 2009. “Too often this will negatively affect development outcomes, for example in the area of children’s and especially girls’ education and health,...

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia – Several Filipino groups in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have called on political parties to field at least one overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in the senatorial ticket for the 2010 elections. “It’s high time that they consider the OFWs to have a representation in the Senate," said Vic Aguila, chairman of KASAPI Congress, an umbrella organization of Filipino migrant groups in Saudi Arabia. In an open letter to the political parties, KASAPI said it was important to have OFW representation in the Senate to recognize their importance in the decision-making process in the country. Money coming from OFWs is considered the lifeblood of the Philippine economy. A record-breaking $16.4 billion was remitted by OFWs in 2008. Another group, Ang Ating Gabay OFW, said an OFW senator would help push for pro-migrant worker legislation that have otherwise gathered dust in Congress. “Ever since we do not have any representative in the Senate. Whatever passes in the Lower House m...

More A total of 89 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have called on the Philippine government to repatriate them from Saudi Arabia after their employer allegedly committed labor malpractices. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the OFWs stopped working last October 12 to protest their employer’s alleged labor malpractices that included unauthorized salary reduction, illegal salary deduction, and delayed payment of salaries. The DFA has called on the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Riyadh to discuss with the OFWs’ employer, Annasban Group of Companies, a local outsourcing company, to return home even after completing their contracts. “POLO-Riyadh has asked for the early repatriation of those Filipino workers who wish to return to Manila under their employer’s expense. Those who would opt to stay, however, may continue their work under improved working conditions," the DFA said in a statement Tuesday. This is not the first time Annasban figured in labor m...

More The Philippine government is now working for the repatriation of an overseas Filipino worker who finished serving his prison term for a drug-related offense in Saudi Arabia. Citing a report from the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Jose Jonathan Botor Bigas had finished serving his term in August 2008. "Mr. Bigas was scheduled to be repatriated last month but due to administrative procedures between the Saudi court and the Governor’s Office, he remains incarcerated at the Dammam Reformatory Jail," the DFA said in an article posted on its Web site. The DFA said Philippine Embassy officials asked concerned Saudi authorities to inquire into this matter. Also, the Philippine Embassy has requested the DFA to disburse funds for Bigas’ repatriation "for humanitarian consideration," the department said. - GMANews.TV