KAKAMMPI News

abs-cbnNEWS.com MANILA, Philippines –An alliance of Filipino migrant organizations on Thursday blamed the government for its alleged inaction on the case of an OFW who was a victim of rape in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. In a press statement, Migrante International said the OFW’s family fears that Saudi authorities would soon carry out the 100 lashes penalty before releasing Camille (not her real name). Camille got pregnant as a result of the rape. However, she lost the baby on her fourth month of pregnancy. The group learned from Camille’s relatives that the OFW had a miscarriage last December 2009 while detained at the Hafer Al Baten jail. Camille’s mother told the group that no one from the Philippine Embassy in Saudi Arabia visited her daughter when she was hospitalized. The foreign affairs department in Manila also could not give them any information about Camille’s condition. The Filipina was working as a janitress at a dental clinic for about 3 months when she was attacked by a co-work...

CARMELA LAPEÑA, GMANews.TV 01/21/2010 | 09:09 AM (Updated 1:30 p.m.) The body of yet another Filipino UN peacekeeper was recovered from the rubble of a collapsed building in Haiti, bringing to four the number of Filipinos confirmed killed in the deadly earthquake that struck the Caribbean nation last week. Haiti peacekeeping forces commander Col. Lope Dagoy identified the casualty as Sgt. Janice Arocena, whose body was retrieved from the ruins of Christopher Hotel in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday afternoon, Manila time. "Meron tayong bad news. Kahapon nang hapon natagpuan na po ang bangkay ni Sgt. Janice Arocena," Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. told GMA News' Unang Balita on Thursday. The victim's family was immediately informed, he said. On January 15, two days after the magnitude-7 earthquake rocked Haiti, Arocena's older sibling posted a plea for help on CNN's iReport. Arocena was a clerk at the Chief of Staff, Central Re...

An "evolving" email scam is targeting prospective overseas Filipino workers heading for Berlin in Germany, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday. The DFA said the scam appeared to be a variation of the one involving Markel Power International, which was uncovered earlier this month. Philippine Ambassador to Germany Delia Albert advised Filipinos to be “very cautious" of recruitment emails that claim to involve “Power International companies." Albert told prospective OFWs not to pay a single cent to complete the recruitment process. She said two Filipinos had contacted the Embassy via email to verify the authenticity of one Maleko Power International and Moss Power International, allegedly in Hamburg and Dortmund. “These Filipinos received emails telling them that they were being hired through an employment agency allegedly based in Messina, Italy," the DFA said. But a check showed Maleko Power International does not exist in Hamburg, while its add...

Three Filipinas were convicted and sentenced to long jail terms for drug trafficking in Hong Kong, one of whom had small plastic bags of cocaine inside her body, according to the Philippine Consulate General there. The three, all of whom pleaded guilty, were sentenced by the High Court of Hong Kong to imprisonment of 14, 12 and eight years, respectively, according to a release posted on the website of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). The first Filipina was arrested by customs authorities at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) on February 20 last year, after 1.2 kilograms of a drug mixture containing 750 grams of heroin were found in her luggage. The drugs were concealed in four books the Filipina carried with her from Malaysia, which were allegedly given to her by another Filipino who arranged her trip. The Filipina was represented by a Hong Kong law firm and was sentenced to 14 years in jail. Sentenced to 12 years in prison is another Filipino who arrived also from Malaysia...

Starting February 8, British passport applications from the Philippines will be processed in Hong Kong, hinting that the move will make it difficult for criminals to produce counterfeit documents. The UK Embassy said it wants the British passport to remain trusted as a secure document, and to make it hard to forge or obtain through fraud, an article on its website said. “The British passport is trusted as a secure document the world over. We want to keep it that way so that British travellers continue to enjoy the convenience and benefits of a travel document which is known to be difficult to forge or obtain fraudulently," the website quotes British Consul Joanne Finnamore-Crorkin as saying. “Limiting the number of locations where passports are printed will reduce the risk of them falling into the wrong hands." Teams specialized in passport examination, fraud detection, and secure document technology will run the new processing centers, the article said The embassy also said ...

53 An overseas Filipino worker launguishing in a Saudi Arabian jail suffered miscarriage and now fears getting a hundred lashes before finally being freed. Camille (not her real name) has been in prison since August last year after her employer turned her over to authorities because she got pregnant out of wedlock by a co-worker who raped her. Camille, who lived with her in Quezon City, went to Dammam on May last year to work as a janitor in a dental clinic on a two-year contract, the victim’s mother told GMANews.TV in an interview. Three months into the job, a co-worker – a Bangladeshi national – raped her. But Camille chose to keep quiet, fearing her rapist would kill her if she reports the incident. In September, after undergoing a medical check-up – a requirement before she decided to return to the Philippines – she discovered she was pregnant and was reported to Saudi authorities by no less than her employer. However, hard life in Hafr Al-Baten prison caused the miscarriage of her...

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday denied due to time constraints the petition filed by a group of overseas Filipinos seeking to extend the overseas absentee voting (OAV) registration. “Today the petition for extension of overseas absentee voting registration was denied. There will be no extension of OAV registration and that’s official," Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said at a press briefing. He was referring to the appeal made by overseas Filipino Maritess Salientess Bloom of Massachusetts, USA, last January 8 asking the poll body to grant them 28 more days of registration. The petition was filed by the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations, which said overseas Filipinos deserve the same privilege as their fellowmen at home when it comes to registering for the May 10 elections. “What’s good for Filipinos in the Philippines should be good for Filipinos everywhere. Ano kami (What are we), chopped liver?" said Loida Nicolas Lewis, chairman emeri...

The body of a Filipino United Nations peacekeeper was retrieved from the rubble of the collapsed Christopher Hotel, bringing to two the number of Philippine fatalities following the deadly earthquake that rocked the impoverished Caribbean island nation of Haiti. At a press conference in Camp Aguinaldo, military information chief Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the body of Petty Officer 3 Pearly Panangui was pulled out at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday from the second floor of the hotel, which houses the United Nations Peacekeeping headquarters in Haiti. In a prepared prayer, Brawner, on behalf of the Philippine military, paid tribute to Panangui and to all servicemen performing their duties outside the Philippines. "They have shown a culture of peace, heroism, and dedication, and commitment to serve even outside of their office especially at this crucial time," he said. "They may be gone but they will forever be in our hearts." At the time of the killer quake, a total of 462 Fil...

KIMBERLY JANE TAN, GMANews.TV Plans to automate the overseas absentee voting (OAV) in vote-rich Hong Kong and Singapore may not push through due to the opposition of the Philippine embassies there, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Monday. In an interview with reporters, Comelec chief Jose Melo said the Philippine Embassy in Singapore expressed doubts that it could handle the volume of voters who would vote using the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines. “Ayaw daw, maraming people nagmi-mill around sa isang lugar … Siguro ika nila ang dami-daming boboto dyan (They do not want automation. They don’t want many people to gather there, that’s what the ambassador told us)," he said. The Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong, meanwhile, is just asking for updates and mechanics regarding the automation of the OAV, according to Comelec Commissioner Amanda Velasco, head of the poll body’s OAV committee. “Ang Hong Kong wala naman silang problems, gusto lang nila malaman nang ...

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somali pirates released a Greek supertanker and its crew of 28 on Monday after a rival pirate group attacked the pirates onboard in an unsuccessful attempt to steal the ransom, the spokesman for the European Union's anti-piracy force said. Cmdr. John Harbour says pirates left the Greek-flagged Maran Centaurus Monday morning. He said a group of rival pirates had attacked the ship just before the ransom was being delivered, prompting the pirates onboard the tanker to call for assistance from the anti-piracy force. He said the EU naval force did not intervene but declined to give details on the actions of other warships in the area. The naval force is monitoring the ship as it leaves Somali waters, he said. A Somali middleman, who helped negotiate for the release of the ship, says pirates collected $5.5 million Sunday afternoon and left the ship Monday morning. The figure could not be immediately confirmed. The middleman spoke on condition of anonymity because he said...

The condition of a Filipino peacekeeper injured in last week's devastating quake in Haiti has improved, allowing him to be transferred from a hospital to a local clinic, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Monday. Staff Sergeant Bonifacio Paet was transferred from the Argentine Hospital to the Philippine Contingent Clinic, according to an article in the DFA Web site. The DFA also said Philippine officials have met with leaders of the Filipino community in Haiti to discuss their concerns. Philippine Ambassador to Havana Macarthur Corsino was to arrive in Port-au-Prince Monday afternoon (Haiti time) to coordinate ongoing relief efforts there. Corsino received instructions from DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo to proceed to Haiti to oversee relief operations for Filipinos there and to present a plan of action for the repatriation of Filipinos who would want to go back to Manila. The Philippine Embassy team will link up with the peacekeeping contingent, Philippine Honorary Cons...

At least 100 Filipinos in Haiti’s Delmas district have been accounted for and were safe, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Sunday. The DFA quoted Lt. Col. Lope Dagoy, 10th Philippine Contingent commander, as saying that an initial census of Filipinos in the Delmas district had been conducted to determine their locations and conditions. Delmas is a district in the Ouest Department of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, where a sizeable number of Filipinos reside. The list was drawn from three areas — Delmas 31, Delmas 41 and Delmas 56. “Some 100 Filipinos were identified, accounted for, and found to be in safe physical condition. These include two religious nuns with the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister of Haiti," the department said in a statement posted on its Website. Of the recorded 462 Filipinos in Haiti, 290 are civilians and 172 are peacekeepers. There are some Filipino priests and nuns as well. Filipinos who work in the Caribbean country occupy midd...

RONALDO Z. CONCHA JEDDAH - The head of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Riyadh said Wednesday, January 13, that the case of more than 40 Filipino caregivers who went on hunger strike in the Saudi capital has been resolved. Labor attaché Rustico Dela Fuente assured the workers that an agreement had been reached with the workers’ employer and that they would be able to leave as soon as their exit papers are released. Head count In a phone interview, Dela Fuente stated, “Nakatutok tayo sa kaso ng mga caregivers at ginagawan natin ng paraan na mapauwi sila pero siyempre kailangan din natin maisaayos ito sa tamang proseso. Responsibilidad din ito ng kanilang mga ahensya sa Pilipinas bagamat nakikita ko naman ang kanilang kooperasyon para maresolba ang problemang ito. Sa katunayan may tatlong ahensya ang dumalaw na dito>," he said. (“We’re looking into the case of the caregivers and we’re doing everything to be able to send them home, but of course we have to do this th...

RONALDO Z. CONCHA JEDDAH - The head of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Riyadh said Wednesday, January 13, that the case of more than 40 Filipino caregivers who went on hunger strike in the Saudi capital has been resolved. Labor attaché Rustico Dela Fuente assured the workers that an agreement had been reached with the workers’ employer and that they would be able to leave as soon as their exit papers are released. Head count In a phone interview, Dela Fuente stated, “Nakatutok tayo sa kaso ng mga caregivers at ginagawan natin ng paraan na mapauwi sila pero siyempre kailangan din natin maisaayos ito sa tamang proseso. Responsibilidad din ito ng kanilang mga ahensya sa Pilipinas bagamat nakikita ko naman ang kanilang kooperasyon para maresolba ang problemang ito. Sa katunayan may tatlong ahensya ang dumalaw na dito>," he said. (“We’re looking into the case of the caregivers and we’re doing everything to be able to send them home, but of course we have to do this th...

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will be unable to process electronic passports from January 15 to 22 due to its data migration and computer systems upgrade. In a notice to the public, the DFA asked the public for its understanding. "Due to data migration and systems upgrade, we would like to inform the public that there will be no ePassport processing on 15 January up to 22 January, 2010," it said. The DFA started issuing the machine-readable e-passports in August last year, and began accepting online applications last August 26. - LBG, GMANews.TV

A Philippine ambassador has offered assistance to OFW Jason Aguilar in his re-entry to Qatar, where he was incarcerated for a week last December in a case of mistaken identity. Aguilar, who was wrongfully deported, is now saddled with debts. In a statement Saturday, January 16, the Department of Foreign Affairs said that the Philippine Embassy in Qatar has sent a note verbale, which is "an unsigned diplomatic note written in the third person, of the nature of a memorandum but sometimes considered to be more formal," to the Qatari Foreign Ministry to seek clarification on the circumstances surrounding the apprehension and deportation of Aguilar. Philippine Ambassador to Qatar Crescente R. Relacion, said that while the embassy awaits the reply of Qatari authorities, he suggested that Aguilar should take the necessary steps to facilitate his return and reentry to his place of work in Qatar. (Read: Gov't blunder shatters dreams of OFW mistaken for a fugitive) Relacion said Ag...

Two government agencies have been tasked to provide assistance – and possibly even redeploy Dubai-based Filipino workers to other Middle Eastern countries – after a debt crisis erupted in the city-state. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) were mandated to take charge of distributing assistance to Dubai-based workers, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said. Issued by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the order also instructed both agencies to look into the possibility of redeploying workers to other Middle Eastern countries, Remonde added. The so-called Dubai debt crisis – which took place after a United Arab Emirates (UAE) investment company deferred debt payments for six months – may eventually cut jobs of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Next to Saudi Arabia, the UAE is the Philippines’ biggest source of remittances in the Middle East. The crisis could force Dubai-based firms to cut jobs in real estate, construction, fin...

Millions of Filipinos abroad sent home $1.46 billion in November, up 11.3 percent from a year earlier, boosted by extra transfers of funds to help families affected by typhoons. The November figure brings total remittances for the first 11 months of 2009 to $15.8 billion, 5.1 percent higher than a year earlier, the central bank said Friday. It said remittances rose because of extra funds sent to families back home affected by a series of typhoons in September and October and fewer Filipino workers losing jobs abroad as the global economic crisis eased. Central bank Governor Amando Tetangco earlier forecast remittances to rise 4 percent in 2009 to a record $17.1 billion. The money sent home by 10 million overseas workers — or nearly 10 percent of the population of 90 million — fuels domestic spending, which is the backbone of the Philippine economy. Remittances account for about 10 percent of the country's gross domestic product. - AP

Household members of Filipino diplomatic and consular personnel in Belgium will now be allowed to work in their host country, after a pact between the Philippines and Belgium was signed. The pact, signed last December 23, also allows household members of Belgian diplomatic and consular personnel to find work in the Philippines. The agreement allows spouses, unmarried dependent children up to 18 years old, and other household members of the diplomatic and consular personnel posted in the Philippines and Belgium, to be employed in their host countries on a reciprocal basis. They can also work in an international organization with a seat in the receiving State. "I am very happy to be able to conclude this agreement," Philippine Ambassador to Belgium Cristina Ortega said in an article on the Department of Foreign Affairs website. “This is good news to our colleagues in the Foreign Service, who are posted in Belgium. Subject to the provisions of this Agreement, their spouses, depe...

Fourteen out of the 28 examinees of the the first Midwives Licensure Examinations in Hong Kong passed the exams conducted by the Board of Midwifery of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) in Hong Kong on December 12-13, 2009. Based on an announcement posted on the website of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the new midwives are the following: 1. Dacumos, Ryda Acosta 2. Espiritu, Fe Landicho 3. Polido, Marivic Febreo 4. Ramos, Cherry Cepeda 5. Ronquillo, Aziel Anne Fabella 6. Rosas, Alilie Gonzales 7. Segundo, Zenaida Encarnacion 8. Subia, Mae Belle Edu 9. Tabucol, Cherry Cruz 10. Talco, Jovelyn Ladip 11. Toledo, Nezil Dante 12. Untalasco, Glenda Escobar 13. Vallejo, Dona Bumal-o Ms. Jonalyn Amparo Zubiaga also passed the exams, but her registration in the roster of new midwives will be deferred, pending the submission of some requirements. The members of the Board of Midwifery who gave the licensure examination were Dr. Alejandro R. San Pedro (chairman); Dr. Remy B. Dequiña, ...

by JEREMAIAH M. OPINIANO OFW Journalism Consortium Maguindanao province Temporary contract workers 3,993 (year 2007) • Land-based workers 3,693 (year 2007) • Sea-based workers 300 (year 2007) Permanent residents 164 (from 1988 to 2007) Filipino spouses and other partners of foreign nationals 42 (from 1989 to 2007) Households with migrant dependents 6,181 (year 2000) Estimated remittances PhP1,200,730,545 (year 2006) Source: Government data found in http://almanac.ofwphilanthropy.org PASAY CITY, Metro Manila—MAGUINDANAO province, the site of a mass killing last month, is one of the safest places in the country. That is according to Abdilah Malasigan, whose family was recently hailed as the Model Overseas Filipino Workers Family (MOFYA) this year for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. We will say that again and again, said Malasigan, who has been a seafarer for 21 years. “You don’t have any other choice,” Malasigan said on the sidelines of this year’s MOFYA national awards by the...

by JEREMAIAH M. OPINIANO MARIBOJOC, Bohol–THE explorer Pigafetta would have chosen this town over Mactan had it already sported a Hollywood-like sign on its mountain ranges. But had this town did, it may have attracted not only Pigafetta –desperate to escape after his and Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet was pummeled in the Battle of Mactan– but also other explorers who may know only Bohol because of its famed chocolate hills. That is ultimately what this project hopes to accomplish, according to mayor Leoncio Evasco: to lure back its former residents, or at least their resources, from abroad. Evasco said he has secured commitment from the Maribojoc Association USA to construct a Maribojoc billboard —similar to what Hollywood in Los Angeles, USA, has— on the side of the mountain range that faces the Maribojoc Bay. Evasco is the man behind such project that, he said, aims to raise tourism receipts and attract investors in his town, a five-minute ride northwest of Bohol’s capital city of Tagbi...

by JEREMAIAH M. OPINIANO OFW Journalism Consortium CEBU CITY–MIGRANT Filipinos continue to burn the passion of city sisterhood through a fire truck, which is expected to arrive here after a 15,000-kilometer journey. For 47 days in mid-June 2010, a fire truck route from the northern Dutch municipality of Haarlemmermeer (pronounced “jar-le-mer-mir”) celebrates a goodwill gesture brokered by migrant Filipinos since 1990. Donations to be raised for the fire truck’s journey will go to the projects of the sister-city organization Vereniging Haarlemmermeer-Cebu (VHC), according to Filipina-Dutch Ruby Langeveld-Cumba. The sister city ties, says VHC board member Langeveld-Cumba, lead to the provision of development aid worth over €1.5 million in two decades, from a Dutch municipality with 0.14 million residents to an urbanized Philippine City with nearly 0.8 million people. Reaching Cebu, the keys of the fire truck will be given to the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF), the first benefici...

by JEREMAIAH M. OPINIANO OFW Journalism Consortium MANILA—CANADA or bust, majority of expatriates surveyed in 26 countries revealed. An international bank’s survey of 26 countries showed that Canada is the best place for expatriates to settle in. While the Philippines hosts expats of multinational companies, it was excluded in the survey. Still, except for Vietnam and Mexico, all the countries included were destinations for migrant Filipino workers. Also, the countries surveyed by HSBC Bank International (see Table 1) have been the source of some US$14.512 billion in overseas Filipino remittances in 2008, according to data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The “Expat Experience” segment of the second Expat Explorer Survey, commissioned by HSBC Bank International, showed that Canada is the best place for expats to go in terms of accommodation. Canada was also their second-best choice in terms of setting up utilities, making friends who are nationals of the host country, family life...