KAKAMMPI News

An OFW group has asked the government to expand its financial assistance program to cover more Filipino workers displaced by the oil crisis plaguing construction companies in the Middle East, especially in Saudi Arabia. In a statement Thursday, Marlon Gatdula of Migrante-KSA Western Region said the government must expand "the limited scope of beneficiaries" to OFWs whose employers felt the effects of the oil crisis but did not make it to the list made by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). Gatdula said the cash assistance being offered by OWWA through its P500-million Relief Assistance Program must not be limited only to its members. "It will be unfair and divisive to the OFWs and their families. Because of their stranded status, majority of them are undocumented (no iqamas) and therefore have been rendered stripped off their active OWWA memberships. If active OWWA membership is a pre-requisite, close to none will be able to avail," he said. ...

JAKARTA - The case of an Indonesian woman expected to be executed this week for drug trafficking highlights the risk to migrant workers of being duped into becoming drug mules, human rights campaigners said. Merri Utami, who was convicted in 2003 of smuggling 1.1 kgs of heroin into Indonesia, is believed to be among 14 drug convicts due to be executed this weekend. The Indonesian government has not released the names of the 14 but Utami has been transferred to the execution site and activists said she is among those moved. UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein called for Indonesia to immediately reinstate a moratorium on the death penalty that was suspended in 2013, and not proceed with the reportedly imminent executions. According to Indonesia's women's rights commission, a government-backed body that functions independently, Utami had gone to Taiwan to work as a maid to escape her abusive husband. After divorcing him, she got involved with a man who took ...

Immigration agents have launched a manhunt operation for a Chinese woman allegedly working for a human trafficking syndicate operating in the Philippines. The woman, whose identity was withheld so as not to preempt the operation, was accused of bringing a Filipina to China to work illegally and then abandoning her there. The Filipina, who was arrested and detained for two months in Beijing, was recently deported. She recalled her ordeal to Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers, which led to the manhunt operation. Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said based on the information shared by the victim, she and the suspect left for China on October 15 last year. However, upon their arrival in China, the suspect left her and returned to Manila without securing a visa extension or working visa for her. Because of this, she was subsequently arrested and detained by Chinese authorities for being an illegally staying alien. After her release from detention, the victim sought the hel...

OWWA Welfare Officer Angel Cruz meets with displaced OFWs in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to discuss the process of releasing the financial assistance promised by the government last week.  Ronaldo Concha JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Philippine officials in Jeddah have appealed for patience as they start the process of giving financial assistance to Filipino workers rendered jobless by the oil crisis plaguing Middle East-based construction companies. Welfare Officer Angel Cruz said they've been meeting with the affected OFWs by batches to explain to them the process of releasing the P26,000 promised to them by the government. Meeting the third batch of affected OFWs on Tuesday at the Philippine Consulate here, Cruz said they have yet to release the funds as they are still completing the list of beneficiaries, many of whom were retrenched OFWs from Saudi Oger and Saudi Binladen who've been waiting for their back pays for months. Cruz said the list would serve as their basis in r...

Hundreds of jobless OFWs have trooped to the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia since Sunday to claim the financial assistance the Labor department promised them. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III visited the consulate last Friday to see for himself the situation of the more than 10,000 retrenched OFWs in the Kingdom who reportedly have been forced to scavenge for food and sell their blood to survive. Thousands of foreign workers lost their jobs due to the slump in the prices of petroleum products, forcing several firms of the oil-producing country to cut down on production and to retrench workers. During his visit,  Bello promised  that the Philippine government would give each affected OFW P20,000, aside from the P 6,000 for each of their families in the Philippines. Most of the OFWs who first trooped to the consulate to claim the promised assistance were from the firm Saudi Oger. One of the OFWs told GMA News that in the last six or seven months their...

A Malaysian court sentenced nine Filipinos to life in prison on Tuesday over an armed incursion in 2013 that left scores dead and paralyzed a remote corner of Borneo for weeks, a defense lawyer said. Eight others, including three Malaysians, received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 18 years, said the attorney, N. Sivananthan. The bloody incursion by some 200 Islamic militants from the southern Philippines was inspired by a self-proclaimed Filipino sultanate's claims of historical dominion over the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island. The assault, the most serious security crisis faced by Malaysia in years, led to a siege between the militants and Malaysian armed forces sent to root them out. At least 70 people were killed, mostly militants, over the six-week ordeal. Nine of the defendants had faced death for "waging war" against Malaysia's king, but were spared by the court in the Sabah state capital Kota Kinabalu. "They could have been sen...

JAKARTA - The case of an Indonesian woman expected to be executed this week for drug trafficking highlights the risk to migrant workers of being duped into becoming drug mules, human rights campaigners said. Merri Utami, who was convicted in 2003 of smuggling 1.1 kgs of heroin into Indonesia, is believed to be among 14 drug convicts due to be executed this weekend. The Indonesian government has not released the names of the 14 but Utami has been transferred to the execution site and activists said she is among those moved. UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein called for Indonesia to immediately reinstate a moratorium on the death penalty that was suspended in 2013, and not proceed with the reportedly imminent executions. According to Indonesia's women's rights commission, a government-backed body that functions independently, Utami had gone to Taiwan to work as a maid to escape her abusive husband. After divorcing him, she got involved with a man who took ...

President Rodrigo Duterte's first State of the Nation Address (SONA) has received positive response from many OFWs, with migrant rights advocate Susan Ople even describing the overall reaction as "overwhelming." "The President's heart is definitely in the right place," Ople said in a statement Tuesday, as she expressed optimism that Duterte will be able to deliver his promises to OFWs that he stated in his SONA. Among Duterte's pro-OFW promises were the creation of a separate government agency that would cater exclusively to the OFWs' needs, the extension of the validity of the passport from five years to 10, and a crackdown on illegal recruiters. Orders, not promises Vergel Oliver Braza Coronel, 36 and an accountant in Qatar, lauded Duterte for sending a direct and heartfelt message to the public, and for giving "orders and not promises" during his SONA. "Direktang mensahe na maaabot ng tao. May damdamin at hindi basta bina...

An alleged big-time illegal recruiter was arrested Monday in an entrapment operation in a mall in Quezon City, the police said Tuesday. Antonio Garate Toca Jr. was arrested by agents from the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Anti-Transnational Crime Unit (CIDG-ATCU) upon receiving the marked money from the complainant. Toca, 49, has been allegedly luring prospective OFWs with job offers in Canada. "However, it turned out that the suspect is not authorized to recruit," said Police Chief Inspector Roque Merdegia Jr., officer in charge of CIDG-ATCU. The police said the sting operation was launched after it received a letter-request from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, which has received a dozen complaints against the suspect. According to information reaching the police, Toca would ask for money from his victims for the processing of travel documents for their employment in Canada. Recovered from the suspect were the marked money ...

A Malaysian court sentenced nine Filipinos to life in prison on Tuesday over an armed incursion in 2013 that left scores dead and paralyzed a remote corner of Borneo for weeks, a defense lawyer said. Eight others, including three Malaysians, received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 18 years, said the attorney, N. Sivananthan. The bloody incursion by some 200 Islamic militants from the southern Philippines was inspired by a self-proclaimed Filipino sultanate's claims of historical dominion over the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island. The assault, the most serious security crisis faced by Malaysia in years, led to a siege between the militants and Malaysian armed forces sent to root them out. At least 70 people were killed, mostly militants, over the six-week ordeal. Nine of the defendants had faced death for "waging war" against Malaysia's king, but were spared by the court in the Sabah state capital Kota Kinabalu. "They could have been sen...

Hundreds of jobless OFWs have trooped to the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia since Sunday to claim the financial assistance the Labor department promised them. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III visited the consulate last Friday to see for himself the situation of the more than 10,000 retrenched OFW in the Kingdom who reportedly have been forced to scavenge for food and sell their blood to survive. Thousands of foreign workers lost their jobs due to the slump in the prices of petroleum products, forcing several firms of the oil-producing country to cut down on production and to retrench workers. During his visit,  Bello promised  that the Philippine government would give each affected OFW P20,000, aside from the P 6,000 for each of their families in the Philippines. Most of the OFWs who first trooped to the consulate to claim the promised assistance were from the firm Saudi Oger. One of the OFWs told GMA News that in the last six or seven months their ...

Hours before President Rodrigo Duterte's first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, an OFW group laid down its wish list in the hopes that the new administration would come up with better actions for migrant workers. In a statement, Migrante International said the Duterte administration should have a "comprehensive" program for returning OFWs, particularly those rendered jobless by drastic plunge in oil prices in the Middle East. "What awaits tens of thousands of OFWs in the event of their emergency return? Definitely there are not enough domestic jobs available," said Migrante chairperson Garry Martinez, adding that past administrations' reintegration programs were nothing but "meager dole-outs and band-aid solutions."  Aside from a reintegration program, Migrante also called Duterte's attention on the following: the case of Mary Jane Veloso who remains on death row in Indonesia, and others like her who have been victimized b...

Filipinos who will be attending this year's World Youth Day in Poland have been advised not to stay beyond the period their Schengen visa allows them to. In an advisory, the Philippine Embassy in Warsaw said a holder of Schengen visa is entitled  to enter and move within the territory of Poland and of other Schengen member-states for a duration not exceeding 90 days within a 180-day period. It said visa extensions are only allowed for humanitarian reasons, such as in the case of someone who falls ill on or right before the end of the 90-day stay, or due to "force majeur," or natural or man-made disasters beyond the control of the visa holder. The embassy also reminded Filipinos to safeguard their passports and to take with them only a copy of their passport data page and Schengen visa when going around Krakow to attend World Youth Day activities. In the event that a Filipino loses his or her passport in Krakow during the event, the Philippine Embassy will issue t...

JAKARTA - Mary Jane Veloso, convicted in Indonesia for drug smuggling and sentenced to death, will not be among the first round of executions carried out when capital punishment is resumed after a lull, the attorney general said on Friday. Indonesia imposed a moratorium on executions for five years before resuming them in 2013. It provoked international outrage in April last year with the execution of eight drug traffickers, seven of them foreigners.  After the outcry, authorities said they were postponing executions while the government focussed on reviving he economy. But President Joko Widodo's administration has this year pledged to resume executions by firing squad. Veloso got a last-minute reprieve last year, following a request from Manila after an employment recruiter, whom Veloso had accused of planting drugs in her luggage, gave herself up to police in the Philippines. "Not yet," Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo told reporters when asked about Veloso. ...

JAKARTA - Mary Jane Veloso, convicted in Indonesia for drug smuggling and sentenced to death, will not be among the first round of executions carried out when capital punishment is resumed after a lull, the attorney general said on Friday. Indonesia imposed a moratorium on executions for five years before resuming them in 2013. It provoked international outrage in April last year with the execution of eight drug traffickers, seven of them foreigners.  After the outcry, authorities said they were postponing executions while the government focussed on reviving he economy. But President Joko Widodo's administration has this year pledged to resume executions by firing squad. Veloso got a last-minute reprieve last year, following a request from Manila after an employment recruiter, whom Veloso had accused of planting drugs in her luggage, gave herself up to police in the Philippines. "Not yet," Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo told reporters when asked about Veloso. ...

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Thursday said he has recalled the Philippine labor attachés in Riyadh and Jeddah over their alleged inaction on the plight of stranded and retrenched Filipino workers there. Interviewed hours before he flew to Riyadh to personally see the situation of distressed OFWs there, Bello said he was disappointed with how the two officials addressed the plight of some 11,000 OFWs stranded either because their iqamas had expired or they are waiting for their unpaid wages from their former employers. "In cases like this, immediate assistance should be extended. Walang mga keme-keme, mga requirements, pera nila yan and they need it very badly," said Bello. Bello said he'd go to Saudi Arabia to see the situation there "first hand" and extend necessary assistance. "I want to go personally at the same time extend short-term assistance like food and medical," he said. Bello did not identify the two labor attachés. No i...

Foreign workers including Filipinos who were retrenched from their work in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, have resorted to picking discarded food items from a grocery store for their next meal. The Filipinos, who refused to return to the Philippines until they received their unpaid salaries and end-of-service benefits from their former employers, said they've been doing this for months now. Together with other retrenched foreign workers, the Filipinos would pick vegetables, chicken parts and fish that have been discarded or have fallen during deliveries to the grocery store. Some food items were given to them by the delivery boys. The Filipinos are appealing to President Rodrigo Duterte to have a dialogue with the King of Saudi Arabia to discuss their plight. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III was set to fly to Saudi Arabia on Thursday night to personally assess the situation of the stranded OFWs there. According to pro-OFW group Migrante International, some 11,000 OFWs have...

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will establish a one-stop shop where overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) can secure the requirements they need for their jobs abroad. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said this is in accordance with President Rodrigo Duterte's directive to make it easier for OFWs to avail the services of the government. "The one-stop shop is part of the efforts of the Department to realize the directives of President Rodrigo R. Duterte to make the services of government agencies accessible to Filipinos who are currently working or planning to work overseas," he said in a statement Wednesday. Bello did not say when the one-stop shop will be established, but said it will include facilitative services that aim to make the issuance and validation process of documentary requirements easier and more convenient for OFWs, especially for returning migrant workers. Bello said Filipino workers applying for work overseas should be able to get all t...

Twelve Filipino bands, three teen groups, and three guest artists shared the stage in a musical event hosted by the Sessions DXB at The Fridge in Dubai last Friday. Sessions DXB Zarahross Loading content, please wait... Loading content, please wait... Loading content, please wait... Loading content, please wait... Loading content, please wait... Loading content, please wait... Loading content, please wait... Loading content, please wait... Loading content, please wait... Loading content, please wait... Loading content, please wait... Loading content, please wait... Loading content, please wait... Loading content, please wait... Loading content, please wait... Loading content, please wait... 1/18 Sess...