Pinoy Meets World » OFW

Filipina maid inherits millions from Singaporean employer

Adrian — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 06:23:53 +0000

A devoted Filipina maid inherited six million Singapore dollars (more than $4 million) from her late employer after more than 20 years of service, a newspaper report said Wednesday.

“I am the luckiest maid in Singapore, with or without the money,” the 47-year-old single woman — identified only by the pseudonym “Christine” — told the Straits Times in an interview.

The maid refused to be named in public for fear of possible threats to her life in the impoverished Philippines, where wealthy people have been kidnapped for ransom and some killed by their abductors.

The windfall, including cash and a luxury apartment near the Orchard Road shopping belt, came from the estate of her employer Quek Kai Miew, a medical doctor and philanthropist who died last year at 66.

The maid had also taken care of the doctor’s late mother, and was told that she would be a beneficiary of her employer’s will when it was drawn up in 2008.

“There were no secrets between us. I was not surprised at all when she told me how much I was going to get,” the maid recalled.

Full Story: Yahoo PH

Mandatory Pag-IBIG coverage for OFWs dropped

Adrian — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:05:01 +0000

The government’s savings and shelter financing agency has withdrawn its original plan to impose mandatory membership for overseas Filipino workers (OFW) as a requirement to process their employment papers, a Hong Kong-based group said Wednesday.

In a statement, the Hong Kong chapter of a women’s rights group said Pag-IBIG chief executive officer Jaime Fabiaña declared that they would not force OFWs to become members of Pag-IBIG, nor will it be made a requirement to process their documents.

Gabriela-HK chairperson Cynthia Abdon-Tellez said Fabiaña announced this in a forum with leaders of OFW organizations on February 1 at the Philippine Consulate General in the Chinese territory.

“It is a victory for the vigilant OFWs resisting schemes of government exaction. While the Arroyo government is bent on squeezing more income from our labor, we shall always be there to fight its schemes every step of the way,” Tellez said.

Full Story: GMA News

Who is Jacque Bermejo?

Adrian — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:14:09 +0000

i’ve just been reading about this OFW from Dubai who’s been getting a lot of hate with her insensitive comments on her facebook status coupled with her poor English grammar.

she writes: “buti n lng am hir in dubai! maybe so many sinners back der! so yeah deserving what happened!”

then replies: “cuz of u dnt understand!!!judge me sige!!! kya ala kayong asenso.even nature now is making statement big time!!!”

any idea who she is?

More OFWs register for 2010 polls–DFA

Adrian — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 01:46:41 +0000

MANILA, Philippines — Close to a thousand Filipinos working abroad registered on Thursday in various posts to allow them to vote in the May 2010 presidential election, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

There are now a total of 175,687 newly-registered Overseas Absentee Voters (OAV), up from Thursday’s figure of 174,815, the DFA said.

Those who will want to register have 17 days more before the August 31deadline set by the DFA.

The figure represents only 17.5 percent of the one million new registrants being targetted by the DFA.

Posts in the Asia and the Pacific had the highest number of OAV registrants with 49,804, followed by the Middle East with 33,361, the Americas with 31,808 and Europe with 19,153.

Full Story: Inquirer.net

Japanese man admits killing two Filipinas

Adrian — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:15:45 +0000

TOKYO (AFP) – – A Japanese man pleaded guilty Thursday to murdering two Philippine women and chopping up their bodies, media reports said.

“I admit to everything,” 49-year-old Hiroshi Nozaki was quoted as telling the Tokyo District court as charges were read over the murders of Elda Longakit Yoneda, 27, and Honiefaith Ratilla Kamiosawa, 22.

Both women, who had worked in Tokyo’s Roppongi nightlife district, were strangled to death inside apartments — Yoneda in the port city of Yokohama in 1999, and Kamiosawa in Tokyo in 2008.

Previous media reports have said Nozaki burned Yoneda’s body and flushed its parts down a toilet, and that he washed Kamiosawa’s body parts in a laundry machine before hiding them in a suitcase in a coin locker.

According to prosecutors Nozaki killed the two women after they rejected his advances, media reported.

Nozaki previously served three-and-a-half years in prison for dismembering the body of Yoneda. The victim’s cause of death was never established and he was convicted only of charges of destroying a body.

Nozaki was again arrested in April 2008 on suspicion of killing Kamiosawa, and police later issued a fresh arrest warrant over Yoneda’s murder.

Full Story: AFP/Yahoo PH

Afghanistan helicopter crash: 10 Pinoys killed

Adrian — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:44:35 +0000

MANILA, Philippines – The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) confirmed yesterday the death of 10 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in a helicopter crash at a key NATO airbase in southern Afghanistan on Sunday.

OWWA chief Carmelita Dimzon said they have received verified information that 10 Filipinos were among the 16 who died in the air tragedy.

Dimzon declined to release the names of the dead.

“They were legally deployed three or five years ago but they were unable to return since we imposed a ban in Afghanistan,” Dimzon said.

The Philippine government imposed a ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Afghanistan due to prevailing hostilities there.

Dimzon gave assurances that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), OWWA and other agencies concerned will work for the immediate repatriation of the bodies of the 10 OFWs once these have been recovered.

“They may already be considered undocumented because of the deployment ban, but we will be giving them all the necessary assistance for Filipino workers,” Dimzon said.

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque earlier said they were still verifying the reported deaths of OFWs in a helicopter crash.

Full Story: PhilStar/Yahoo PH

Remittances hit record high in May; growth still slow

Adrian — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:24:08 +0000

MANILA – Money sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFW) reached a record high in May, but the pace of growth is still slow as the world economy reels from the crisis. Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed that remittances grew 3.7% to $1.48 billion in May, the highest since March 2009. The latest figure brings the country’s total remittance inflows to $6.98 billion for the first 5 months of the year, a 2.8% growth from $6.79 billion reached in the same period in 2008. “The stream of remittances from overseas Filipinos continued to show signs of strength despite lingering global economic fragilities, providing some basis for cautious optimism regarding steady remittance levels for 2009,” BSP Governor Amando Tetangco said in a statement. The country’s major sources of remittances for the 5-month period were the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Italy, and Germany. The BSP attributed the rise in remittance inflows to the steady demand for professional and skilled workers and the expanded access of OFWs and their beneficiaries to a wide range of financial products and services offered by banks and other financial institutions. Aside from this, it would be noted that May is traditionally a strong month for remittances, as this is the month when parents pay the tuition fees of their children and other beneficiaries. The government continues to give assurances that jobs overseas remain available to absorb Filipinos looking for employment. Aside from hiring agreements it signed with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Australia, Japan, and South Korea, the government said it remains focused on job generation programs to help displaced workers find alternative jobs amid the economic downturn. Consumption

Full Story: ABS-CBN/Yahoo PH