(abs-cbn news) - Filipinos in the United Kingdom and Philippine-based workers eyeing a job overseas were warned Sunday of a spurious hotel ostensibly operating in the UK allegedly offering jobs as receptionists, cashiers, waiters and waitresses in London.
"We strongly forewarn unwary [overseas Filipino workers] and would-be OFWs, as well as the legitimate OFW recruitment industry in the Philippines against being enticed and victimized by this and similar scams currently proliferating in the World Wide Web," the Department of Labor and Employment said Sunday.
DOLE Secretary Arturo Brion cited a report of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in London identifying the spurious hotel as one "Crystal Spring Hotel UK," which had earlier sent an e-mail to a licensed recruitment agency in the Philippines on its offer to become a "prospective employer" of OFWs.
Labor attaché Jainal Rasul, Jr., however, said that upon examination by the POLO, the scanned documents of the "hotel," including its certificate of registration, special power of attorney and demand letter, indicated a "patent scam" to dupe OFWs and the legitimate recruitment industry.
Rasul based the conclusion on the following evidence:
- The stamps appearing on the documents purportedly bearing the seals of the POLO and the Philippine embassy in London are all fake, including the scanned signature of the Ambassador, who does not authenticate verification documents at all;
- The "hotel," in its demand letter, requires positions such as receptionists, cashiers, waiters and waitresses, which are not open to non-European Union workers;
- The purported certificate of registration of Crystal Springs Hotel appears like a World War II Veterans' Certificate bearing the superimposed logos of Scotland, Kirkwall, and the UK.
(bbc news) - A gunman has attacked a Philippine army base on the island of Jolo, killing nine soldiers and a civilian.
Officials said they were unsure whether the gunman was a soldier or was the civilian found among the dead. The unidentified attacker opened fire inside the base during a power cut, one report said.
Thousands of Philippine soldiers are based on Jolo, where they are fighting a Muslim rebel group, Abu Sayyaf, which has been linked to al-Qaeda. Officials investigating the army base attack could not say whether there was any link to the group.
Abu Sayyaf is the smallest of four Muslim rebel groups in the Philippines, with about 400 members. The island of Jolo is some 950km (600 miles) south of the Philippine capital, Manila.
(gulfnews.com) - A lawmaker is calling on the government to review the measures it has instituted to protect Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW), while pointing out that current laws may not be enough to ensure the safety of the migrant labour.
Judy Syjuco, who represents the 2nd district of central Philippines, Iloilo province, in Congress, pointed out that despite the seemingly strict rules prescribed in the government migrant worker safety net, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) abuses against OFWs still persists.
She said one of the reasons why abuses still persists, despite efforts by the government to provide protection to OFWs, is because those who perpetrated the abuses have not been made to account for their actions. According to Syjuco, it is the OWWA that prescribes rules and regulations that govern the recruitment process of Filipino migrant labour. But "in many cases, those responsible for the mistreatment, maltreatment, abuse and death of these workers, including those who participate in their recruitment, are not taken to legal account because responsibility for such cases is difficult to place under prevailing procedures"... full story here
(khaleej times online, Reuters) - School is out for Filipino children this summer and a large proportion of them won’t be coming back.
Dropout rates are climbing in the Philippines as years of underfunding and rapid population growth have left the country’s public schools — once the pride of the region — with insufficient teachers, classrooms and textbooks to go round.
The poor are most at risk, creating a vicious cycle of impoverishment that two men armed with a submachine gun, a revolver and two grenades decided to highlight last week by holding dozens of children in Manila hostage.
Although Filipinos abhorred the actions of Jun Ducat and his accomplice, the businessman’s impassioned condemnation of corruption and inequality in education, aired live on TV, struck a chord... full story here
(gulf-news.com) - Dubai: Maria (not her real name) has to shower with three other women every morning to get to work on time since only two bathrooms are available for herself and her 14 colleagues in a two-bedroom company apartment.
Fifteen female employees of Ramez Trading, which runs supermarkets, share the Sharjah apartment, assigning eight and seven people per room respectively. Sleeping on bunk beds, the women have little personal space.
"We're lucky for having different shifts, some starting at 9am and others at 10am. Otherwise seven or eight of us would be showering at the same time," laughed Maria, a Filipina who makes Dh1,300 a month... full details here
(The Daily Citizen) - “He spent four days at the Cow Palace Arena in San Francisco waiting to be shipped overseas to the South Pacific, the Fiji Islands and the Philippines,” Poe said. “It took 15 days to get to the Fiji Islands. There was only their ship and one other older ship, and they ran off and left it because it couldn’t keep up.” ...full story here
(cbs sportsline.com) - AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- The Philippines clinched their Asia Oceania Group Two Davis Cup tennis match against New Zealand when Cecil Mamiit and Eric Taino beat Dan King-Turner and Simon Rea in four sets in Saturday's doubles.
Mamiit and Taino won 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 in a match played on synthetic grass at the Parnell Tennis Club. The Philippines won both opening singles Friday.
(chinadaily.com & AP) - MANILA, Philippines -- A fire swept through a Manila slum Saturday morning, destroying hundreds of homes and leaving about 1,200 families homeless, a fire official said.
Two people were slightly injured as the fire gutted houses, many made of lightweight plywood, in Mandaluyong city, said Avelino Caya, chief of the arson division of the Mandaluyong fire department.
He said about 400 houses shared by about 1,200 families were destroyed in the pre-dawn blaze, which raged for about five hours before it was brought under control around 8 a.m. (0000 GMT).
Caya said the cause has not yet been determined. Witnesses told investigators the fire started in a house somewhere in the middle of the slum community.
Caya said firefighters had difficulty reaching the area partly because the alleys and narrow streets had been clogged by residents fleeing with their belongings... full story here
It's up to you. There are several reasons you should. ...full details here
(pqbnews.com) - Filipinos with access to the Internet are among the people most aware of global warming, according to a November AC Nielsen survey. Ninety-four per cent of respondents there say they’ve heard or read about global warming compared to only 13 per cent in the United States. The results are significant given that island nations are likely to bear the brunt of predicted rising sea levels.
