Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines — Authorities raided a recruitment agency in Las Piñas City suspected to be a front for human trafficking and rescued 36 women on Friday night. The women were believed to be victims of human trafficking and illegal recruitment after five of their companions managed to report their plight to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit. Also arrested in the operation were a Singaporean national, a certain Yvonne Phua, and 13 Filipinos. Chief Inspector Elizabeth Jasmin, CIDG spokesperson, named some of the arrested alleged illegal recruiters as a Michael Abellar and his wife Joy, a certain Eric, Emma and Mandy. The CIDG, the local social welfare office and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration conducted the joint operation at the De Castro Building in Villa Eusebia, Barangay (village) E. Aldana, in Las Piñas City at around 8:30 p.m. Friday. Jasmin said the arrested suspects were affiliated with the PEM Maid Employment Agency, which turned out to be lacking the POEA authorization to hire and send workers to other countries. “We learned that they are not registered with the POEA to operate a recruitment or training facility,” the official said. Authorities came to know of the victims’ predicament when five women, who paid their way out, reported the firm’s alleged illegal activities. The women came from different parts of the country, Jasmin said. “The applicants also allegedly suffered some abuse since they were made to train beyond the prescribed number of hours. The firm offers training on baby sitting, care giving, Read More …

Associated Press 4:14 pm | Sunday, July 20th, 2014 In this Tuesday, July 15, 2014 photo, a Chinese man holds an umbrella while wading through a flooded street in Changsha in south China’s Hunan province. AP BEIJING — The strongest typhoon to hit southern China in four decades has killed 18 people, the government said Sunday, while in the Philippines the death toll from the storm’s earlier destruction rose to 94. Typhoon Rammasun killed nine people and left five missing after hitting Hainan island on Friday off China’s southern coast, the civil affairs ministry said in a statement. Nine others died later in the Guangxi region as the storm plowed into the mainland on its way north to Vietnam. The typhoon is the strongest to hit southern China in 41 years, according to the China Meteorological Administration. Wind speeds reached 216 kilometers (130 miles) per hour, with the storm knocking down power lines and damaging buildings, Xinhua said. Authorities in southern China ordered the highest level of alert and suspended hundreds of buses, trains and flights across the region. The typhoon had wreaked havoc earlier in the week in the northern Philippines, leaving 94 people dead. RELATED STORIES China girds for Typhoon Rammasun Lightning, floods leave 20 dead in rain-hit China Glenda death toll jumps to 94 Follow Us Other Stories: CA orders BI to deport British cannabis seed trader straight to UK Mandatory evacuation for Filipinos in Libya ordered ‘World’s worst airport’ spills its juices How to keep music Read More …

In this Feb. 13, 2013 file photo, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, immigration rights activist and self-declared undocumented immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on comprehensive immigration reform. AP McALLEN, Texas — Prominent Phillipines-born immigration activist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who has lived and worked in the U.S. for years without legal documentation, was detained Tuesday by U.S. Border Patrol agents at a South Texas airport. Border Patrol spokesman Omar Zamora said Vargas was in custody, but he had no other details about the case. Vargas had been in McAllen, a city along the Mexico border, for several days as part of a vigil drawing attention to the plight of unaccompanied immigrant children and families coming into the U.S. illegally. At the city’s airport, near the border, Border Patrol agents stand beside Transportation Security Administration agents to check documentation, even for domestic flights. On Tuesday morning, Vargas tweeted: “About to go thru security at McAllen Airport. I don’t know what’s going to happen.” His spokeswoman, Maria Cruz Lee, declined immediate comment. She said a statement would be issued later in the day. The security situation at the McAllen airport — and elsewhere in the city — is familiar to the thousands of people living illegally in the U.S. along the Texas-Mexico border. Along highways out of the city, drivers are stopped at Border Patrol checkpoints about an hour’s drive north of the border. And it’s not uncommon for children who entered Read More …

OFWs from Libya INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines–Only 515 of the more than 13,120 overseas Filipino workers in Libya, or nearly 4 percent, have availed themselves of the government’s voluntary repatriation program, prompting the Department of Labor and Employment and its attached agency, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, to appeal again to the OFWs in the strife-torn North African country to return home. The Philippine nationals’ loved ones here “will be most happy to see them back,” Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz had earlier said. Baldoz urged the OFWs to get in touch with the Philippine Embassy and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (Polo) in Tripoli to “use the services of Owwa’s 24/7 operations center” and sign up for the free repatriation. Aid to repatriates The embassy and the Polo’s address is Km. 7, Gargaresh Road, Abu Nawas district. Their telephone numbers are (00218) 918-244208 and (00218) 911-061166. Baldoz directed Owwa Administrator Rebecca Calzado and Violeta Muñoz, director of the National Reintegration Center for OFWs, to “see to it that the repatriates’ plans after coming home are identified so the DOLE can focus on the assistance to be given them.” A number of repatriates have reportedly expressed a preference for availing of the agency’s livelihood assistance program, while others had sought help with overseas job referrals. The latest group of Filipino workers from Libya, composed of 27 OFWs, arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on July 9 on Etihad Airways from the Middle East. At the Naia, they were met Read More …

By Tetch Torres-Tupas |INQUIRER.net 6:20 pm | Monday, July 7th, 2014 AFP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—A commanding officer of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Monday pleaded not guilty to the crime of homicide for the death of a Taiwanese fisherman in Balintang Channel in May last year. PCG Commanding Officer Arnold Enriquez dela Cruz pleaded not guilty to the killing of fisherman Hung Shih-cheng at the Batanes Regional Trial Court Branch 13. The court has set the preliminary conference of De la Cruz’s case on September 1 and 2 while his pre-trial has been scheduled to October 6 and 7, according to Asst. State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera. The court, however, deferred the arraignment of Cruz’ co-accused Seamen 1st Class (SN1) Edrando Aguila, Mhelvin Bendo II, Andy Golfo, Sunny Masangcay and Henry Solomon; SN2 Nicky Aurello; and Petty Officer 2 Richard Fernandez Corpuz due to their pending petition for review at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and a petition for a change of venue before the Supreme Court. Atty. Rodrigo Moreno said under the rules, there is an automatic suspension of the proceedings for 60 days if there is a pending motion. Last year, the PCG personnel were on board a vessel of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, patrolling off the coast of Balintang island when they intercepted the Taiwanese fishing vessel allegedly poaching. After a brief sea chase, they fired at the fishing vessel, killing the Taiwanese fisherman. The incident sparked tension between the Philippines and Taiwan. RELATED STORIES Read More …