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Greed led to victim's tragic fate
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Dec 28, 2006 8:00 am
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by Arab Times News...
Recruitment agency blamed for sending underaged 'Ana' to Kuwait
KUWAIT CITY,: The Manila-based recruitment agency responsible for sending a minor to Kuwait where she was later gang- by 17 men after she ran away from her employer is facing criminal charges.
This was gathered in an interview with a Philippine daily, by an official of the Philippine Foreign Office who said that the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait had recommended the agency's closure pending legal action against its owners.
Acting Foreign Affairs spokesman Eduardo Malaya reportedly said "the victim was only 17 when she went to Kuwait. As to how she got a working visa, we don't know," he said adding, the placement agency will be held liable and made to answer for their seeming indifference and greed that resulted in the victim's tragic fate.
Now 18, the Filipina, who hails from Mindanao and came to work in Kuwait as a domestic helper in September 2005, is presently under the care of the Philippine Embassy in Jabriya area in Kuwait.
The girl, Ana (not her real name), was abducted at around 8 pm on Dec 14 after she ran away from her employer.
She was brought to at least three desert camps and by 17 men, two of whom reportedly took pity on her and brought her to the Philippine Embassy after her horrifying ordeal.
Police have since arrested 15 suspects, one reportedly an Iraqi and the rest Kuwaitis, after embassy officials accompanied the complainant to a police station in Mubarak Al-Kabeer district to file a complaint.
Malaya reportedly said that the case is now being investigated by Kuwaiti prosecutors and the Philippine government has hired a Kuwaiti lawyer to help prosecute the suspects.
He confirmed that the Filipina had indeed escaped from her Kuwait employer, but said they had no information if she was being mistreated, as she alleged.
Kuwaiti media reports quoted the victim as saying her employer had not been paying her monthly salary for some time.
The victim reportedly did not immediately disclose that she was , on reaching the Philippine Embassy, apparently out of shame-filing, instead, a complaint of non-payment of her salary and maltreatment, by her employer.
Only last month, another Filipina, also 17 years old, was gang- by Bangladeshi nationals after reportedly being lured by a fellow Filipina who promised her a supposedly better paying job.
Said Filipina, who comes from North Cotabato also in Mindanao, admitted to Philippine Embassy officials that she faked her age when she first arrived in Kuwait also in September 2005.
She reportedly ran away from her Kuwaiti employer on Oct 25 and was told to take a cab driven by a Bangladeshi that was waiting to fetch her, and was brought to an apartment in Kheitan where she was by the said driver and then passed on to other Bangladeshis.
The girl reportedly jumped from the fourth floor apartment where she was being held, to escape and sustained injuries to her neck and spinal column as a result. She was later rescued and taken to a hospital.
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Eid Mubarak
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Dec 28, 2006 12:06 am
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So i say Eid Mubarak and have a great time!
Eid is a fun day and surely it is divine.
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A cold, cold Eid
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Dec 27, 2006 11:49 pm
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The weather during the Eid holidays will be cold and temperatures will fall to 4*C,  especially on the first day of the New Year. Ibraheem said temperatures wouldn't fall below zero  and that a cold and fast northwest wind of up to 45 kilometres per hour can be expected. HE advised all to wear heavy winter clothes, especially the elderly and children.
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very pinoy things
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Dec 23, 2006 7:32 am
198 Views
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Merienda. Where else but in the Philippinesis it normal to eat five times a day?
Sawsawan. Assorted sauces that guarantee freedom of choice, enough room for experimentation and maximum tolerance for diverse tastes. Favorites: toyo't calamansi, suka at sili, patis.
Kuwan (Kwan), ano. At a loss for words? Try these and marvel at how Pinoys understand exactly what you want.
Po, opo, mano po. Speech suffixes that define courtesy, deference, filial respect--a balm to the spirit in these aggressive times.
Pasalubong. Our way of sharing the vicarious thrills and delights of a trip, and a wonderful excuse to shop without the customary guilt.
Bagoong. Darkly mysterious, this smelly fish or shrimp paste typifies the underlying theme of most ethnic foods: disgustingly unhygienic, unbearably stinky and simply irresistible.
The Balikbayan box. Another way of sharing life's bounty, no matter if it seems like we're fleeing Pol Pot everytime we head home from anywhere in the globe. The most wonderful part is that, more often than not, the contents are carted home to be distributed.
Pinoy greens. Sitaw. Okra. Ampalaya. Gabi. Munggo. Dahon ng Sili. Kangkong. Luya. Talong. Sigarillas. Bataw. Patani. Lutong bahay will never be the same without them.
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promising $50,000 to dress up Jesus' traditional
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Dec 22, 2006 10:36 pm
204 Views
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Hamas wants to celebrate Christmas
Today's topic: Bethlehem
By Diaa Hadid
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BETHLEHEM, West Bank - Muslim militants might be in charge, but that doesn't mean there won't be Christmas this year.
The cash-strapped Hamas government is promising $50,000 to dress up Jesus' traditional birthplace for the holiday, more than twice the amount spent in previous years.
Yet even the extra cash -- if Hamas pays up -- might not be enough to bring Christmas cheer to Bethlehem, hit hard by the last six years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. The biblical town is now walled in by Israel's West Bank separation barrier, poverty is deepening, and Christians are leaving in droves.
Palestinian Tourism Minister Joudeh Morkos has modest expectations.
Last year, only about 2,500 foreign visitors came on Christmas, but he's counting on the usual busloads of Christians from Arab towns in Israel to boost turnout. Before the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in 2000, Bethlehem drew more than 90,000 pilgrims a month.
With just two weeks until Christmas, Bethlehem is only sparsely decorated. Bethlehem Mayor Victor Batarseh, a churchgoing Catholic from a leftist party, said he will not decorate until he has the money in hand.
Merchants say six years of economic hardship, including Israeli travel bans, have been compounded by an international economic boycott of the government imposed 10 months ago when Hamas came to power. The militant group has struggled to pay salaries to 165,000 public servants, who are the backbone of the economy.
The economic squeeze has driven away growing numbers of Christians, already a minority of 35 percent in this town of 30,000.
Mike Salman, a Bethlehem resident and amateur chronicler of Christian affairs, said about 20 percent of the town's 1,000 Catholic families have left in the past six years. A 2004 U.N. report estimated about 10 percent of Christians had left.
"I used to tell the children of all the wonderful things that happen here at Christmas, how everybody comes to town, the family visits," said Amal Bandak, 39, a Christian who emigrated from Chile with her family of five. "But last Christmas, they went to sleep weeping. They said it was the saddest Christmas they ever had," she said.
The acting finance minister, Samir Abu Eisha, said he will write the $50,000 check in the coming days.
"We don't fund any Islamic celebrations, but we want to fund this Christian festival, which is a special part of Bethlehem," said Abu Eisha. "We hope our Christian brothers have a happy celebration. They are an integral part of Palestinian society."
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Christmas in Bethlehem
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Dec 22, 2006 10:23 pm
212 Views
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In Bethlehem the town where Jesus is said to have been born is the site of the Church of the Nativity, which is ablaze with flags and decorations on every Christmas. On Christmas Eve natives and visitors alike crowd the church's doorways and stand on the roof to watch for the dramatic annual procession. The procession solemnly enters the doors and places an ancient effigy of the Holy Child in the Church. Deep winding stairs lead to a grotto where visitors find a silver star marking the site of the birth of Jesus.
Christian homes in Bethlehem are marked by a cross painted over the door and each home displays a homemade manger scene. A star is set up on a pole in the village square.
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