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AFTER living in this country for just five years, a talented teacher from the Philippines has gained a degree which will allow her to work in UK primary schools. Prescila Henry, 40, has more-than 10 years of experience as a head teacher in Ilocos Sur Province where she was in charge of 200 pupils and nine staff. But now she is primed for use her skills in the Gwent area. Mrs Henry moved to Newport to be with her now husband, Lyndon Henry, 53, of Colston Court after meeting through her cousin.

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An Overseas-Filipino worker (OFW) in Singapore was commended for returning a wallet containing S$16,600 ($11,000) left behind in the comfort room of a mall in the city-state, an embassy report said yesterday. Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Belen Fule-Anota personally met and commended Marites Perez Galam, a Filipina head waitress at the Imperial Herbal Restaurant, who returned the wallet left behind last Sept. 15. Galam, a mother of four, found the wallet in a common toilet near the restaurant inside VivoCity mall. The wallet’s owner, an Indonesian woman, claimed it less than two hours later. She said she and her husband had saved the money for the medical treatment of their son, who urgently needs ear surgery. Galam said the Indonesian lady and her family thanked her profusely and even offered to reward her, but she refused to accept any reward.

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A MARKET researcher in Scotland who fought off a serial sex attacker in his home has spoken of her relief after he was jailed for a minimum of 12 years. Josephine Bagasina, 33, was lured into Gordon Melrose's house as she carried out her rounds. The Filipino mother of two feared she would not make it out alive when Melrose, 60, pinned her to the ground and produced a knife.

And now, here are the bad and sad news. . .

An 18-year-old Filipino waitress in Dubai is finally getting legal help from the Philippine government one month after she was allegedly raped by a Tunisian on August 13. The Tunisian known only as Wahid, her supervisor in a French  restaurant was also taken to police custody but his lawyer claimed he was Rowena’s boyfriend, giving the police reason to charge her with carrying on an illicit relationship. Rowena appeared in court without a lawyer or interpreter, according to her Filipino friend and co-worker who identified herself as Olga. She remains in detention at the Bur Dubai Police Station.

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CHICAGO (CBS) A Filipina woman is suing the H&M Store on the Magnificent Mile on allegations of harassment. Frannie Richards said in her lawsuit that during a recent shopping trip to the H&M store, located at 840 N. Michigan Ave., employees called her a "mail-order bride" and made fun of her ability to understand English. The Asian-American Institute also filed a complaint with the Chicago Commission on Human Relations. H&M has not responded to the allegations.

Editor’s Note: The complete details, including a photo of Ms. Frannie Richards, are found in a report by Filipino-American journalist Joseph G. Lariosa at this link http://www.mabuhayradio.com/content/view/606/90/

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A Malaysian employer was sentenced to four months in a Singapore jail for slapping and hitting her Filipino maid with a pair of scissors when noise roused her from sleep, news reports said Saturday. Maid Aurey Dayag Fernandez, 25, was also struck repeatedly with a plastic hanger and kicked. The court was told that Irene Aw Ai Haw, the employer, was awakened early by the maid's noise on Feb. 26, 2006, leaving her so angry that she told the woman to slap herself, The Straits Times said. When Fernandez did so lightly, Aw dealt a hard slap across her cheeks and hit her arms with the scissors. Later, she hit Fernandez with a plastic hanger and then picked up a watch case and continued raining blows on the maid, the report said. When Aw went out, Fernandez called the police.

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Dubai - A 36-year-old Filipina shop supervisor was sentenced yesterday to six months in prison on charges of breach of trust. Dubai Court of First Instance also ordered her to pay back dhs270,948 – the amount she stole in fuel sales and items sold in the shop at a petrol station in Dubai. She will be deported after serving her sentence.

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The Kuwait appeals court on Wednesday upheld a death sentence against a Philippine housemaid for killing her employer's seven-year-old son by slitting his throat, a legal source said. May Membrini, as the name was shown in court documents, was convicted of killing the boy last January, as well as slitting his 11-year-old brother's throat and stabbing his 17-year-old sister.

The Kuwait appeals court affirmed on Wednesday the death sentence on May Membrini, a 25-year-old Filipina domestic helper, for killing her employers’ seven-year-old son in January. Membrini has been in Kuwait for only six months when she allegedly quarreled with her employers. The criminal court found her guilty of slitting the throat of seven-year-old Salem al-Otaibi with a kitchen knife. Membrini had also attempted to murder the boy's brother, Abdullah, 11, by slitting his throat, and sister, Hajar, 18, by stabbing her.

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Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung, one of Chinese pop's biggest acts, has been barred by Filipino officials from hiring any more maids from the Philippines after he fired too many them in recent years, a newspaper reported. The report said only a few of the 21 maids Cheung hired over three years completed their two-year contracts. The newspaper said Cheung's wife, former actress May Lo, met with Consul General Alejandrino Vicente but failed to appeal the blacklisting, which prevents the Cheung household from renewing the contracts of their current four Filipino maids when their contracts expire.

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EL PASO, Texas -- Judge Kathleen Cardone of the United District Court of Western District of Texas in El Paso set the new trial of three Filipino recruiters on Jan. 4, 2008. The accused are held for allegedly bringing hundreds of Filipino teachers into the United States even if most of them have no job employments waiting for them. Named in the 26-page "second superceding indictment" were OMNI Consortium, Multicultural Professionals, Multicultural Education Consultants Noel Cedro Tolentino, his wife Angelica Tolentino, and his mother, Florita Tolentino. They were charged with 19 counts of conspiracy including Government/Visa Fraud, Visa Fraud, Destruction of Records, Misprison of a Felony, Money Laundering, and Notice of Forfeiture of "$2.7-million personal money judgment" and other properties.

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Dubai - Two Filipina waitresses, aged 30 and 18, have filed a case against a Turkish mechanic and a Tunisian waiter, respectively, for two separate alleged rape attacks which took place between July and August this year. Both cases, which are already with the Dubai Public Prosecution, have not yet been referred to the courts for trial. The foreign affairs department in Manila has already approved the legal assistance funds for the alleged victims, and both will be provided with lawyers here, said Rafael Palencia, a consulate officer in Dubai.

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A FILIPINA mother, who had to raise her baby in prison, will leave Bahrain for her country soon. Her sponsor had filed a case against her because she owed BD400 in medical bills and other expenses. She was arrested soon after she gave birth and held at the women's detention centre, Hidd. The baby's father is allegedly in the Philippines and was possibly unaware of the situation of his child or the mother. The Philippines Embassy intervened after hearing about the case and negotiated the departure of the mother and child with police.

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Marites (last name not provided) from Mindoro was given a 6-week prison term by a Hong Kong court because a HK$20 bill (about 2.5US$ or 110 Pesos) was found in her wallet. The HK$ bill (together with another HK$20) was photographed and put in an open place in her employer's home. The other bill was not accounted for. Marites' defense lawyer argued that the employer planted the marked money in order to terminate their employment contract without cost to her. The argument was that it can't be proven that it was Marites herself who put the money in her wallet and it is quite possible that the employer really put it there herself.

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An Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) in Malaysia expressed gratitude to the Philippine Embassy for taking care of her during her pregnancy until she gave birth to a healthy baby boy at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital last 24 September. Prior to the delivery, she was under the Embassy’s custody for the past eighteen (18) days. The OFW came to Malaysia as a tourist in October 2005. She told the Embassy that she worked as a singer at various clubs in Johor Bahru, which borders Singapore, until 07 May 2007, when her pregnancy started to become obvious. She initially stayed at a house of a friend until August 2007, when she approached the Johor Overseas Filipino Association (JOFA), a Filipino community organization in Johor Bahru. The group brought her to the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. The OFW claimed that her passport was taken by her agent, who is a foreign national and who had left Malaysia for good.

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Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo has ordered the Philippine Consulate in Toronto, Canada, to exhaust all efforts and cooperation with the host country's law enforcers in tracking down the suspected killer of 27-year-old Overseas-Filipina worker, who was found dead last Oct. 1, 2007. The victim, identified as Jocelyn Dulnuan,an unprocessed overseas worker from Ifugao, was reportedly found dead around 5 a.m. at the basement of her employer's residence in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

Meanwhile, Ifugaos Overseas have launched a fund drive to raise $15,000 to bring home the body of a 27-year-old-Filipino maid who was found murdered in a Canadian suburb this week. Canadian newspaper accounts about the October 1 death of Jocelyn Dulnuan of who hails from Barangay (village) Namuldita, Hingyon town, Ifugao Province, had been sketchy, except to state that her body was discovered by her Mississauga City employer and that the police have confirmed she "died from foul play." Anthony Basil, Cordillera case officer of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), said Dulnuan's case had been forwarded to Foreign-Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Cornejos, who handles the Department of Foreign Affairs' migrant workers affairs desk.

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Twenty-nine-year-old Saida Guiambrang, who was hospitalized in Dubai , United Arab Emirates (UAE) after a desperate escape from her abusive employer. Guimbrang severely injured her left foot when she jumped from the three-storey apartment of her Moroccan employer in Deira, Dubai, last year, just to escape from abuse she said she could no longer take. She arrived in Manila last August 23 and had already filed a complaint against her employment agency, Bridgewood Human Resources Corporation, located in Malate, Manila . She is undergoing continuous treatment at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH).

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The rapid increase in abandonment and disintegration of families of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the Cordillera during a one-year period is greatly contributing to social problems. This was reported by Manuela Peña, regional director of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in the Cordillera, who disclosed that three of 10 members of families of OFWs seeking assistance from their office are complaining of disintegration of their families. It was learned that the complaints of the family members of OFWs included non-remittance, non-communication to spouse, and eventual disappearance and abandonment. # # #