Gay Pinoy Spared from Deportation

LOS ANGELES--A gay Filipino man won a reprieve from deportation after a US federal appeals court reversed an immigration judge’s decision to deport him, reports Asian Journal. Judge Harry Pregerson of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on July 24 granted 37-year-old Dennis Quiambao Vitug’s petition to remain in the US, after finding that Vitug likely faces harassment and maltreatment in the Philippines because of his homosexuality and HIV-positive status. 

Floods Swamp Luzon

 Torrential rains dumped by the southwest monsoon enhanced by tropical storm “Maring” (international name Trami) has affected nearly 95,000 persons, reports Inquirer.net. Authorities said 94,226 persons or 19,981 families were affected by the weather disturbances.

HK Gov't Asked to Review Live-In Policy for Domestics

More than 30 organizations of migrant workers, employers, students and support groups joined forces to call on the Hong Kong government to review the mandatory live-in policy for foreign domestic helpers imposed in 2003, reports SunWeb.com. The call was issued in the wake of a raid in Discovery Bay, in which six Filipina domestic workers who were not living with their employers were arrested. Their employers are also being questioned. 

NY Pinay Ponzi Schemer Gets Jail Sentence

Dubbed by victims as the “Bernie Madoff of the Filipino Community,” convicted Ponzi schemer Razel Canedo was sentenced to 24 months in jail and 3 years supervised release thereafter, reports ABS-CBN News. Canedo was also ordered to pay $949,200  to the victims. Canedo admitted in court that between January 2003 and July 2008,  she told potential investors she was setting up a “nanny service and nursing agency business” that would help bring Filipino nurses from the Philippines to work in the US.

21 Pinoy Seamen Abandoned, Adrift Off Malta

Twenty-one Filipino seafarers aboard a cargo ship have been adrift off the port of Malta for months and are seeking compensation from Taiwanese employers alleged to have virtually abandoned them at sea with no fuel and limited food and water, reports Inquirer.net.

Ferry With 700 on Board Sinks Near Cebu

A ferry with nearly 700 people aboard sank near the central Philippine port of Cebu on Friday night after colliding with a cargo vessel, killing at least five people, reports CBS News. Hundreds of others were rescued. The captain of the ferry MV Thomas Aquinas ordered the ship abandoned after it began listing and then sank after hitting the cargo vessel,

PH Has Catholic Priest Shortage

The Philippines is in need of more priests to serve its growing Catholic population, reports Inquirer.net. Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, former head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said Monday that from 2011 to 2012, the Catholic Directory of the Philippines counted 8,605 priests serving roughly 70 million Filipino Catholics. Only 435 more priests added to the number in 2012 to 2013, bringing the total to 9, 040.

Accord to Include the Poor in PH Tourism Development

The Department of Tourism (DOT) has inked a partnership with the Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID)  for a program called The One-Step Project, which seeks to improve the lives of the poor with more direct interventions through tourism, reports the Department of Tourism. The One-Step Project will include the poor at the start of the development process and integrate communities.