To Kuwait, let's send skilled OFWs, not maids
During the inauguration of the Overseas Filipino Workers Bank last Thursday, the president made an off-the-cuff comment that he is thinking of a ban for all OFWs to Kuwait. Secretary Bebot Bello of DOLE forthwith reportedly issued an instruction to POEA to implement it. Well, we cannot blame our president for saying that. I lived in Kuwait for three years as a diplomat who took care of our migrant workers there. I have personal knowledge of the atrocities, the physical, psychological, and economic abuses being inflicted on our OFWs. I have seen with my own eyes victims of physical and sexual abuse, and I took care of an average of 300 runaway maids at any given time. The number would rise to six to 700 during certain times of the year.
But we hasten to interject a caveat, in fairness to all concerned, that there are more than 200,000 OFWs in that tiny but very rich Gulf state. A good number of Filipinos have very good jobs in Kuwait. They are in the hospitals as doctors, nurses, dentists, medical technologists, radiologists, and other medical service providers. They are in the hotels and restaurants as cooks, waiters, cashiers, roomboys and girls, laundry attendants, front desks receptionists, and even HR and Finance managers and specialists. One very active Filipino community leader is Dr. Chie Umandap from Makati, who is working as a dental professional in the Kuwait Health Ministry. He is a Bagong Bayani presidential awardee, and is the best witness to facts on the ground.
Another witness is Maxxy Santiago who is the official news correspondent of ABS-CBN in the Middle East. She can testify most of the Filipinos are okay, earn well, and are being treated fairly. I have a very close friend Madam Fathma (her Muslim name) who graduated from Abellana and SWU and is from Moalboal. She is married to a Kuwaiti and may be the richest and most successful Filipino businesswoman there. She is into real estate, jewelry, beauty products, and financing. There are a number of Filipinas married to men from Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Syria, India, Sri Lanka, and Saudi Arabia. It is not a good decision to order a total ban.
But when it comes to domestic helpers, yes, I do agree that we should stop sending them to Kuwait and to all other countries with history of abuses against domestics. In fact, on the long term, we should totally ban sending these kinds of workers anywhere. Our women are far too overqualified to be condemned to work as virtual slaves for long hours, even reaching 17 hours a day especially during Ramadan. The work of a domestic, even if we call them household service workers (ostensibly to camouflage this dirty, difficult, dangerous, degrading, and deceptive job) is the kind of labor the Labor attaché and the ambassador cannot fully protect. Why? Because they are inside the private domains of Kuwaitis and other rich masters. Embassy officials cannot just barge into these residences even if the maids inside are suffering.
I know what I am writing about. I was there. I have personal knowledge and I am willing to testify to affirm all the pains that I know.
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