Ban on OFW deployments to Kuwait
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello says the employers of slain Filipina worker Jeanelyn Villavende in Kuwait have been formally charged with murder.
Villavende was killed in Kuwait, barely six months after she flew to the Gulf nation. She was raped and beaten repeatedly during her stay.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello says the governing board of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has signed a resolution for total ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers to Kuwait.
The move came as tensions soared following the release of autopsy results from the National Bureau of Investigation which revealed that Jeanelyn Villavende was not only physically beaten but was also sexually abused.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has imposed a ban on the deployment of newly-hired Filipino workers to Kuwait.
It's official. POEA imposes deployment ban for newly-hred domestic helpers to Kuwait. @PhilippineStar pic.twitter.com/ZkwzM9jlz5
— sheila crisostomo (@shecrisostomo) January 3, 2020
The move came following the death of another Filipina worker in the Middle Eastern country. — via Sheila Crisostomo, The STAR
One of the employers of slain overseas Filipino worker Joanna Demafelis was found guilty of murder, the Department of Foreign Affairs says. Authorities discovered her dead body in a freezer in Kuwait last year.
"The DFA-Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers' Affairs reports that the Syrian District Criminal Court found Mouna Ali Hassoun, accused in the Joana Demafelis case, guilty of murder," the department’s statement read.
President Rodrigo Duterte cited her case as among the reason for banning the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait for a time.
Upon recommendation of Special Envoy to Kuwait Abdullah Mama-o, President Duterte has instructed Labor Secretary Bello to totally lift the ban on deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque says — via Christina Mendez, The STAR
President Rodrigo Duterte's threat to ban overseas Filipino worker deployment to Kuwait and asking those Filipinos already there to return home may raise some medium-term concerns over remittances, particularly given the balance of payments deficit ($1.1 billion in the last 12 months), strategists of Nomura Asia Insights say.
Remittances from Kuwait totaled $790 million, or 2.8% of the total, in the past 12 months.
READ: Philippines is 3rd top remittance receiving country in the world
It says, however, that there are signs that Philippines-Kuwait relations could improve and that even if
a ban or incentive to leave Kuwait is put in place, workers may still find work elsewhere.
President Rodrigo Duterte receives Kuwaiti Ambassador Saleh Ahmad Althwaikh in Davao City on Monday evening to discuss concerns of overseas Filipino workers and other sensitive issues between the Philippines and Kuwait, the Department of Foreign Affairs says in a statement Tuesday.
DFA says Ambassador Saleh reiterated Kuwait's commitment to protect and ensure the welfare of more than 250,000 OFWs working there. The Philippines, meanwhile, gave renewed assurances of the country's respect for Kuwait's sovereignty.
"We are optimistic that following our conversation with Ambassador Saleh early this evening, the remaining issues between the Philippines and Kuwait will be resolved," DFA says.
Kuwaiti police arrest two Filipinos for allegedly convincing housemaids to run away from their employers' homes, state-run KUNA news agency reports.
The arrest comes amid tense relations between Kuwait and the Philippines over abuses of Filipina domestic helpers working in the Gulf state.
Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Pedro Villa also faces questions as the Kuwaiti government summoned him over the embassy's work in aiding abused workers.
A viral video Thursday showed the Philippine rapid response team whisking an abused Filipina domestic helper away from her employer. The team locates abused Filipino domestic helpers who had requested to be rescued.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque says President Rodrigo Duterte might visit Kuwait if the Labor deployment can ensure that conditions on the treatment of OFWs there will be followed.
The conditions are: no confiscation of passport and will instead be deposited w/ Phl embassy; 7 hrs sleep, 1 day off, cook their own food, absolutely no physical abuse. DOLE moving to include these in employment contract | @alexisbromero
— Philstar.com (@PhilstarNews) April 4, 2018
The Bureau of Immigration clarifies that overseas Filipino workers returning to their jobs in Kuwait are unaffected by the government's deployment ban.
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