Ban lifted on deployment to Kuwait of skilled workers

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang yesterday lifted the total deployment ban on skilled workers to Kuwait after the Philippines and the Gulf state signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to protect Filipino workers.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the two countries have agreed to move on from their row, which intensified after Philippine embassy staff rescued Filipino workers from their abusive employers.

“There was a declaration from the two countries that they will end their bickering and we will move on. The first step in moving on is the MOA. The relationship between the Philippines and Kuwait is back to normal,” Roque said in a press briefing in Pasay last Saturday.

Both Philippines and Kuwait signed Friday an agreement that seeks to provide legal protection to and improve the working conditions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Kuwait. Under the agreement, the two countries will work together to uphold ethical recruitment policies, systems and procedures for the recruitment and employment of domestic workers subject to their laws and regulations.

The labor deal also requires employers to provide food, housing and clothing to their workers and to register domestic workers in Kuwait’s health insurance program.

Workers are also entitled to receive a one-month salary for every year of service rendered after their contract expires. The two countries shall also take legal measures against erring employers, domestic workers and recruitment agencies, provide a mechanism of inspection and monitoring of the level of care offered to domestic workers.

The MOA also requires Kuwait to ensure that the employer will not keep the domestic worker’s passport and will allow workers to have cellular phones and other means to communicate with their families; to facilitate the repatriation of domestic workers upon contract completion or labor contract violation, and to strictly enforce the agreed wage in the contract.

“We now have safeguards that will take care of our countrymen working in Kuwait,” Roque said.

Last February, President Duterte banned the sending of workers to Kuwait following the death of eight Filipinos who were allegedly abused by their employers. Officials have said the ban would not be lifted until an agreement protecting Filipino workers is signed.

A diplomatic row ensued last month after videos showing Philippine embassy staff rescuing Filipinos from their employers surfaced in social networking sites. The rescue prompted the Kuwaiti government to expel ambassador Pedro Villa and to declare him persona non grata.

Partial ban

Roque announced the lifting of the deployment ban for skilled and semi-skilled workers to Kuwait, a move that he said would be the next step in the normalization of diplomatic ties with Kuwait.

He said the Philippines is considering lifting the deployment ban on domestic workers and that presidential adviser on OFW and Muslims Concerns Abdullah Mama-o will make a recommendation to Duterte.

The labor department, he added, would also implement reforms on the recruitment of domestic workers before the ban is lifted, including the holding of mandatory training to be shouldered by recruiters, who are earning from the recruitment fees paid by Kuwaiti employers.

There are about 260,000 Filipino workers in Kuwait.

The adoption of a new MOA between Manila and Kuwait “offers far greater protection to Filipino domestic workers” than the memorandum of understanding, said party-list Rep. Aniceto John Bertiz of ACTS-OFW.

“Our sense is, the Kuwaiti government signed the better deal on account of President Duterte’s tough and uncompromising stance in safeguarding the rights and welfare of our domestic workers,” Bertiz added.

He pointed out that the Kuwaiti government agreed in the MOA to “take legal measures against erring employers” and to “provide legal assistance” to domestic workers concerning labor contract violations by employers.

The Kuwaiti government, he added, also agreed to “provide a mechanism of inspection and monitoring of the level of care offered to domestic workers through official authorities in Kuwait.”

Bertiz said this is aside from agreeing to “establish a mechanism, which shall provide 24-hour assistance to domestic workers” and to “ensure that aggrieved workers shall have access to the services” of the emirate’s Department of Domestic Labor.

Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo made the same observation, saying the MOA “gave vindication to the tough actions of President Duterte to insist on the security of overseas Filipino workers.”

Castelo, vice-chairman of the House committee for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), believes that the agreement will become the best shield of some 252,000 OFWs in the Gulf state and signals the return to normal of the relations of both countries.

The agreement was signed after a tumultuous chain of events triggered by the discovery of the gruesome killing of domestic helper Joanna Demafelis whose body was placed inside a refrigerator by her employers in Kuwait.

Duterte earlier ordered a permanent total ban on the deployment of OFWs in the Gulf state while telling the rest of Filipinos working there to head home, calling on their sense of patriotism.

The tough stance which his spokesman Roque later explained as a mere suspension of the deployment of OFWs, nonetheless, showed Duterte’s commitment to provide assistance to Filipinos facing abuse abroad.

Castelo said the particular provision of the MOA that provides for a hotline between Kuwait and the Philippines regarding the OFWs’ welfare assures them of an unprecedented level of protection.

He encouraged the departments of Foreign Affairs and of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to continue the push for the signing of similar agreements in countries where there are heavy concentration of OFWs.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Roque arrived late Saturday along with 87 OFWs who wanted to return to the country. At least 644 more are to be repatriated while 62 others wait on the settlement of various cases, Bello said.

Local recruiters are readying to resume the deployment of OFWs to Kuwait following the signing of the agreement providing protection for Filipino migrants.

DOLE is set to require the recruitment agencies to put up their own training centers and to limit the age of those that will be deployed to at least 23 years. – With Delon Porcalla, Mayen Jaymalin, Rudy Santos