Grateful Duterte to take commercial flight to Kuwait

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte will fly to Kuwait in the next few weeks to personally express his gratitude to the Kuwaiti government for acceding to his call for the protection of Filipino workers.

“In the Middle East, there are thousands of Filipinos there. We already had an agreement and, well, of course, I’d like to thank the state of Kuwait. They have given all that I have asked for,” Duterte said partly in Filipino during the oath taking of newly elected barangay officials in Region 4-A last Thursday. “I was believing that the (crisis) will be prolonged because I cursed, I really have a bad mouth.” 

Duterte said he is thankful that the government of Kuwait heard his appeal to prioritize the safety of Filipino workers after seeing a pattern of abuse by some employers. 

He attributed the backchannel efforts of his team, led by special envoy Abdullah Mama-o, which resulted in the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two countries. 

The agreement ended a two-month crisis that prompted Duterte to suspend the sending of workers to Kuwait last January after the death of Filipina Joanna Demafelis, whose body was found in a freezer. 

“And now we are back. So, all of the things that I demanded were given to us. One day off. They can cook their own food. There will be no confiscation of passports and no physical abuse. And they can practice their own religion. So about seven of them were granted. That’s why I’m going to Kuwait,” Duterte said. 

Last March, Kuwait Foreign Ministry Undersecretary for Consulate Affairs Sami Al-Hamad announced that the two sides agreed that domestic workers from the Philippines would have the right to retain their passports as well as the right to refuse being transferred to other employers.