Labor chief ‘ready’ to ban deployment to Kuwait after death of another OFW
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government is “ready” to stop the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait following the death of another Filipina in the hands of her Kuwaiti employer, the Department of Labor and Employment said Wednesday.
The Foreign Affairs department last Monday said the Filipina worker Jeanelyn Padernal Villavende was allegedly killed by her employer’s wife in Kuwait, the latest in what labor groups have qualified as a pattern of maltreatment in the Gulf state.
'Possibility not remote'
In an interview with DZMM radio, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said there is a possibility that the government will enforce a deployment ban in Kuwait if justice is not served.
“I'm ready to do that. Now, this is another possibility that is not remote that we will impose a deployment ban in Kuwait unless they can show us that they can give justice to Jeanelyn,” Bello said.
DOLE said Villavende’s death “is a clear violation” of the agreement signed by both Kuwait and the Philippines in 2018 that seeks to uphold and promote the protection of the rights and welfare of Filipino workers in the Gulf nation.
The labor deal was a product of talks following outrage over the killing of domestic worker Joanna Demafelis, whose dead body was discovered inside a freezer. An angry President Rodrigo Duterte said Demafelis’ corpse “bore torture marks and indications that she was strangled to death.”
Villavende’s death has renewed calls from labor groups for the government to bar Filipinos from seeking work in Kuwait. However, some rights groups have cautioned that stopping labor migration to the Middle East would force Filipino workers to take greater risks to seek overseas employment. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral
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