EDITORIAL - Another one

It has happened yet again. Another Overseas Filipino Worker has been murdered in a foreign country.

In the case of Jeanelyn Padernal Villavende, who was working as a household worker in Kuwait, death allegedly came at the hands of her employer’s wife.

This isn’t the first time it happened, and most likely this won’t be the last time it will happen. However, what makes it even sadder is that Villavende was still killed even as Kuwait has already signed a Memorandum of Agreement on the Employment of Domestic Workers, an agreement intended to improve the working conditions of Filipino helpers in that gulf state.

Foreign Affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin has already called for an eye for an eye, in this case, the life of the killer of Villavende.

“All I asked for is the life of the taker for the life of the taken. And I don’t care whose life that is. The life of a Filipino –maid or socialite– is the equal of the life of a queen,” Locsin said in a tweet.

But beyond the bravado, the government should do more to protect our OFWs by making sure they are treated the way they should be, and that they have someone to quickly run to when things turn sour.

However, we also know the real situation on the ground. The Philippine government has never had, nor will ever have, enough funds, resources, or personnel to keep watch on the thousands of Filipinos deployed in Kuwait alone, not to mention the other gulf states and other countries in the world.

If we cannot do anything more to watch over our OFWs in Kuwait, maybe we should temporarily stop sending workers there until that gulf state agrees to strengthen laws protecting our citizens and enforcing them. And not just on paper, but also in the workplaces and the courts.

Another temporary ban will send the right message. Temporary, but a ban nevertheless. As much as we would like to have it done, totally stopping deployment of workers to Kuwait may be impossible. It’s like a door that we cannot close shut permanently.

For a country that has too many people, and too few job opportunities for certain social classes, working abroad will always be an option for some. And, sadly, the only option for others.