In a country where overseas Filipino workers have been raped, tortured, mauled and bitten by their employers’ pet lion, murdered and the bodies burned and stuffed in a freezer, it would be the height of negligence if Philippine embassy personnel fail to help any OFW fleeing from abusive circumstances.
Yet the government of Kuwait has suspended the issuance of new visas to Filipinos and demanded an admission of infractions and an apology from the Philippine government for providing shelter to OFW runaways in the Gulf state. Kuwait apparently remembered that in 2018, Manila had apologized after the Philippine embassy not only provided shelter to runaway OFWs but also for encouraging them to escape from abusive employers.
This time, the Department of Foreign Affairs has stood its ground and refused to apologize, although it has not closed the door on negotiations with Kuwait. There are, after all, some 268,000 Filipinos working in the Gulf state, remitting about $597 million to their home country last year.
On the other hand, the grievous abuses suffered by OFWs in Kuwait also cannot be overlooked. The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration counts 196 OFWs who have died in Kuwait since 2016, with close to 80 percent of the deaths attributed to physical abuse. In 2017 alone, the Philippine embassy in Kuwait recorded 6,000 cases of OFW abuse, sexual harassment and rape.
Rodrigo Duterte, during his presidency, openly lamented reports of OFW abuse, disappearances and suicides in Kuwait. In February 2018, following the discovery of the body of Joanna Demafelis in a freezer, he ordered a ban on OFW deployment to Kuwait, and urged Filipinos in the Gulf state to come home. Despite these developments, Filipino maid Constancia Lago Dayag was murdered in Kuwait in May 2019. In December 2019, Jeanelyn Villavende was raped by her male employer and beaten to death by his wife.
Following negotiations, the deployment ban was eventually lifted. But on Jan. 21 this year, domestic worker Jullebee Ranara was raped and brutally murdered. Reportedly pregnant, her remains were found in the Kuwaiti desert, burned and the head smashed. The suspect is her employer’s 17-year-old son, who has been arrested.
After Ranara’s murder, the Philippines stopped the first-time deployment of domestic workers to Kuwait. Within days of the murder, at least 114 Filipino maids left the Gulf state. Kuwait then announced the indefinite suspension of all new visas for Filipinos.
During this stalemate, the Philippines should review its deployment policy and consider finding new destinations for OFWs other than Kuwait. There are many other countries without the notoriety of the Gulf state in treating migrant workers. OFWs deserve better.