Philippines sends team to tackle labor agreements in Kuwait
The Philippines on Monday sent a delegation to Kuwait to discuss labor agreement negotiations, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
This after Kuwait suspended new entry visas for overseas Filipino workers (OFW) last week, citing that Manila violated certain provisions of their bilateral labor agreement.
“Today, a delegation composed of representatives from the DFA, DMW (Department of Migrant Workers), and OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration) will go there (Kuwait). Those discussions were really scheduled today,” DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Eduardo de Vega told the “Laging Handa” briefing.
“I just want to clarify that they didn’t come to plead or request because this happened. There really is a schedule for negotiations on the labor agreement,” he added.
Although the Kuwait government did not specify the official reason for suspending visas for OFWs, De Vega said it may be a response to the halting of the deployment of domestic workers and temporary shelters for runaway OFWs.
“We believe that we have not violated any provision of the labor agreement…They did not put it on paper. There was no written demand that indicates the reason (why they are suspending visas). But in our understanding, they have an issue with the shelters,” De Vega said.
De Vega said there is a shelter for Filipino runaway household workers who have nowhere to go. ''And instead of being imprisoned, we give them a place to stay while they are waiting for their repatriation. It is an obligation under the law to provide that,” he added.
“For the Kuwait government, it is a violation of their regulation because it is as if we are encouraging Filipino workers to escape from their employers. That is not the reason we have shelters. It is for the protection of our workers,” he said.
De Vega said there are 466 runaway workers staying in temporary shelters in Kuwait.
The Philippines has no plan to close down any shelters in Kuwait, he said.
De Vega said Kuwait wants the Philippines to continue sending Filipino domestic workers.
“They are putting pressure on us. They need to hear our side because there are many runaways. We cannot close the shelters. We are hoping that our delegation will successfully negotiate with them,” De Vega said.
De Vega said the delegation will also discuss the extension of expired contracts of OFWs in Kuwait.
He also said it was not the right time to lift the deployment ban of domestic workers to Kuwait.
“If the Filipinos want the free flow of entry of all workers (to Kuwait), I don’t think that’s the right time yet, because we still have a suspension of deploying household workers,” he said.
''We need to remind them that we are doing this because of the cruel murder of Jullebee Ranara. We are still getting justice. The Kuwait government has already filed a case against the suspect and they are conducting hearings on it. We will wait to see if we can get justice before deciding to continue deploying domestic workers,” he added.''
In January, the burnt remains of Ranara, a housemaid allegedly killed by the son of her employer, were found in a desert in Kuwait.
During her wake, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. announced that the Philippines will be holding a bilateral meeting with Kuwaiti officials to review the labor agreement to protect the rights of Filipino workers. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
