PHILIPPINE officials are headed to Kuwait on Thursday to seek greater protection for migrant workers after a diplomatic row over the alleged mistreatment of Filipinos in the Gulf state.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III told reporters Wednesday one of his deputies would lead the delegation, which is also due to stop in Saudi Arabia and Qatar to urge reforms.
Topping the list are demands that Filipino workers be allowed to keep their cellphones and passports, which can be confiscated by employers.
The trip comes after President Rodrigo Duterte last week announced a deployment ban for Filipinos planning to work in Kuwait.
He was responding to the murder of a Filipino maid whose body was found stuffed in a freezer in Kuwait this month.
Duterte’s ban sparked a diplomatic flap between the Philippines and the Gulf state as he alleged that Arab employers routinely raped their Filipina workers, forced them to work 21 hours a day and fed them scraps.
Kuwait has invited Duterte for a visit but he has yet to respond.
Authorities say some 252,000 Filipinos work in Kuwait, many as maids. They are among over two million employed in the region, whose remittances are a lifeline to the Philippine economy.
“We are going to Kuwait tomorrow, Saudi Arabia and then on to Qatar to ensure that our overseas Filipino workers have sufficient protection,” said Labor Undersecretary Ciriaco Lagunzad, who will lead the delegation.
“We are afraid that because of the decision of the President to have a deployment ban, our overseas Filipino workers in Kuwait might be affected,” he added.
Lagunzad said Duterte had ordered the team to ensure that the passports of Filipino workers are deposited with the Philippine Embassy.
Duterte also wanted Filipinos to have access to cellphones so they can call for help in case of abuse, Lagunzad said.
About 10-million Filipinos work abroad and their treatment abroad is often a political issue at home.
Another team of labor officials said on Wednesday they would conduct negotiations with Kuwait next week on a deal to protect Filipino workers.
“Hopefully we can finalize the memorandum of agreement and by first or second week of March, we will have the signing by the Kuwaiti and Philippine governments,” said Claro Arellano, another labor undersecretary.
Kuwait on Wednesday granted the Philippines’ request to extend until April 22 its amnesty for overstaying Filipino workers, Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa said.
Villa said that Kuwait extended the deadline to give countries more time to repatriate more illegal workers who wanted to go home.
There are 10,800 Filipinos believed to have overstayed their visas or who have run away from their employers.
The DFA said out of the total number, only 3,000 Filipinos have so far applied for amnesty.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the extension of the deadline was a “positive gesture” by the Kuwaiti government.
The amnesty extension buoyed the hopes of hundreds of frantic Filipino workers who think they would not be accommodated in the last remaining repatriation flights to Manila.
The undocumented workers, who trooped to the embassy on Tuesday afternoon, were assured by Villa that there were no reasons to be worried as the amnesty extension will now allow them to be included in the repatriation.
Villa said the Embassy has processed 3,801 travel documents for workers since the amnesty period began and has so far repatriated 1,796.
He said more than 2,000 more workers will be repatriated in the next few days.
On Tuesday, the DFA flew home some 580 workers via Cebu Pacific and Philippines Airlines.
After April 22, the government of Kuwait will enforce its crackdown on illegal workers or aliens.
Under the amnesty program, all overstaying migrant workers will be allowed exit without suffering fines or penalties.
Illegal workers, on the other hand, will be given the chance to process their documents so they can stay in the country legally.
The DFA said workers returning to the Philippines from Kuwait include those who have overstayed or escaped from their employers, as well as those reported to have been abused.
Also on Wednesday, the DFA said the female Filipino worker, Norisa Manambit, who was found comatose in a Kuwait hospital after she went missing in Saudi Arabia, could be a victim of human trafficking.
In a statement of the DFA said it is now tracking down and investigating Manambit’s original employers in Saudi Arabia, her agency in the Philippines and her host country.
“The embassy is also looking at the human trafficking angle since [she] was originally bound for Saudi Arabia,” DFA for Office of Public Diplomacy Executive Director Charmaine Aviquivil said.
Relatives of Manambit, 36, discovered her location and condition through a Facebook post by a Filipino nurse in Kuwait.
The nurse posted a video in hope that Manambit’s relatives would learn of her situation.
“Embassy teams are also coordinating with hospital personnel on her medical condition and, following standard procedure, her eventual repatriation after treatment,” Aviquivil said.
In the Senate, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon urged the government to strictly implement the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act, noting there were 185 deaths recorded in Kuwait alone in the last two years.
He said the full implementation of our labor laws would have prevented, or at least minimized, the number of deaths and abuses among our overseas Filipino workers.
“The government should mull over the ways for full and strict implementation of our labor laws,” he said.
The former labor secretary was appalled at the rising number of deaths and abuses among Filipino workers.
Drilon said that imposing a deployment ban would only serve as a stop-gap measure.
He warned against the proliferation of illegal recruiters and scalawags who would try to go around the law to send workers to countries where there is an employment ban.
The law says “the deployment of overseas Filipino workers should only be in countries that have existing labor laws or are signatories to international conventions protecting migrant workers, or have bilateral agreements with our government for the protection of OFWs.”
“Should this particular provision of the law been strictly implemented, maybe the 185 deaths of OFWs would not have happened,” Drilon said.
Cebu Pacific on Wednesday airlifted and brought to Manila a total of 396 Filipino workers, in line with its commitment to President Duterte to help with the repatriation.
Cebu Pacific corporate communications director Ma. Rosario Lagamon said the Airbus A330 aircraft arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport-Terminal 3 around 9 a.m. to bring home the largest number of Filipino workers repatriated from Kuwait.
“This is the largest group of OFWs flown on a single flight from Kuwait by any airline,” she said.
Lagamon said the humanitarian flight was commanded by Capt. Mark Semon and his co-pilot First Officer Mark Leoven Meliton.
She added a 10-man cabin crew led by Carmencita Pimentel was also on board to assist the OFWs during the flight. With Macon Ramos-Araneta, Joel E. Zurbano and AFP