THREE Filipino diplomats involved in illegal and uncoordinated rescue of the country’s household workers in Kuwait have returned to the country, official sources said Saturday.
Although the Department of Foreign Affairs has yet to confirm the issue, Special Envoy to Kuwait Abdullah Mama-o met with the three diplomats at the airport.
“…it’s not appropriate for me to be giving statements, regarding this issue,” Mama-o said in a report over GMA7’s “State of the Nation Address.”
Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano is currently in Honolulu for an official visit while his staff had never returned calls from media.
In an earlier report, a Foreign Affairs insider identified the three senior officials, who had limited movement and could only stay within the premise of the Philippine Embassy, as DFA-Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs executive director Raul Dado; DFA-Office of the Undersecretary for International Economic Relations officer Muammar Hassan; and DFA-Assistance-to-Nationals officer Francis Baquiran.
The three were part of the Rapid Response Team, headed by DFA-OUMWA Sarah Lou Arriola, who were able to left Kuwait via Riyadh before the Kuwaiti government filed warrants of arrest against officials involved in the alleged “uncoordinated” rescue operation.
The RRT was formed by the office of the Secretary and OUMWA to augment the team of the Philippine Embassy in any conflict areas.
“He [Cayetano] selected the top minion for that office who put together the RRT. Considering rank, his office should be dealing with the irascible spin doctors,” said the insider, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“It is this aspect of operations that shows the weakness in the command and control protocol that they were observing,” the insider said.
But a foreign affairs official, who spoke under confidence of anonymity, said the RRT instead led the said rescue mission where videos were uploaded by some DFA officials.
“The Rapid Response Team are (sic) formed from Manila and was deployed to Kuwait. On top of the operation, who gave them the authorization [to operate]…when an Undersecretary said yes, you have to follow,” the insider said.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday ordered total lifting of the ban on the deployment of OFWs to Kuwait, weeks after the Philippines and Kuwait signed an agreement on the protection and welfare of OFWs in the gulf state.
The signing of memorandum of agreement was made after Mama-o and Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque went to Kuwait and meet their counterparts.
Duterte had imposed a deployment ban after the discovery of the corpse of Filipino household worker Joanna Demafelis in a freezer.
There are 170,000 Filipino household workers in Kuwait.