Malacañang on Thursday condemned the rape of a Filipino worker in Kuwait by a Kuwaiti police officer on June 4.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said he had yet to seek the reaction of President Rodrigo Duterte on the matter, but the Palace was “outraged” by the incident.
Newly elected Senator Bong Go said no stone would be left unturned to give justice to the Filipina.
“We will not tolerate this rape of our countryman who went to Kuwait to work to give her family a good future,” Go said.
He said it hurt him to see Filipinos leaving their loved ones to work abroad, and then bad things happened to them.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said Philippine Embassy officials in Kuwait were closely coordinating with local officials there for the arrest of suspect Fayed Naser Hamad Alajmy, 22.
Panelo said Labor Secretary Bello III was providing assistance to the Filipina and following up the case against the suspect.
“I haven’t talked to him [Duterte] over that, but we’re certainly outraged and Secretary Bello is responding to that incident,” Panelo said.
Last month, Panelo said the Palace would support migrant rights groups’ calls for a review on the memorandum of understanding on the protection of Filipino workers in Kuwait.
This came following the death of Constancia Lago Dayag, a Filipino worker from Agadanan, Isabela, who was allegedly abused by her employer.
Citing Bello, Panelo said the Labor department had been looking to reimpose a ban on the deployment of workers to Kuwait.
Duterte imposed a total deployment ban on new workers to Kuwait after the murder of domestic worker Joanna Demafelis and the reported abuse and maltreatment of Filipino domestic workers.
Panelo said there had been a “breach” in the agreement signed between the Philippines and Kuwait on the protection of Filipino workers in the Gulf state.
He was referring to the “Agreement on the Employment of Domestic Workers” signed between the Philippines and Kuwait on May 11, 2018, which contained a contract of employment template where the provisions “particularly stated” by the President were enumerated.
These provisions included requiring workers’ passports to be deposited to the Philippine Embassy and not confiscated by employers; workers are given one day off every week; workers are given seven hours sleep a day; workers are provided with decent meals and sleeping quarters, and workers are provided with cellphones. With Macon Ramos-Araneta
