Sen. Raffy Tulfo yesterday proposed a total deployment ban of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Kuwait following the murder of Jullebee Ranara.
Tulfo said the government should instead send OFWs to “other safe places.”
Tulfo, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Migrant Workers suggested the government to gradually pull out OFWs in Kuwait and send them to places where OFWs are properly compensated and treated with respect like Guam.
He noted that Guam is a new market for OFWs which currently needs thousands of skilled workers. Tulfo said Guam, a United States Territory, reportedly prefers to hire more Filipino workers.
The senator related that aside from Guam, the government can also explore sending OFWs to Romania, Austria, and Hong Kong.
Tulfo was part of the group that waited for the arrival of the remains of Ranara at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on Friday.
Ranara’s family meanwhile appealed for privacy as the wake for the slain OFW began Sunday at her home in Las Piñas City.
The wake was heavily guarded, with police officers, traffic enforcers and personnel from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) present at the scene, ABS-CBN reported.
Reports said Ranara’s burned body was found in a desert in Kuwait last week. Authorities arrested her employer’s son.
Tulfo further said that bilateral talks between the Philippines and Kuwait could push through after a deployment ban, but with consideration to the Philippines’ terms and conditions.
Among the conditions that Tulfo noted includes requiring tight screening process and psychiatric exam for employers on high-risk countries, as well as members of their households to ensure that they are fit to hire OFWs in their homes.
While Ranara’s employers supposedly treated her well, her employers’ 17-year-old son, reportedly maltreated her. The son is the suspect in her death and is now under police custody.
Furthermore, Tulfo said the Kuwait government should issue a public apology to the Filipinos for the death of Ranara. Ranara is not the first OFW to be killed in Kuwait.
The Philippines had earlier imposed a labor deployment ban to Kuwait after the gruesome deaths of several Filipino domestic workers. The ban was eventually lifted after the two countries signed a protection agreement.
