Keeping shelters for runaway and abused Filipino workers in Kuwait is a “non-negotiable” for the Philippines, the government said, as it expressed openness to lifting its suspension on the deployment of household workers to the Gulf state on the condition that the host country guarantees the protections of migrant workers there.
Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo Vega and Department of Migrant Workers Undersecretary Hans Cacdac made the policy statement when asked by lawmakers about the non-negotiables in the ongoing talks with Kuwait over its ban on new Filipino workers.
“The non-negotiables are: Our shelters have to remain as it is in the law passed by Congress. Let’s make other compromises but not close down the shelter… There also has to be justice for Jullebee Ranara, and improvement on the conditions of our workers,” De Vega said.
“We will not compromise the protection of our workers,” he added.
Cacdac said no OFW should be hurt, raped, physically assaulted, or killed at the hands of their employers in Kuwait.
“The repatriation [of OFWs] should also be facilitated promptly, and justice in terms of labor and criminal law should also be delivered more swiftly,” Cacdac said.
Manila Standard earlier reported that based on government data, at least two Filipinos per day experienced violence in the form of physical abuse, sexual harassment, or rape in Kuwait in 2022.
And while the numbers have gone down significantly in the past six years, these remain, according to DMW Secretary Susan Ople, a case of having “one too many.”
Based on DMW data submitted to Sen. Joel Villanueva’s office, there were 823 cases of physical maltreatment, 99 cases of sexual abuse, and 26 cases of rape last year, for a total of 948 cases or an average of at least two cases per day.
Villanueva added that at least 96 percent of OFWs who have sought refuge in shelters in Kuwait are household service workers.
The DMW earlier implemented a deployment ban in February for newly hired or first-time domestic workers in Kuwait following the murder of Ranara.
The country last imposed a total deployment ban to Kuwait in 2018 after OFW Joanna Demafelis was slain and discovered inside a freezer at an abandoned apartment there.
“If we close down the shelter, what will happen to the runaway Filipinos? They will end up in streets and arrested by police – that’s the effect,” De Vega said.
The shelter was one of two recurring issues in the bilateral labor agreement that the Kuwaiti government is concerned with. However, De Vega said none of these concerns have been put into writing.
A high-level Philippine delegation is scheduled to fly to Kuwait this week to discuss the ban on Filipinos entering the Gulf state for the first time and the possible review of the 2018 labor agreement between the two countries.
The upcoming high-level talks are part of the regular discussions between the Philippines and Kuwait concerning the more than 290,000 overseas Filipinos there.
According to the DFA, around 70 percent of the OFWs in Kuwait are household workers.
At a hearing of the House committee on overseas workers affairs, DFA’s de Vega said repeatedly: “I have hope for the future.”
The plan, he said, is to resolve the issue using “full bilateral relations” between the two countries.
“Just like the way we protect our national territory, our economic interest, our cultural values–we’ll always resolve things in diplomacy but not at the expense of the national pride and honor,” the DFA official added.
De Vega said Kuwait’s suspension of entry visas would be its “response” to the Philippines’ own suspension of the deployment of first-time household workers in the oil-rich last February.
The Philippine government’s decision then was in light of the brutal killing of Ranara in Kuwait. She was reportedly raped, murdered, burnt, and thrown into the desert by her employer’s young adult son.
“We’re sending a team, DFA, DMW (Department of Migrant Workers), [and] OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), to sit down with the Kuwaitis and see how we can move forward because we have to see what actually are the things they have been complaining about,” De Vega said.
At the moment, De Vega sees no “quick fix” to the Kuwaiti government’s move.
De Vega said he hoped negotiations would begin soon as regards the Philippines’ deployment suspension on household workers, but Kuwait responded with the visa restriction instead.
“But, let’s be optimistic. Lahat may solusyon (Everything has a solution). Let’s hope na itong (Let’s hope that this) negotiating team will come home with progress. Hindi agad na pagbalik nila, tapos na. No (It’s not like once they come back here, it’ll be over. No),” the DFA official said somberly.
“Like what I said, what the DFA was expecting was for (Migrant Workers) Secretary (Susan) Ople to have a meeting in Kuwait, and that the lifting of our suspension will only happen after the meeting. It’s our DMW that should talk to those concerned in Kuwait,” De Vega explained.