Years ago, a former employee who was working as a domestic helper in Kuwait contacted us frantically asking for help because she was being physically and psychologically abused by her employer. She said she could not take the abuse anymore and wanted to go home. However, her passport has been “confiscated” by the employer, and she did not have enough money for airfare.
We contacted the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, and even the Department of Foreign Affairs, and it took months of follow-ups before any assistance could be given. Understandably, government had to check and verify our former employee’s whereabouts and situation. Eventually, she was assisted by the Philippine embassy in Kuwait (I do not know if it was in coordination with Kuwaiti officials), and was brought to some sort of temporary shelter managed by embassy people.
It took another two to three months before she was able to fly back home. When she visited us, she narrated her horror stories as well as those of other OFWs, particularly women. No wonder, the shelter where she stayed before coming home was full to the brim. She estimated that there were easily more than 300 distressed OFWs at the time of her stay there. She spoke of the inhumane conditions in the shelter and noticed that many were getting sick. Some, she said, had psychological conditions.
Thus, I knew from years ago that when the situation is critical, the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait was willing to save our OFWs.
Fast forward the present predicament between our country and Kuwait. I am not surprised that the embassy would do a “rescue” if it was necessary. After all, the embassy has the responsibility to protect Filipino citizens there.
What infuriates me is the attempt of some officials of this administration to use the “rescue” of OFWs for propaganda purposes. This is not the work of responsible government officials. Prior to the posting of the “rescue” video on the internet, there were reports saying that hundreds of OFWs would be saved. In fact, Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson even went to Kuwait for the rescue operations. Certainly she was not there to supervise the operations. After all, her work, according to the PCOO has to do with social media. She went there to do propaganda work using our OFWs.
She even posted a video calling on people to just tell them if they know of anyone needing to be rescued and they will be rescued! Wow. Parang super hero ang dating. The video also showed her proclaiming to the world that she was going with the rescue team for an operation. If this is not propaganda, I do not know what is. Uson is said to be running for the Senate next year and recent surveys put her at the tail end of the list of possible candidates. Kailangan talagang magpabida para tumaas ang ranking.
Also, if not for propaganda, why else would pro-Duterte blogger “Thinking Pinoy” post on social media a video of an actual rescue operation especially since it was done without coordinating with Kuwait authorities? Pasikat lang talaga?
Clearly, therefore, this botched “rescue operation” was supposed to involve many, not just one OFW. If it succeeded, this could have resulted in major ganda points for Mocha and this administration. They would have paraded the “rescued” OFWs as proof of their efforts to help Filipinos abroad.
But, did they really think that they would be able to carry this out without the Kuwaiti authorities knowing? Even assuming that ‘Thinking Pinoy’ and Uson did not post videos and the rescue operations went on as they planned, did they think that missing OFWs would not be reported and authorities would not suspect that something was going on? I seriously doubt it.
But because of the video posted by TP, Kuwaiti authorities declared our Ambassador there as persona non grata and was given one week to leave Kuwait. They also arrested two Filipino diplomats who took part in the rescue. Kuwait has also recalled its ambassador to the Philippines.
To make matters worse, our Department of Foreign Affairs cannot get its act together. Instead of trying to save the already-strained relations with Kuwait (because there are more than 260,000 Filipinos there), our Foreign Affairs Secretary even expressed “displeasure” at how Kuwait reacted to our boo-boo. Again, Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano shows that diplomacy, his major responsibility, is not one of his strong suits.
There is also this Party-List Representative, Aniceto Bertiz III (who, by the way represents OFWs in the House of Representatives) calling for the declaration of Kuwaiti Ambassador as persona non grata as retaliation for the expulsion of our ambassador from Kuwait. How is doing this going to help the situation?
Is no one thinking about our OFWs? What will happen to the more than 260,000 Filipinos working in this country? What if because of the irresponsible actions of some in this administration they become targets of harassment? At this point I do not think that Kuwaitis consider Filipinos in a favorable light.
What if something extreme, such as deporting Filipinos from Kuwait, happens? Is our country ready to provide our OFWs employment and livelihood here? What about their families? If the 260,000 OFWs have families, easily, we are talking about the welfare of a million Filipinos here. This is not a small number any which way we look at it.
I do not know if those who caused this major fiasco still sleep soundly at night knowing that their actions could put Filipinos in Kuwait in a precarious situation. Is the pursuit of propaganda worth what we face now? More importantly, how is government going to ensure that needs of our OFWs in Kuwait are adequately addressed? Perhaps the answer is held by those who put us in this situation.
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