Philippines and Kuwait sign agreement protecting OFWs

Aika Rey

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Philippines and Kuwait sign agreement protecting OFWs
(3rd UPDATE) The protection agreement covers all Filipino household services workers and skilled workers in Kuwait

MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) – Philippines and Kuwait signed on Friday, May 11, a memorandum of agreement providing additional protection for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Gulf country.

Foreigns Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano met with Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah.

Philippine officials Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, and Special Envoy to Kuwait Abdullah Mamao were also part of the contingent.

The signing happened amid the diplomatic row between the two countries. Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa was declared “persona non grata” for the embassy’s rescue of abused OFWs.

Philippine Senator Joel Villanueva, Senate committee on labor chairperson, commended the signing. He also said that “it should not only be on paper” and actually prevent abuses.

“The MOA…should not just be in paper as no less than the labor laws of Kuwait guarantees better labor conditions for our OFWs including the prohibition on confiscation of workers’ passports,” Villanueva said in a statement late Friday.

Villanueva urged the the Philippine government to be “proactive in engaging the Kuwaiti government” for OFWs to be given the necessary protection they need.

Read the full text of the agreement below:

What it covers: The memorandum of agreement will cover all household service workers and skilled workers deployed in the Gulf state. Its salient features include the following:

  • Employers must provide Filipino workers with food, housing, and clothing, and register them in the health insurance system
  • Employers cannot confiscate the passports and other travel documents of Filipino workers
  • Filipino workers must be allowed to use their phones
  • Employers who have records of contract violations or abuse will be disqualified from recruiting workers
  • Employers must facilitate the opening of a bank account under the name of the worker, and allow workers the reasonable opportunity to remit his or her monthly salary to the Philippines
  • Filipino workers will have access to services of Kuwait’s Department of Domestic Labor to settle disputes
  • Transfer of workers to another employer should be with the consent of the Filipino worker or with the go-signal of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office
  • The Philippines must ensure that domestic workers are trained and certified on housework, and have received orientation on Kuwaiti laws and customs

The agreement also covers repatriation of OFWs in shelters and those awaiting rescue, the activation of a 24/7 hotline for distressed workers in need of assistance, and the creation of a special police unit that would assist the Philippine embassy in rescue operations.

Talks were revived earlier this year, after household service worker Joanna Demafelis was discovered dead in a freezer in Kuwait. The issue led the Philippines to declare a total deployment ban to the Gulf state.

Why it matters: The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration recorded a total of 196 deaths of Filipino workers in the Gulf country since 2016.

This figure is on top of 6,000 cases of abuse, sexual harassment, and rape filed with the Philippine embassy in 2017.

Philippine labor deployment to Kuwait continued in the past, even if the latter was only “partially compliant” with Philippine labor regulations. The agreement on protection has been pending for two years. – Rappler.com

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Aika Rey

Aika Rey is a business reporter for Rappler. She covered the Senate of the Philippines before fully diving into numbers and companies. Got tips? Find her on Twitter at @reyaika or shoot her an email at aika.rey@rappler.com.