MANILA – The Philippines has lifted Wednesday its ban on migrant workers heading to jobs in Kuwait, capping a diplomatic row sparked when a murdered Filipina maid was found in her employer’s freezer.
The news comes days after Kuwait and the Philippines inked a deal to regulate and protect the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who seek higher-paid employment in the wealthy gulf state.
The spat, simmering for months, reached its lowest point in April when Kuwaiti authorities expelled Manila’s ambassador over videos showing embassy staffers helping Filipino workers flee allegedly abusive bosses in Kuwait.
“President (Rodrigo Duterte) directed me to lift the ban totally … both for the domestic and skilled professionals,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said.
“The President deemed that our overseas workers are protected in Kuwait and he will no longer see incidents of maltreatment, hopefully.”
Duterte in February prohibited workers from heading to Kuwait when the corpse of domestic helper Joanna Demafelis from Iloilo province was discovered in a freezer in her employer’s home.
The president lashed out at Kuwait, alleging Arab employers routinely rape Filipina workers, force them to work 21 hours a day and feed them scraps.
Relations appeared to recover after a Kuwaiti court sentenced to death in absentia a Lebanese man and his Syrian wife for Demafelis’ killing.
Following the verdict, Duterte announced plans to visit Kuwait to seal an agreement on workplace safety guarantees for the Filipinos working in the gulf nation.
But after the rescue videos were released by the Foreign Affairs department and Manila’s ambassador, Renato Villa, was ordered out of Kuwait, relations plunged again.
Duterte appointed Abdullah Mama-o as special envoy to Kuwait after Villa’s expulsion as Kuwait’s protest against the “uncoordinated” rescue done by the Philippine Embassy on Filipino workers escaping allegedly abusive employers.
He then declared on April 30 that the ban on Filipino workers leaving for Kuwait was permanent and urged his citizens to come home if they were being mistreated.
Kuwait sought to calm the confrontation a day later, calling it largely the result of a misunderstanding. Tensions quickly cooled and the two nations on Friday reached an agreement on worker protections.
“Even our labor diplomacy has improved and our relationship and diplomatic ties are now stronger,” Bello said on Wednesday.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque told Malacañang reporters in a message Wednesday night that it was Mama-o who recommended the lifting of the deployment ban.
“Upon recommendation of Special Envoy to Kuwait Abdullah Mama-o, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte tonight instructed (Labor) secretary to totally lift the ban on deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait,” Roque said.
Around 262,000 Filipinos work in Kuwait, nearly 60 percent of them domestic workers, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Under the agreement between the Philippines and Kuwait, Kuwaiti employers must provide Filipino workers with food, housing and clothing, and register them in their country’s health insurance system.
The workers shall also be allowed to keep their passport and cellphones – which are often confiscated by employers – the agreement stated. (With Agence France-Presse and Philippine News Agency/PN)
