PH finalizes agreement ensuring OFW welfare in Kuwait

FILE: President Rodrigo Duterte listed down all his demands for Kuwaiti government to ensure the safety and welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Gulf state. (PNA Photo)

President Rodrigo Duterte listed down all his demands for Kuwaiti government to ensure the safety and welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Gulf state.

The President announced that the government is finalizing the draft of agreement with Kuwait as he explained why he was late for the Philippine National Police Academy graduation in Silang, Cavite on Wednesday, March 21, where he was the guest of honor.

“Honestly, I was late because we were working on the final draft that will be brought to Kuwait by Secretary Bello and I added some requirements,” Duterte said.

Duterte said that he demanded that the agreement will be a contract of government to government and that “there will be some mandatory provisions like they will be allowed to sleep at least seven hours a day.”

He added that OFWs in Kuwait should be ‘’fed nutritious food.”

“We will not allow leftovers to be eaten by our countrymen. Palutuin sila ng kanila (They should cook for their own meals),” he stressed.

The Chief Executive also wants the government of Kuwait to ensure that the employers of the OFWs are not allowed to confiscate their passports.

If necessary, Duterte said that these passports can be turned over to an official who will not take advantage of his power.

“No confiscation of passports by employees. If at all, it will be surrendered there in the table of arrivals of any country where Filipinos are working,” he demanded.

Aside from these, the Filipino workers should also be allowed to have a holiday day off or holiday pay.

Duterte emphasized that by adding all these last-minute working conditions, he does not intent to generalize all Kuwaiti employers, but he stressed that OFWs must not be mistreated.

“We are not slaves. Maybe our only fault would be in your county because we are poor,” the President said.

This contract between the Philippines and Kuwait stemmed from the death of a Filipina worker, Joanna Demafelis, whose body was found inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment and believed to have been there for over a year.

Her case and other reports of deaths and rampant cases of abuses in the Gulf state against Filipino workers, mostly domestic helpers, prompted Duterte to order the total ban on the deployment of OFWs in Kuwait.

The Philippine leader is considering to extend this deployment ban to other countries in the Middle East with known rampant cases of maltreatment and abuse.