1st batch of OFWs from Kuwait home Saturday night

Roque earlier said Philippine officials and Filipino workers will be arriving Manila on Saturday(PCOO Photo)

MANILA — More than 80 undocumented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will be returning home from Kuwait on Saturday (May 12) night.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said this will be the first batch of less than 600 workers returning home together with Philippine officials after the Friday signing of the memorandum of agreement (OFW) on the protection of OFWs in Kuwait.

Roque earlier said Philippine officials and Filipino workers will be arriving Manila on Saturday at around 4 p.m., however, a sandstorm in Kuwait caused a flight delay pushing the expected arrival time to round 10:40 p.m..

The Presidential spokesperson said he will be landing via Etihad Airways at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 while the Filipino workers will be arriving at Terminal 2 via Philippine Airlines (PAL).

In an earlier interview over Skype, Roque told reporters that the Kuwaiti government volunteered to pay for the Filipino workers’ plane fare.

“Ang pinaka magandang balita rito, and this is beyond all our expectations,is hindi lang pinapauwi yung mga undocumented aliens na more or less mga 500 kasi mga 62 ang maiiwan dahil may iba’t ibang kaso, sila pa ang magbabayad ng pamasahe pagbalik ng Pilipinas (The best news we got out of the meetings is they’re not only allowing the return of more or less 500 undocumented aliens they will also be paying for their fares),” Roque said.

The return of the first batch of Filipino workers comes on the heels of a diplomatic spat between the Philippines and Kuwait after Philippine embassy conducted rescue operations of distressed Filipino workers in their country without consulting the Kuwaiti government.

Due to the murder of domestic worker Joanna Demafelis and a series of reported abuses and maltreatment of Filipino domestic workers, President Rodrigo R. Duterte imposed a total deployment ban on new workers to Kuwait.

Roque, however, said the ban may be “partially” lifted once the MOA between the Philippines and Kuwait is signed.

He said both the Philippine and Kuwaiti governments wanted nothing more than to “move on” from the issue and normalize ties.

Moreover, Kuwait has expressed its desire to be known for being “the humanitarian center of the Middle East.”