MANILA — The Kuwaiti government’s decision to extend its amnesty program for overstaying Filipinos is a “very positive gesture that would surely contribute” to ongoing efforts to address matters of mutual concern to both the Philippines and Kuwait, said Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday.
“We express our appreciation for the kind gesture of Kuwait in granting our request to extend their amnesty for our undocumented kababayans there,” he said in a statement.
To continue moving forward, he said the country expects Kuwaiti authorities “to make substantial commitments on pragmatic and impermeable steps” aimed at better protecting the rights and promoting the welfare of Filipinos in their state.
The statement was issued hours after the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait reported that the Gulf state had decided to extend the three-week amnesty period ending on Thursday, by another two months or until April 22.
In his report to Cayetano, Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa said the extension order was signed by Kuwait Interior Minister Sheikh Khalid Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah and was issued on Tuesday.
As per the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the amnesty extension buoyed the hopes of hundreds of frantic Filipino workers who think they would not be accommodated in the last remaining repatriation flights to Manila.
The undocumented workers, who trooped to the Embassy on Tuesday afternoon, were assured by Villa that there is no more reason to be worried as the amnesty extension would now allow them to be included in the repatriation.
Villa said the Embassy has processed 3,801 travel documents for workers since the amnesty period began and has so far repatriated 1,796.
He added that more than 2,000 more workers will be repatriated in the next few days.
On Tuesday, the DFA flew home some 580 workers via Cebu Pacific and Philippines Airlines in what is considered to be one of the biggest repatriation carried out by the agency.