MANILA — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Thursday officially lifted the total deployment ban of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Kuwait.
This after DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III signed the department order lifting the ban on the sending of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) both skilled and household service workers (HSWs) to the Gulf State.
He noted that the order is “effective immediately”, which means that if an OFW has complete papers he/she will be able to fly to the host country.
“They can leave as early as Friday if their papers are ready,” Bello said in an interview at a hotel in Manila Thursday afternoon.
With this, he noted that some 5,000 OFWs are set to be deployed while another 15,000 are already under processing.
Bello added that President Rodrigo Duterte decided to lift the ban due to the “goodwill gesture” by the Kuwaiti government.
“The President was impressed with the goodwill gesture shown by the Kuwaiti government when they agreed to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and gave justice to Joanna Demafelis,” he said.
Duterte on Wednesday ordered the lifting of the total ban on the deployment of OFWs to Kuwait, which was implemented in February.
The MOU signed by both countries involved the protection of Filipino workers and the promotion of their welfare and interests.
Meanwhile, Bello revealed that they have created a task force which aims to protect OFWs against illegal recruiters who are offering bogus jobs in Kuwait.
“We have a task force… so we will be stricter in processing our OFWs bound for Kuwait,” he added.