{"id":163492,"date":"2018-05-13T03:18:09","date_gmt":"2018-05-13T07:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=163492"},"modified":"2018-05-13T03:18:09","modified_gmt":"2018-05-13T07:18:09","slug":"ph-kuwait-ties-back-to-normal-roque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/05\/13\/ph-kuwait-ties-back-to-normal-roque\/","title":{"rendered":"PH-Kuwait ties back to normal: Roque"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: FILE: Roque, meanwhile, assured Filipinos that Kuwait is a progressive, modern country (PCOO photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Diplomatic ties between the Philippines and Kuwait have gone \u201cback to normal\u201d following the signing of an agreement on the protection of Filipino workers in the Gulf state on Friday.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this statement upon his arrival in Manila, along with other Philippine officials and 89 undocumented Filipino workers, on Saturday.<\/p>\n

These 89 undocumented Filipino workers are only the first batch out of around 600 workers set to return to the Philippines through the expense of the Kuwaiti government.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhilippine and Kuwait ties are back to normal, what we were waiting for was the signing of he memorandum of agreement and the signing is a sign that we have both agreed to move on with our relationship,\u201d Roque said in a press briefing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have both learned from the experience and the experience will make our friendship and ties with Kuwait even stronger as in the past,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Roque, meanwhile, assured Filipinos that Kuwait is a progressive, modern country and noted that the abuse of a number of Filipino domestic workers should not paint a dangerous picture of the Arab country.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that although \u201cone Joanna Demafelis is too much\u201d, he urged Filipinos to be more open-minded to the fact that not all Kuwaitis are abusive, but a select few.<\/p>\n

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III described the agreement as a document that will provide \u201coptimum and maximum protection\u201d for Filipino workers in Kuwait.<\/p>\n

The document will be in force for four years and renewed automatically, unless either party informs the other – through diplomatic channels of its desire to terminate it six months prior to the end of its validity.<\/p>\n

It also requires the creation of a joint committee, composed of officials from both governments to meet regularly to address Filipino workers\u2019 problems.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the Kuwait government will be required to ensure that workers are provided with decent meals, hosing, clothing, communication lines, 8 to 12 hours of sleep, an 8-hour work schedule among others.<\/p>\n

The Kuwait government will also pursue legal action against employers who have records of contract violations or abuse of workers.<\/p>\n

The diplomatic spat between the Philippines and Kuwait started after the murder of Demafelis, along with a series of abuses of other Filipino domestic workers.<\/p>\n

The Kuwaiti government has slammed the action taken by the staff of the Philippine embassy, who conducted rescue operations for distressed Filipino workers in the said country.<\/p>\n

Duterte earlier imposed a total deployment ban on new workers after Demafelis’ death. However, the signing of the MOA sees the “partial lifting” of the ban.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Diplomatic ties between the Philippines and Kuwait have gone \u201cback to normal\u201d following the signing of an agreement on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":157380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[15359,4326,12718],"class_list":["post-163492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-harry-roque","tag-kuwait","tag-silvestre-bello-iii","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}