For repatriated OFWs, anywhere but Middle East

IF OVERSEAS Filipino workers (OFWs) repatriated from Kuwait had it their way, the Middle East would not be among their destinations.

So went a statement to that effect by the Department of Foreign Affairs ( DFA) on Saturday night, Feb. 17, amid efforts to repatriate OFWs in Kuwait.

“Many of them expressed their desire to seek employment opportunities in countries other than those in the Middle East,” DFA noted about the OFWs.

But the DFA also cited the need for a three- month extension of the Gulf state’s amnesty program for Filipinos illegally working there, as more than 8,000 OFWs have yet to be repatriated.

“At present, the Department of Foreign Affairs- Office of Migrant Workers Affairs (DFA- OMWA) and the Embassy [in Kuwait] are negotiating with the Kuwaiti government to extend the amnesty program for three months. The said program will allow OFWs who overstayed their work visas to leave the Gulf state without any fines or penalties,” DFA said in a media statement on Saturday night, Feb. 17.

The department added that the amnesty program “will allow OFWs without proper work documents to process the necessary papers for them to work legally in Kuwait.”

On Sunday, Feb. 18, 177 OFWs from Kuwait arrived in Manila following repatriation efforts by the DFA- OMWA and the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait.

The DFA said there are now a total of “1,700 repatriated OFWs since last week, and they are among the 10,000 overstaying OFWs in Kuwait.”

“Majority of these are household service workers who are grantees of the amnesty from the Kuwaiti government. The OFWs hail from different provinces in the Philippines, particularly from the Visayas and Mindanao, [ and most of them] are victims of illegal recruitment,” DFA said. “Many of them were recruited through social media and entered Kuwait through other neighboring countries.”

Last week, Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III, on instructions by President Rodrigo R. Duterte, ordered a total ban on the deployment of OFWs to Kuwait amid the rising deaths and abuse of Filipinos in the Gulf state, including the case of Joanna Demafelis whose body was found in a freezer. Her remains arrived home on Friday.

The repatriated OFWs, according to the DFA, will be leaving for their home provinces after receiving P5,000 each in financial assistance from the government.

Undersecretary Bernard P. Olalia of DoLE’s Human Capital Development and Regional Operations said in a radio interview last week that the “Czech Republic, Japan, New Zealand, Germany, South Korea, Singapore, Europe and the US” are alternative work destinations for the displaced OFWs.

According to the Labor department, the guidelines on the deployment ban as released last week “covers all types of workers being deployed for the first time for overseas employment in Kuwait, without distinction as to skill, profession or type of work.”

“The ban exempts Balik- Manggagawa or the OFWs who are vacationing in the Philippines who will be returning to the same employer to finish their contracts, at the end of his/ her vacation; and OFWs who are returning to Kuwait on a new contract with the same employer,” DoLE said in a statement.

The statement added: “Also, seafarers who will be transiting through or boarding in Kuwait to join their principals are not covered by the total ban.” —