PH, Kuwait sign deal on protection of domestic workers

The Philippines and Kuwait on Friday signed an important agreement to bolster the protection of overseas Filipino workers

(OFWs) in the Arab state.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah signed the “Agreement on the Employment of Domestic Workers” on behalf of their respective countries at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kuwait.

Among those who witnessed the signing were Special Envoy Abdullah Dabs Mama-o, Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III, and Presidential spokesman Harry Roque and their Kuwaiti counterparts.

Earlier, a top Kuwaiti official declared that the diplomatic row between the Philippines and Kuwait sparked by the video footages showing a Filipino domestic helper being rescued from the household of her employer should be considered a “thing of the past.”

Quoting a top official from the Kuwaiti government, Special Envoy Mama-o said today’s signing of the “Agreement on the Employment of Domestic Workers” could pave the way for an improved Philippine-Kuwait diplomatic relation.

“I was told by Kuwaiti Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah that what happened recently can now be considered a thing of the past,” the special envoy said.