China as market for OFWs
MANILA — The Philippine government is eyeing China as an alternative destination for overseas Filipino workers following President Rodrigo Duterte’s continuing ban on their deployment to Kuwait, Malacañang said yesterday.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III is already finalizing a mechanism with China that would allow the Philippines to send workers there.
“[T]hat’s being worked out. And I hopefully, there will be bilateral agreements soon,” Roque said in a press conference in Malacañang.
Roque also reported that around 400 Filipinos arrived in Manila on Monday morning, following Duterte's offer to repatriate distressed Philippine nationals in Kuwait in three days.
According to the presidential spokesman, the 400 nationals belonged to the first batch of Filipinos who had been allowed by Kuwait to apply for amnesty after they overstayed or escaped from their employers in the Gulf country.
Roque said that those who would opt for repatriation from Kuwait would be given P5,000 as financial assistance and P20,000 for alternative livelihood.
“The missions all over the Middle East in particular have been instructed to find alternative employment for our kababayans who have opted for voluntary repatriation from Kuwait,” Roque said, adding that the government is paying close attention to the employment situation in Oman and Bahrain, which are both signatories to the International Labor Organization Convention on the protection of migrant workers.
On Friday, Duterte announced that he would not lift the deployment ban on Kuwait after he fumed over the latest death of a Filipino in the Gulf country.
He also offered to shoulder the eñpenses of Filipinos who would leave the country in the neñt 72 hours.
According to the president, there were 82 reported OFW deaths in Kuwait in 2016, and this number jumped to 120 in 2017.
It was reported over the weekend that the body of Filipino Joanna Demafelis was found in a freezer an apartment in Al Shaab area where it might have been hidden for over a year.
Roque said that the Philippines would hold Kuwait responsible under the concept of state responsibility as it has an obligation to provide distressed Filipinos with legal redress.
“Kuwait, under international law, has a legal obligation to provide legal redress for the victims, Filipino victims of these horrendous crimes in Kuwait. And of course, if Kuwait fails in this regard, then it will incur international responsibility for an internationally wrongful act,” Roque said.
Bello said that one condition that the Philippine government is asking is for Kuwait to sign a memorandum of understanding that would provide Filipinos in its territory more protection.
Duterte was recently met by Kuwait Ambassador to the Philippines Saleh Ahmad Althwaikh who invited him to visit his country.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, there are around 250,000 Filipinos, many of whom are domestic workers, in Kuwait, making it a top destination for Filipinos who want to lift their families back home from poverty. (Philstar.com)