DFA, labor execs’ trip to Kuwait cancelled

A scheduled trip to Kuwait by labor and foreign affairs officials has been cancelled.

“Everything is now up to the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs). We defer on all diplomatic initiatives to the DFA,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a chance interview yesterday.

Roque made the remark a week after Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said he and other officials were flying to Kuwait yesterday to discuss the diplomatic row with their Kuwaiti counterparts.

Malacañang is leaving it to the DFA to handle all diplomatic initiatives, including the issues between the Philippines and Kuwait that stemmed from the conditions of migrant workers, he said.

Roque said the meeting between Philippine and Kuwait officials in the Gulf state was supposed to touch on the proposed memorandum of understanding that would improve the working conditions of overseas Filipino workers.

Asked if the trip would push through, Roque said: “None, there’s no such trip.”

He was supposed to be part of the Philippine delegation to Kuwait.

Last February, Duterte banned the deployment of workers to Kuwait, citing reports about the death of eight Filipinos allegedly maltreated by their employers.

He also demanded better working conditions for migrant workers in Kuwait, including allowing them to sleep for at least seven hours, cook their own food and grant them a day off each week.

Last month, videos show- ing Philippine embassy staff rescuing Filipinos from their employers were uploaded on the internet, drawing the ire of the Kuwaiti government which regarded it as an affront to their sovereignty.

The Kuwaiti government had asked Philippine Ambassador Renato Villa to leave and declared him persona non grata.

The Philippines apologized for the incident and insisted that the rescue was a “rightful exercise” of its duty to protect its citizens.

The President has urged Filipinos in Kuwait to come home and vowed to provide for their needs.

He has also announced a plan to make the deployment ban permanent but Bello later clarified that the sending of workers may resume once a bilateral agreement protecting workers is signed.

UAE job market

Meanwhile, local recruiters are seeking the reopening of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as an alternative destination for displaced Filipino domestic helpers from Kuwait.

At a media forum yesterday, the Philippine Manpower Agencies for the United Arab Emirates (PAMA-UAE) urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to lift the suspension of the deployment of Filipino household service workers (HSWs) to UAE.

“We reiterate our call to DOLE Secretary Bello to promulgate the directive allowing the accreditation of job orders to the UAE because it will be a good solution to the Kuwait problem,” PAMA president Dolly Uanang said.

Uanang explained that the UAE would be a better alternative market compared to Asian countries.

“It will not be that difficult to transfer our HSWs because the salary, the situation, rules on welfare and protection are the same,” she said.

The DOLE is reportedly studying the possibility of resuming the deployment of Filipino domestic helpers to UAE.

“We are praying, hopefully this week, there will be very very good news about opening of the United Arab Emirates market when it come to household service workers,” she added.

Four years ago, the DOLE opted to suspend the deployment of Filipino HSWs to UAE after the latter refused to comply with the requirement of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) to verify employment contracts prior to hiring.

The suspension, however, prompted many Filipino HSWs to sneak out of the country and enter UAE illegally.

Labor Undersecretary Jacinto Paras agreed that the reopening of the UAE market would be a good alternative for Filipino workers at this time.

“I think that will be timely if indeed what the recruitment agencies are saying that the UAE market will be opened is true,” Paras said.

Lucy Sermonia, Coalition of Licensed Agencies for Domestic and Service Workers president, said their applicants continue to await the reopening of Kuwait.

Recruiters said other countries in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Bahrain can also serve as alternative market for Filipino HSWs.