HIGHFLYER Filipinos can’t work in Kuwait
President makes ban permanent.
Manila
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said yesterday the temporary ban on Filipinos going to work in Kuwait was now permanent, intensifying a diplomatic standoff over the treatment of migrant workers in the Gulf nation.
Duterte in February prohibited workers heading to Kuwait following the murder of a Filipina maid, whose body was found stuffed in her employer’s freezer
The resulting row deepened after Kuwaiti authorities last week ordered Manila’s envoy to leave the country over videos of Philippine embassy staff helping workers in Kuwait flee allegedly abusive employers.
The two nations had been negotiating a labour deal that Philippine officials said could result in the lifting of the temporary ban, but the recent escalation in tensions has put an agreement in doubt.
“The ban stays permanently,” Duterte told reporters in his hometown in the southern city of Davao. “There will be no more recruitment for especially domestic helpers. No more.”
About 262 000 Filipinos work in Kuwait, nearly 60% of them as domestic workers, according to the Philippines’ foreign ministry.
Last week, the Philippines apologised over the rescue videos but Kuwaiti officials announced they were expelling Manila’s ambassador and recalling their own envoy from the southeast Asian nation.
Kuwait also detained four Filipinos hired by the Philippine embassy and issued arrest warrants against three diplomatic personnel, Manila said.
Yesterday Kuwaiti authorities were meeting regarding the row and the foreign ministry was due to comment later on Duterte’s statement.
The Philippines’ ambassador, Renato Pedro Villa, told AFP on Saturday he would leave Kuwait on Wednesday, adding that he refused to comply with Kuwaiti demands for the names of staffers suspected of being involved in the rescues.
Duterte yesterday described the treatment of workers in Kuwait as a “calamity”. He said he would bring home Filipina maids who suffered abuse as he appealed to workers who wanted to stay in the oil-rich state. –