Ban on deploying Filipinos in Kuwait

Duterte says ban is permanent, asks the 260,000 workers in Kuwait to return

The temporary ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Kuwait will now be permanent, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said yesterday, amid diplomatic tension between the two countries.

“The ban stays permanently. There will be no more recruitment (of OFWs for Kuwait),” Duterte told reporters at the international airport in Davao, shortly after his arrival from his trip to Singapore.

The president said he will instead ask other countries, including China, to consider recruiting more Filipinos, in order to accommodate those who are looking to work overseas.

He also called on the 260,000 Filipinos working in Kuwait, mainly as house workers, to return home, stressing that leaving Kuwait and going home was a matter of patriotism.

Duterte’s appeal

“I am appealing to my countrymen to come home. To all Filipinos listening, come home to the Philippines … I now appeal to your sense of patriotism. Come home,” he said on Saturday in a speech to 6,000 members of the Filipino community in Singapore while attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit.

“For Filipino professionals who may wish to stay in Kuwait, there’s no problem. But at the same time I would like them to cherish and nurture their patriotism. For Filipino household service workers, if your Kuwaiti employers want you to leave, then please come home. Your government will do its best to help you return,” Duterte was quoted as saying by various media in the Philippines.

Duterte said relations between the two countries were now “being put to the test”, but insisted there was no anger or hatred in his heart to Kuwait.

He urged Kuwait, “a good friend”, not to hurt the Filipinos in the country and to help the Philippine government get them out. “If the presence of Filipinos is a burden to you, allow us to get them out. As the President of the nation, it behoves upon me to do something,” he said.

In Kuwait, Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Al Jarallah said there would be no response from Kuwait to Duterte’s remarks until the foreign ministry receives the official statement, Al Seyassah reported.

The daily added that the Kuwaiti parliament would discuss the “illegal operations by the Philippine embassy in Kuwait” and the government’s position, today.