Duterte says Kuwait work ban is permanent

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday said that the temporary ban on Filipinos going to work in Kuwait was now permanent, intensifying a diplomatic row over the treatment of migrant workers there.

In February, Mr Duterte banned workers from going to Kuwait after the murder of a Filipina maid, whose body was found in a freezer in the Gulf state.

The crisis deepened after Kuwaiti authorities last week ordered Manila’s envoy to leave the country over videos of Philippine embassy staff helping workers in Kuwait to flee employers they said abused them.

The two nations had been negotiating a labour deal that Philippine officials said could result in the ban being lifted but the recent escalation has put an agreement in doubt.

“The ban stays permanently,” Mr Duterte said in his hometown, 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 per cent of them domestic workers, the Philippine Foreign Department said.

Last week the Philippines apologised over the rescue videos but Kuwaiti officials said they were expelling Manila’s ambassador and recalling their own envoy from the South-East Asian nation.

Mr Duterte yesterday described the situation in Kuwait as a calamity. He said he would bring home maids who suffered abuse, and appealed to workers who wanted to stay in the oil-rich state.

“I would like to address their patriotism. Come home. No matter how poor we are, we will survive. The economy is doing good and we are short of our workers,” Mr Duterte said.

About 10 million Filipinos work abroad in jobs they were unable to find at home, and their remittances are a pillar of the Philippine economy.

Mr Duterte said workers returning from Kuwait could find employment as English teachers in China after improved relations with Beijing. Calling China a “true friend”, he said he would use Chinese aid to fund the workers’ repatriation.