DEAL REACHED TO NORMALIZE HIRING Kuwait invites Duterte to visit

Interpol seeks suspect couple in murder

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 19, (Agencies): Kuwait has invited Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to visit, state news agency KUNA said on Monday, as the countries seek to settle their differences over allegations of extreme abuse of migrant workers in the wealthy Gulf state.

After the body of a Filipino was discovered in a freezer in a Kuwait apartment, Duterte arranged free flights for workers wishing to leave — an evacuation that Kuwait said was an unnecessary escalation of a diplomatic rift.

The Philippines suspended sending workers to Kuwait in January after reports that abuse by employers had driven several to suicide.

Kuwait’s Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Al-Jarallah said on Monday that the two countries had agreed to sign a deal to regulate working conditions.

“We proposed to the Philippine authorities to resolve and contain these issues and not to escalate them in the media. There was agreement on this ... and we received a response,” he was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Al-Jarallah went on to say that the parliamentary committee has been assigned to investigate the Filipino President’s comments, pending a report to be referred to Parliament.

On the meeting, the Kuwaiti deputy foreign minister noted that prices of domestic service, which have gone through the roof as of late, was among topics discussed.

“We are working closely with our embassies abroad to address this issue,” he added.

Two planes full of workers arrived in Manila from Kuwait last week on flights provided for free by commercial airlines at the president’s request. The Philippine labour minister has said more than 2,200 Filipinos were ready to take up the offer to be repatriated.

It was not immediately clear if Duterte had accepted Kuwait’s invitation for him to visit in early March.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Interpol upon a request from its Kuwaiti counterpart is looking for the alleged murderers of Filipino domestic worker Joanna Daniela Demafelis, reports Al-Anba daily.

The Lebanese man Nader Issam Assaf and his Syrian wife Mona Hassoun are accused of murdering the Filipina and dumping her body in a freezer.

However, the Al-Rai daily quoting the mother of the Lebanese man Nader Issam Assaf said her son is innocent and blamed his wife for what has happened.

The mother said she was on a visit to Kuwait and saw the wife grabbing the victim by the hair and hitting her head on the wall.

The mother added, she then told her daughter-in-law to return her to the recruitment office if she was not satisfied with her work and the latter ignored.

The mother added, she could not stick to the behavior of the wife and decided to leave Kuwait before the expiry of her visit visa.

She went on to say she saw her son 10 months ago in a police station in Syria. He was in a very bad health condition and he told her he had a bypass surgery.

She also said two months ago she called her son and he told her his wife had given birth to a baby.

Philippine officials in Kuwait said they had been coordinating with their Kuwaiti counterparts to launch “rescue missions to save distressed OFWs from abusive employers and harsh working conditions.”

They had also been conducting information campaigns to

warn Filipinos from being victimized by illegal recruiters, the DFA said.

The DFA said each of the repatriated OFWs would receive P5,000 in financial aid from the government “to help them resettle in the country while they search for other employment opportunities.”

“Many of the repatriated OFWs expressed their desire to work in other countries outside of the Middle East,” it said.