PH, KUWAIT SET TO SIGN DEAL
The diplomatic kinks between the Philippines and Kuwait may already have been smoothed out after a visit to the Gulf state on Wednesday by a high-level government delegation led by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
Roque’s office announced on Wednesday night that a meeting with their Kuwaiti counterparts resulted not only in the release of the four Filipino drivers who were detained for their involvement in a Philippine Embassy mission to rescue distressed housemaids there, but also the return to Manila of 150 of some 800 Filipino runaways there.
There was no word about the three Department of Foreign Affairs officials who have been holed up in the Philippine Embassy, following the expulsion of Ambassador Renato Pedro Villa last week.
Roque said in a text message that the much-awaited agreement on the regulation of working conditions for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Kuwait would be signed on Friday in Manila.
The Filipino officials’ visit came a day after Roque told reporters that presidential adviser on OFW concerns Abdullah Mama-o had brought “good news” to President Duterte, though he could not reveal it “until it was realized.”
Mr. Duterte had named Mama-o special envoy to Kuwait and tasked him to fly to the Gulf state immediately.
The government had been seeking to mend ties with Kuwait, which described the Philippine Embassy’s rescue mission as a violation of its sovereignty.