By Alec Go
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said Saturday, Jan. 28, that it is set to deploy a fact-finding team to Kuwait to evaluate its labor post performance and to look into the pending welfare cases involving overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) there.
This came a day after the remains of slain OFW Jullebee Ranara arrived in the country on Friday night.
The DSWD said the fact-finding team and mission, ordered by DMW Secretary Susan Ople, will be organized by Undersecretary for Foreign Employment and Welfare Services Hans Cacdac and will be led by senior labor attaché outside Kuwait.
“We in the department must go by an evidenced-based approach to labor reform policies. Given also the increase in deployment and welfare numbers in Kuwait last year, it is imperative that we look at the root causes behind these numbers,” Ople said.
“With more than a hundred thousand kasambahays in Kuwait, the DMW must increase the monitoring and response mechanisms of our MWO [Migrant Workers Office],” she added, noting that the team will assess the overall performance and structure of the MWO in Kuwait.
The fact-finding team’s report will be submitted to Ople, who said that the team will look into a five-year period comparative study on the number of welfare cases of distressed OFWs there and what triggered the increase.
It will also review the response time of Philippine and Kuwaiti authorities including the action of recruitment agencies, as well as the workers’ monitoring and screening conducted by foreign recruitment agencies.
“Titingnan nila bakit inordinately high yung mga welfare cases natin sa Kuwait over the past several months. Titingnan din kung nagkaroon ba ng lapses on the part of the Migrant Workers Office sa pagtugon sa mga panawagan for welfare assistance among our OFWs,” she said.
Ranara case
Ople said the agency is coordinating with the National Bureau of Investigation for an autopsy of Ranara’s remains.
The DMW said Catalist International Manpower Services Company and Platinum International Office for Recruitment of Domestic Manpower will be facing separate violation charges, as confirmed by Undersecretary Bernard Olalia.
These were the agencies that facilitated Ranara’s recruitment. Olalia said they failed with their mandatory monitoring to protect deployed workers.
The early insurance release and financial claims for the victim’s family is ongoing. – gb
