MANILA — Until a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the protection of Filipino workers in Kuwait is signed, the deployment ban on new workers to the Gulf state stays, Malacañang said on Monday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this clarification after President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Sunday said that the deployment ban to Kuwait stays “permanently” in the wake of the diplomatic spat between the Philippines and the Gulf state.
“What the President announced is the maintenance of the status quo. Until we have reached or signed a memorandum of agreement [understanding] providing for the minimum terms and conditions of employment for our nationals, the ban stays,” Roque said.
Roque explained that the lifting of the deployment ban is “conditional” to the signing of the MOU.
“Is this permanent as reported by some media outfits? Well, let’s just say it stays right now because the precondition set by the President is really the signing of that memorandum of [understanding],” he added.
Roque said that Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and other Cabinet officials will be meeting with their counterparts in Kuwait on May 7 to ease the diplomatic spat.
“Secretary Bello and other cabinet members will be leaving for Kuwait on the 7th (of May), which means that the process of diplomatic negotiations and conversations continues as we speak,” Roque said.
OFWs are protected
Roque, meanwhile, assured that the Philippine government has laid out mechanisms to protect Filipino workers in Kuwait despite Philippine Ambassador Renato Villa’s expulsion from Kuwait.
”We don’t have an ambassador but there is a chargé d’affaires, there is a diplomatic mission, diplomatic ties remain, which means that we have a mission there to protect our nationals; and Kuwait also is duty-bound to protect aliens under the standards dictated by international law, under terms and conditions which are not inferior to the way they treat their own nationals,” Roque said.
Roque said that the Philippine government was trying to “normalize” its ties with the Kuwaiti government but maintained that Filipino workers there should be treated properly.
“We cannot afford another Demafelis. It is the duty of the state to protect our nationals,” Roque said, referring to Joanna Demafelis, whose body was stuffed inside a freezer.
Roque also pointed out that Duterte did not want to pick up a fight with Kuwait and even expressed gratitude for the fact that Kuwait has employed many Filipinos.
OFW return to PH is voluntary
Roque also confirmed that Duterte is going to use the PHP4.8 billion worth of funds given by Chinese President Xi Jinping as travel fund for Filipino workers in Kuwait who want to return home.
However, he said that Duterte’s call for Filipino workers in Kuwait to come home is still “voluntary.”
“This is voluntary. He (Duterte) is not compelling anyone to come home. The context is, if Kuwait doesn’t want Filipinos there, they can come home and we’ll help them,” Roque said.
“Nothing is permanent. Until there is an MOU, there is no lifting of the deployment ban,” he added.
The Philippines and Kuwait are supposed to sign an MOU on the protection of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in the Gulf state after this year’s Ramadan in June.
However, Roque earlier said that he could only “surmise” on the MOU’s fate.
Tension between the Philippines and Kuwait started after the Kuwaiti government hit the action taken by the staff of the Philippine embassy for conducting rescue operations of distressed overseas Filipino workers.
Duterte earlier imposed a total deployment ban on new workers to Kuwait after the murder of Demafelis, along with a series of reported abuse and maltreatment inflicted upon Filipino domestic workers. (PNA)
