DOLE lifts deployment ban to Kuwait

The Philippine government has lifted the deployment ban of Filipino migrant workers to Kuwait, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III announced Thursday.

The Department of Labor and Employment decided to lift the ban after the Kuwaiti government conceded to the conditions set by the Philippines during a board meeting earlier in the day, according to a Super Radyo dzBB report by Olan Bola.

The Kuwaiti government has already met one of the conditions set by the Philippines, which is to file charges against the employers of slain migrant worker Jeanelyn Villavende.

Bello also said that Kuwaiti officials have agreed to craft a harmonized standard employment contract for Filipino workers.

Under the new contract, Filipino workers will be allowed to take one day off with pay each week.

The contract will also state the designated working and sleeping hours of the worker.

Employers will also no longer be allowed to transfer their Filipino workers to a different employer without prior written consent from the Philippines’ Labor Attache in Kuwait.

Other provisions are similar to those originally agreed upon by the two governments in 2018, such as the banning of employers from withholding their Filipino workers’ passports and cellphones.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration partially lifted the deployment ban to Kuwait last February 6 after Villavende’s killers were charged.

An autopsy of Villavende’s body found that she died of “multiple, severe, traumatic injuries” and also showed indications of sexual abuse.

The Philippine government had previously imposed a deployment ban to Kuwait in 2018 following the death of Filipina migrant worker Joanna Demafelis.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said some 200 Filipinos have died in Kuwait in the past four years. —Julia Marie Ornedo/LDF, GMA News