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DMW and DFA diplomatic mission to Kuwait set to leave this week

A high level diplomatic mission headed by Department of Migrant Workers Undersecretary Bernard Olalia and DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega is headed to Kuwait this first week of December to resume talks with counterparts from Kuwait to resolve the “impasse” on the deployment bans of both countries.

Finally after a seven month lull in the deployment of OFWs to Kuwait the DMW and the private recruitment agencies are starting to start talks with their Kuwait counterparts towards the lifting of the deployment ban by the first quarter of 2024.

The DFA and DMW [anel will fly to Kuwait by the first week of December upon the invitation of Foreign Ministry of Kuwait for high-level discussions for the lifting of the deployment ban imposed by Kuwait last May 10, 2023.

A meeting with the Philippine Community is set on Dec. 7, 2023 4pm at a hotel in Kuwait23 -pm where DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega.

According to migration expert Emmanuel Geslani from his sources from the government and private sector the DMW team will negotiate on a revised the bilateral labor agreement for Household Service Workers and resolve current problems on the Welfare Centers for HSWs.

In the meantime the local private recruitment agencies deploying to Kuwait PHILAAK (Philippine Agencies Accredited to Kuwait) had met earlier with Foreign Recruitment Agencies (FRAs) operating in Kuwait to start the process in coming up with a white list similar to the process in Saudi Arabia for the deployment of HSWs that will screen compliant PRAs and FRAs from Kuwait.

Current problems encountered by PRAs are non-payment of salaries, domestic and verbal abuse, extreme working hours, no day-off and refusal to arbitration with the POLO on complaints of run-way domestic workers.

According to a Filipina owner of an FRA in KUWAIT out of the 300 FRAs in Kuwait 150 have closed shop due to the seven months ban on the entry Filipino migrant workers except tbose OFWs holding resident visas.

It will be recalled that this impasse between Kuwait started in February this year on the violent death of Jubilee Ranara at the hands of the son of her employer the late DMW Secretary Ma. Susana “TOOTs” Ople imposed a ban on new HSWs

However Kuwait imposed a wider ban which covered all Filipino migrant workers to cover skilled or unskilled except those OWS holding resident visas.,

The lifting of the deployment ban was jump started when President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr and the Crown Prince of Kuwait met at the sidelines of the ASEAN-GCC Meeting in Saudi Arabia where the Crown Prince apologized over the ban and both President Marcos and the Crown Prince agreed that the ban should be lifted for the continuing good relations of both countries.

There are over 280,000 OFWs in Kuwait, the majority are HSWs at 260,000 while the rest are skilled workers.

In 2022 the POEA\DMWE recorded 60,000 OFWs were deployed to Kuwait including re-hires or Balik Mangagawa vacationing OFWs.

A potential 30,000 HSWs can be deployed once the deployment ban is lifted as Kuwaiti employers prefer Filipina maids.

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