THE Philippines and Kuwait will start Tuesday their talks to review the bilateral labor agreement amidst a diplomatic row caused by the Philippine deployment ban on first-time domestic workers and Kuwait’s sweeping visa suspension to all Filipinos.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Eduardo De Vega said the Philippine delegation will be composed of ranking officials of the DFA, Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
DFA Assistant Secretary for Middle East and African Affairs Mardomel “Boy”Melicor will lead the Philippine delegation.
“These are exploratory talks which will eventually lead to a long lasting solution. At least we are talking with the Kuwaitis to indicate at least that we are not quarrelling with them. We just want to clarify some issues,” De Vega said.
Until now, Kuwait has not officially given the reason for the suspension of visa issuance to Filipinos.
Kuwait newspapers have quoted officials as saying that the Philippine government has violated the terms in the 2018 bilateral labor agreement.
De Vega said that the main issue of the Kuwaiti government during the 2018 negotitations before was the shelter for Filipino workers.
“The Kuwaitis were claiming that there were some unresolved issues in the labor agreement at that time, which was the management of shelters for our OFWs. We only said that we will address this,” he said.
However, the Philippine government is obligated to maintain a shelter in countries where there are large concentrations of OFWs.
“We cannot have abused Filipino maids with nowhere to go,” the DFA official explained.
When DMW officials visited the Philippine shelter in Kuwait December last year, they witnessed firsthand that the shelter is congested. So, to decongest the shelter, some 167 Filipino runaway maids were transferred to a hotel.
“Over the weekend, Kuwait is sending police and immigration to check on the hotel. So what we did was bring them back to the shelter kahit masikip so they will not accuse us of violating Kuwaiti laws,” he said.
Hotels are already considered private and no longer within the ambit of diplomatic and consular protection by the Philippine Embassy.
“Honestly, we only wished that they had discussed this with us before they suddenly dropped the bomb on Wednesday. But that’s why we are gonna talk to them,” De Vega said.
The “bomb” the DFA official was referring to was the decision of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior to suspend the issuance of the visa to all Filipinos effective May 10. Only those with permanent residency permits will be allowed to enter Kuwait.
De Vega said they believe the entry ban was retaliation for the modified ban issued by the DMW for first-time household workers. DMW suspended the deployment of maids in February after 35-year old Jullebee Ranara was found dead and charred in the Kuwaiti desert.
He said there were no objections when DMW issued the ban. But now, there have been clamor for the Philippine government to resolve the diplomatic row with Kuwait.
There are around 2,000-3,000 semi-skilled or skilled OFWs deployed to Kuwait every year.
“For those who are requesting or demanding or expecting the government to resolve this impasse with Kuwait and allow again workers to come in and out, I’d like to remind them that the current situation came out because of that murder, and even without the murder, there’s a problem in hundreds keep escaping,” De Vega said.
“We are not criticizing the government of Kuwait… but we seek justice,” he said.
Image credits: Lukas Bischoff | Dreamstime.com