SENATE President Juan Miguel Zubiri, clearing the way for its early ratification, pledged his vote for concurrence to ratify the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No.190, the first international treaty to recognize the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment, “if and when it is transmitted to the Senate.”
The Senate leader took the occasion to advise the Secretariat to inform the concerned agencies, through the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO), to speed up the transmission of important ratified treaties for the Senate’s concurrence, including the ILO Convention No.190 once ratified.
The privilege speech of the Senate President on the tragic murder of Jullebee Ranara, a 35-year-old overseas Filipino workers (OFW) based in Kuwait, was referred to the Committees on Migrant Workers and Foreign Affairs to pursue an inquiry into the incident further and “ask relevant government agencies on what they have done to prevent such tragedies from happening to OFWs.
Earlier, Senator Jinggoy Estrada delivered a privilege speech denouncing the murder of the OFW in Kuwait.
Estrada asked the Department of Migrant Workers, the Department of Foreign Affairs and other concerned government agencies to “make sure that justice is served” and the perpetrator responsible for the murder of 35-year-old Ranara in Kuwait is punished.
The lawmaker lamented that despite the existence of an agreement between the Philippine government and the state of Kuwait on additional safeguards for Filipino migrant workers, the two governments still failed to protect Ranara, who was reportedly raped, beaten, ran over and burned by the son of her employer.
“Mr. President, we urge both governments to apply the fullest extent of the law to ensure that justice is served and that the perpetrator is held to account,” Estrada stressed in a privilege speech at Tuesday’s Senate plenary session.
In turn, Sen. Raffy T. Tulfo deplored the death of another hero should never be taken lightly as it may happen again to other OFWs.
During Tuesday’s plenary session, Tulfo said the government needs to ensure that OFWs are protected while working abroad. In 2022, he said, there were 69,145 new hires and 31,078 rehires in Kuwait.
“We owe to our more than 100,000 OFWs the protection that we promised when we allowed them to go abroad for the sake of their families,” he said. -30-