PH, Kuwait to finalize OFW protection agreement in Manila

Philippine officials will meet with Kuwaiti representatives in Manila next week for negotiations, Labor Undersecretary Claro Arellano said Thursday, as the country pressed for better protection of Filipino migrant workers in the Gulf state following reported deaths and abuse.

This as the two sides completed a draft memorandum of agreement on ensuring the safety of overseas Filipino workers (OFW), a pact seen to pave the way for the lifting of the total deployment ban the Philippines has implemented against the Middle Eastern country.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the total deployment ban would stay unless the agreement between the Philippines and Kuwait is signed and until the death of Joanna Demafelis, the OFW whose body was found stuffed in a freezer in the Gulf state last month, is given justice.

Salient provisions of the agreement include: 

• allowing OFWs to keep their passports
• allowing OFWs to use of their cellphones
• requiring the consent of the OFW or clearance from the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices in cases of transfer of workers to another employer, and;
• barring employers with a record of abuse from hiring Filipino workers

Bello said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has added 7 labor personnel in Kuwait to cater to concerns of OFWs. OWWA Deputy Administrator Arnell Ignacio, meanwhile, has been designated acting labor attaché in Kuwait pending the arrival of the new appointee to the post, an assistant labor attaché and a welfare officer.

DOLE had earlier recalled those holding the three positions as a result of the case of Demafelis, whose family had complained of the lack of government help when they lost contact with the OFW sometime in 2016.

Bello said that aside from Kuwait, he also received reports of high incidence of sexual molestation in Saudi Arabia, based on written reports from the DOLE-OWWA Rapid Reaction Team who visited the two countries.

He said they are now in the process of reviewing all existing bilateral agreements with other countries to provide maximum protection to OFWs.

During Thursday’s press conference, Bello also presented Marissa Ansaji Mohammad, the one who allegedly processed Demafelis’ job papers in 2014.

But in her defense, Mohammad said she was only a trainee at the Mt. Carmel Recruitment Agency, the firm that processed Demafelis’ Kuwait employment, and could not even recall Demafelis’ name but was familiar with her photo.

Why it matters: The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration recorded a total of 196 deaths of Filipino workers in the Gulf country since 2016. This figure is on top of 6,000 cases of abuse, sexual harassment, and rape filed with the Philippine embassy in 2017.

Philippine labor deployment to Kuwait continued in the past, even if the latter was only “partially compliant” to Philippine labor regulations. The agreement on protection has been pending for two years.

Labor Secretary Solvestre Bello III issued the total ban on deployment to Kuwait after Filipina domestic helper Joanna Demafelis’ body was discovered in a freezer in an apartment in Kuwait. He said the ban helped fast-track the negotiations.

What happens after? Arellano said that after the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on the protection of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), guidelines will be drafted and will be out late March or April.

But this would not automatically lead to the lifting of the Philippine ban on deployment to Kuwait. Bello said that the death of Demafelis must be resolved first.