It’s literally a killing job if you’re a domestic helper in Kuwait.
Our domestic workers deployed in oil-rich Kuwait are fleeing their abusive employers almost daily. There is rising demand to stop the DH deployment but only on a temporary basis. A moratorium had been imposed before for the same reason of hostile working conditions, but after a few months the Department of Labor and Employment and the Department of Foreign Affairs allowed the redeployment to Kuwait. Are we that desperate that we would allow our people to be fed into the meat grinder?
Labor recruitment agencies whose primary concern is the money earned from these desperate-for-work Filipinos, are of course, opposing the moratorium move.
The Philippine ambassador to Kuwait, Renato Pedro de Villa, when interviewed by ABS-CBN Channel 2 on Tuesday, appeared unperturbed. He said conditions of the migrants are being monitored and the Embassy is working with Kuwaiti officials to talk to the employers. It’s doubtful these Kuwaiti employers will change their abusive treatment of foreign household help.
Our domestic workers, particularly women are raped, beaten, maltreated and not fed well despite working more than eight hours a day.
A 35-year-old Filipino maid in Saudi Arabia, Irma Avila Edloy was repeatedly raped by her Arab employer. She eventually died in a hospital after suffering from the trauma of the sexual violence. Another Pinay domestic, Rehana Bayan, also died after being raped by her Arab employer. That her family name is Bayan is symbolic of the rape and abuse committed on our Filipino maids in the Kingdom. Although the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh initially doubted she was raped, it is now looking at the fact that a heinous crime has, indeed, been committed. Our embassy officials, specially in the Middle East, should be more vigilant against crime of this nature. Our poor workers who go the Middle East looking for work often come home in a coffin.
Yet, when Filipinos are the ones who commit a crime, they are for sure beheaded under Islamic law.
These incidences of violence against women is not only pervasive in Saudi Arabia but also in Kuwait. Some years ago, a Filipino domestic helper in Dubai, Sarah Balabagan, killed her Arab employer for attempting to rape her. Through the intercession of the late Ambassador Roy Seneres who provided legal assistance, she was acquitted and was able to return to the Philippines.
War on drugs targets poor
From the nearly 1,000 suspects killed in President Duterte’s war on drugs, it seems the campaign targets the poor. There is no rich, well-known personality who has been killed because he resisted arrest and fired at police. Although a list of top police generals and a Leyte town mayor have been bared by Duterte , they have not been summarily executed as the other small-time pushers and police “assets.” Almuera mayor Espinosa, who surrendered to PNP chief Ronald de la Rosa, was even allowed to stay in the former’s “white house” residence inside Camp Crame. After posting bail, Espinosa returned to his post as mayo of Almuera. His son , Kerwin, Jr., also a drug trafficking suspect, is still at large.
The President has dropped another bombshell on Senator Leila de Lima, alleging she has a new boyfriend and is still receiving money from detained drug lords in the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa. If Dutere’s plan is to turn De lima’s driver, Ronnie Dayan, against her, then the motive is clear. For sure, if it’s not only Dayan who might come forward to implicate De Lima. But unless documentary evidence is presented by the President, the case against the former justice secretary might not be enough.
Why does the House want Senator De Lima to appear in its probe of drug money and her alleged link? There is such as a thing as inter-parliamentary courtesy and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III is right in not letting De Lima attend the House hearing. With the so-called “supermajority” in the lower chamber, Senator De Lima is good as toast if grilled by the congressmen.
VAT for senior citizens
Senior citizens and persons with disability are aghast the Duterte government is considering the abolition of the Value Added Tax exemption for them. The VAT exemption is a buffer for senior citizens against the steep prices of medicines. To remove it would be like a death knell for senior citizens who depend a lot on medications that can help prolong their lives. Retired workers have contributed a lot of their services whether in the public or private sector. The automatic deductions from their salaries went into the Government Service Insurance System and the Social Security System pension fund. Why deprive them of well-deserved perks?
Now retirees and the elderly are going to suffer so the Duterte administration can source the funds for the salary hikes the President promised policemen and soldiers at the forefront of his war on drugs.
The extrajudicial killings have been raised as a concern in the United Nations. Now it’s the European Union with which the Philippines do a lot of trade, threatening to review trade deals with Manila. Duterte cannot threaten to pull out the Philippines from the EU because the country is not a member of the EU.