What should we make of the Kuwaiti government’s recent move to suspend the entry of OFWs to the Gulf State that has strained our bilateral relations?
It would appear this is nothing but a retaliatory act against the decision of our Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to stop the deployment there of OFWs, particularly household service workers, or HSWs, following the recent rape and murder of yet another Filipina in Kuwait.
What Kuwait seems to be doing is to force our hand and make us lift the ban on the deployment of HSWs that they clearly need.
Our HSWs keep the Kuwaiti economy humming by doing household work that would otherwise keep Kuwaiti families busy with daily chores.
And what was the official reason for their action?
The Kuwaitis apparently consider the shelter that our embassy has established there as an infringement on their sovereignty.
But the shelter, like others established in places where there is a big concentration of OFWs, was created by law so that our government can protect the rights and welfare of our workers who have encountered problems in their places of employment.
And yes, these shelters are there precisely to assist distressed OFWs who have been abused and mistreated by their employers.
The shelter in Kuwait, called the Migrant Workers Resource Center and also known as “Bahay Kalinga,” now accommodates a total 466 OFWs. That’s one too many abused OFWs in one country.
Our Department of Foreign Affairs sent a team of diplomats to try to get the Kuwaiti government to rescind their order denying entry to OFWs.
The ban affected some 3,000 of our workers who had already spent considerable sums just so they could earn higher income in the Middle East than if they stayed here.
Unfortunately, the two-day meeting between the Philippine and Kuwaiti governments ended last week with still no resolution in sight.
It appears that Kuwaiti officials did not expressly demand the closure of the embassy-run shelters but only said that Kuwaitis should run such shelters.
Beyond this, according to reports, the Kuwaitis did not explain which provisions of the 2018 labor agreement between our two countries were violated.
The DFA deserves commendation for continuing to insist on the protection of our OFWs in Kuwait, which is part and parcel of its mandate and therefore non-negotiable.
We simply cannot compromise on the safety and welfare of Filipino nationals abroad, whether in Kuwait or anywhere else, because it is the duty of our government to ensure this.