A diplomatic discord erupted between the Philippines and Kuwait early this year when President Duterte ordered a total deployment ban on new workers to the Gulf state, after Kuwaiti authorities discovered the body of Joanna Demafelis in the freezer of an abandoned apartment belonging to a couple who had hired her. The dispute intensified when the Kuwaiti government slammed the action taken by the Philippine Embassy staff that conducted rescue operations for distressed Filipino workers in said country and declared the Philippine ambassador a persona non grata.
Before things got worse, however, the Philippine and Kuwaiti governments managed to iron out differences and bring diplomatic ties back to normal. This came about last week following the signing by Foreign Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano and Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah of the “Memorandum of Agreement [MOA] on the Employment of Domestic Workers” at the Kuwait Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Witnessing the signing were Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III, Special Envoy Abdullah Mama-o, Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr., Charges d’affaires Noordin Lomondot, other Philippine government officials and their Kuwaiti counterparts.
The MOA contains contract of employment provisions that the President strongly pushed. These include an arrangement where workers’ passports will be deposited at the Philippine Embassy and not to the employers; the allotment of at least one day off for workers every week; an eight-hour work schedule; giving workers eight to 12 hours of sleep a day; and providing them with communication lines, decent meals and sleeping quarters, among others.
Bello described the MOA as a document that will provide optimum and maximum protection for Filipino workers in Kuwait. The MOA will be in force for four years and renewed automatically, unless either party informs the other —through diplomatic channels—of its desire to terminate the agreement six months prior to the end of its validity. The MOA also requires the creation of a joint committee, composed of officials from both governments, to meet regularly to address Filipino workers’ problems. Moreover, the MOA requires the Kuwait government to pursue legal action against employers who have records of contract violations or abuse of workers.
With the signing of the MOA, Bello sees the partial lifting of deployment ban on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Kuwait, which will allow the deployment of skilled workers and professionals to the Gulf state. The partial lifting of deployment ban will allow the government to see the implementation and immediate effect of the MOA.
Roque said: “The MOA will strengthen our friendship and ties with Kuwait. Philippine and Kuwait ties are back to normal, what we were waiting for was the signing of the memorandum of agreement and the signing is a sign that we have both agreed to move on with our relationship.”
Bishop Ruperto Santos of the Diocese of Balanga, chairman of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission for the Protection of Migrants and Itinerant People, hailed the MOA signing between the governments of the Philippines and Kuwait to protect OFWs in the Gulf state. The Bishop said: “We are very thankful to the government officials of the Philippines and Kuwait for signing the MOA. We appreciate the good efforts, good intentions and hard works of those who made the signing a reality. Let this MOA be the cornerstone of protecting and promoting the rights and welfare of our OFWs. It is also the testament of common collaboration, mutual respect and understanding of both countries.”