AN initial batch of 5,000 overseas Filipinos workers (OFWs) is expected to fly to Kuwait soon, a day after the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) officially lifted its total deployment ban to the Arab country on Thursday.
In an ambush interview, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said the 5,000 OFWs were supposed to be bound for Kuwait before the Philippines imposed a total deployment ban there in February.
He said another 15,000 would follow suit once the processing of their documentation with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration is completed.
“But this time we will be stricter with their deployment…. We will be strict in requiring them to take the necessary training from their agencies before they are deployed,” Bello said.
In anticipation of illegal recruiters who might take advantage of the resumption of the deployment to Kuwait, Bello said, he created a task force who would go after them.
Bello issued the lifting of the total ban in compliance with the order of President Duterte on Wednesday for the DOLE to resume the deployment for all categories of OFWs to Kuwait.
“I just signed the order lifting the ban on the deployment of skilled workers and professionals, as well as the deployment of household service workers [HSWs],” Bello told reporters in an ambush interview on Thursday.
The labor chief said the Kuwaiti government already expressed its gratitude for the normalization of the deployment in Kuwait.
Initially, Bello said, he was considering of only allowing the deployment of skilled and professional Filipinos to Kuwait until they could assess the implementation of their newly signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Kuwaiti government to boost the protection of Filipino HSWs.
However, he decided to end the four-month deployment ban in Kuwait upon President Duterte’s instructions.
“The President was impressed by the goodwill gesture of the Kuwaiti government, when they agreed to sign the MOU, and they also complied with the condition that justice should be given to Joanna Demafelis,” Bello said.