The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) is now targeting to minimize incidents of abuses of Filipino household service workers (HSW) in Kuwait by imposing a new escrow deposit requirement for Kuwaiti recruiters.
In an interview, POEA administrator Bernard B. Olalia told Business Mirror they will be implementing a US$10,000 escrow deposit for Foreign Recruitment Agencies (FRA) of Filipino HSWs in Kuwait.
The fund will be used to pay for claims of Filipino HSWs in case their employer refuse to pay for it.
Olalia explained this will boost the compliance of Kuwaiti FRAs in the monitoring of Filipino HSWs.
“They will be the ones who will ask [Kuwaiti] employers to pay the claims of their Filipino workers since it could be charged to them if the employers will not pay for it,” Olalia said.
He noted this is the first time POEA will be enforcing the escrow requirement under the POEA 2016 rules.
“Based from [2016] rules, the escrow deposit is US$50,000. We passed a GB (governing board resolution) pegging the escrow deposit to just US$10,000,” Olalia said.
“The requirement was not immediately implemented by the previous administration. This [Kuwait] will be first time we will be enforcing it,” he added.
Olalia said this will be separate from the escrow deposit for Philippine recruitment agencies (PRA).
This requirement is included in the guidelines issued by POEA last week for the hiring and deployment of Filipino HSWs to Kuwait.
It contained the guaranteed rights and protection of Filipinos HSWs including the right to have mobile phones and other communication devices; keep their passport and other personal identity documents; and access to legal assistance among others.
The guidelines is an offshoot of the Philippine-Kuwait Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the protection of Filipino HSWs, which was signed on May, 11, 2018.
Olalia said the compliance of the FRAs, PRAs and Kuwaiti employers on the new guidelines will be monitored by the newly reactivated POEA Welfare and Employment Office (WEO).
The issuance, which is expected to take effect next week will allow the resumption of deployment of Filipino HSWs to the Arab country.
Olalia said the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Kuwait is now in the process of accrediting the FRA and principal, who will be allowed to hire Filipino HSWs.
“The deployment will resume on July 6,” Olalia said.
To recall, President Rodrigo R. Duterte ordered the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to stop the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Kuwait after the brutal death of a Filipino HSW, Joanna Demafelis, at the hand of employer.