A migrant advocate group called on the government to disclose all the provisions of its pending labor bilateral agreement with Kuwait to protect overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Migrante International expressed concern the new accord may still leave many OFWs in Kuwait vulnerable to abuse from their employers if it contains “insufficient protective provisions.”
“We call on the Duterte administration to publicize the bilateral agreement it intends to sign with Kuwait with regards to the protection of Filipino workers and ensure that the voices of OFWs will be heard and their demands be included,” the group said in a statement.
Last week Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said the bilateral agreement they are pursuing to be signed in Kuwait will focus on the protection of Filipino household service workers (HSW) in Kuwait.
A bulk of the estimated over 250,000 OFWs in Kuwait are HSWs.
However, except for ensuring OFWs will not be forced to surrender their passports to their employers, Bello has yet to reveal the other provisions of the pending accord.
The labor chief said the signing of the new bilateral agreement will be among the conditions for the lifting of the existing deployment ban for aspiring OFWs, who are bound for Kuwait.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) imposed the ban as ordered by President Duterte after the remains of Joanna Demafelis, an OFW in Kuwait, was found in a freezer at her employers’ home.
Migrante International blamed the administration for the death of Demafelis and other OFWs abroad for failing to address the “roots of forced migration.”
“There’s still no let up to the ever-increasing number of brutal killings and executions perpetrated against OFWs in their host countries under Duterte’s watch,” Migrante International said.
Tesda’s offer
TO help them upgrade their skills or give them expertise to help them reintegrate in the local economy, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) will give assistance to returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Kuwait through its free technical-vocational (tech-voc) courses.
Tesda Director General Guiling Mamondiong also directed all regional, provincial, district directors and administrators of Tesda Technology Institutions (TTI) to give retraining assistance to returning OFWs from Kuwait who will be affected by the total deployment ban of OFWs to Kuwait starting February 19.
Exempted from the total ban are OFWs on vacation in the Philippines and will go back to Kuwait to finish their contract with their employers, OFWs who will return to Kuwait for the new contract with the same employer, and seafarers who will travel to Kuwait to join their principals.
The decision of the President for a total ban came following a series of alleged maltreatment cases against OFWs in Kuwait.
Based on Memorandum Order 61, Mamondiong directed officials to prioritize the OFWs from Kuwait in their training programs being offered by the TTIs.
Mamondiong also ordered the regional-provincial-district directors and TTIs to seek out and contact the returning OFWs in their respective areas, in coordination with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration so that they could receive immediate assistance.
“The beneficiaries shall be entitled to the following: free training; free assessment; training support fund [TSF],” Mamondiong said.
The TSF provides food and transportation allowance worth P100 per training day.
Apart from this, the agency has created programs for displaced OFWs based on the 17-point Reform and Development Agenda of Tesda under the Duterte administration.
Based on its report, Tesda said up to 2,216 OFWs and their dependents have availed of its assistance.
With Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco
Image credits: AP/Bullit Marquez