‘Philippines did not violate any labor pact with Kuwait’

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines did not violate any agreement with the Kuwaiti government that would prompt the latter to suddenly halt the issuance of all forms of visas to Filipinos, an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

DFA Assistant Secretary Paul Cortes said the government did not violate the 2018 bilateral labor agreement between the two countries that was forged after the death of 29-year-old Joanna Demafelis, a domestic helper whose body was found in a freezer.

“In our laws, we are mandated to put up shelters for our countrymen who need help,” Cortes told a news forum partly in Filipino, referring to Republic Act 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995.

“We could not have agreed to a provision that will not allow us to establish a shelter for our countrymen because that’s our law and, of course, when we forge an agreement with another country, we always link that with our domestic legislation,” he added.

The law mandates Philippine embassies in locations where there are large concentrations of Filipinos to put up welfare and assistance centers in their premises.

There have been at least four deaths, as well as frequent reports of abuse, of Filipino household workers in Kuwait in recent years.

The latest death was of 35-year-old Jullebee Ranara, whose charred remains was found in the desert last Jan. 21.

The Kuwaiti interior ministry reportedly has announced that the suspension of the visa issuance was due to some supposed agreement violations by the Philippine government.

The Kuwaiti government apparently wants the Philippine embassy to shut down its shelter for distressed Filipinos as it is supposedly prohibited under its laws.

Cortes, however, stressed that the Kuwaiti government has not officially communicated the supposed violations nor the reason for the suspension.

If reports from the interior ministry were true, however, the operation of the Philippine embassy was non-negotiable, he added.

A delegation from the DFA and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) will visit Kuwait before the end of the month to discuss the suspension of the issuance of visas, according to Cortes.

“What we hope to achieve when we get there is to clarify the issues of why there was a visa suspension and what it will take to resolve these issues between the Philippines and Kuwait,” he said.

DFA spokesperson Teresita Daza stressed that the government would provide maximum protection to Filipinos in Kuwait.

Daza added that the Philippines would work amicably to resolve the latest development.

There are over 290,000 Filipinos in Kuwait, according to the DFA.

Meanwhile, the DMW said it would employ “labor diplomacy” in resolving issues between the governments of the Philippine and Kuwait following the latter’s suspension of issuing new entry visas for Filipinos.

The DMW added that it would stick to the said strategy in its attempt to have the suspension lifted by Kuwait. – Rhodina Villanueva