Manila mulls ‘moratorium’
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KUWAIT CITY, Aug 23: “The measure to impose a moratorium or a ban, we cannot remove that from the table because if the conditions would warrant we would actually impose a moratorium,” stated Philippine Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) Undersecretary Ciriaco Lagunzad who visited Kuwait this weekend together with Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac to check on the condition of some 500 Filipino distressed household service workers (HSWs) who are housed temporarily at the Philippine Embassy shelter in Hateen and POLOOWWA shelter in Faiha as well as at the Kuwait government operated Migrant Workers Shelter in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh.
Lagunzad and Cacdac met with the wards upon the order of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to personally look into their condition following reports on the increasing number of Filipino HSWs escaping from their abusive employers and seeking refuge at the Philippine Embassy and POLO-OWWA shelters.
Duterte directed the two visiting officials to explore all avenues to expedite the repatriation of all the wards who were victims of various forms maltreatment such as physical, verbal and sexual abuse, non-payment of salaries, lack of food and overwork.
Based on the embassy records, around five to 10 HSWs run daily to the embassy for help and for every one HSW repatriated to the Philippines, around three to five replace her at the shelter. “The President called me up and asked me when can you all go home. You’re all in the mind and heart of our President,” announced Lagunzad to all the wards who broke into tears upon learning the deep concern of President Duterte.
With the alarming increase in the number of distressed HSWs at the shelters, Lagunzad disclosed that the Philippine government is now exploring the possibility of imposing a moratorium or temporary suspension on the deployment of Filipino HSWs to Kuwait until such time that the rights and welfare of HSWs are fully protected.
“I’m in favor of the temporary suspension so we can study all the cases and start anew. We all know that Kuwait has its Domestic Workers Law but it still needs to be fully implemented that would greatly benefit our Filipino HSWs and other expat domestic workers,” stated Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Pedro Villa.
The Domestic Workers Law in Kuwait has yet to be fully implemented, though some steps have been taken to date by the Kuwait government to promote the rights and protection of domestic workers. The law grants around 600,000 domestic helpers in Kuwait, most of them Asian women, a 12-hour working day, a day off once a week, and 30 days annual leave.
It also obliges employers to open a bank account for maids and transfer their wages to the account to resolve the problem of delays or non-payment of salaries and other provisions. There are over 220,000 Filipinos in Kuwait and around 154,000 of them are working as household service workers.
On his part, Cacdac vowed to implement stricter measures and will suspend Philippine recruitment agencies that have failed to monitor the status of their deployed workers to Kuwait. “I will suspend the recruitment agencies that have failed in monitoring your condition so that they will be pressured to move and act and help their deployed workers and be repatriated. This won’t take long. I know what you want from me is action and not just all talk,” stated Cacdac to the wards whose announcement was greeted by cheers and applause.
A number of Filipino advocacy groups welcomed this new development on the possible imposition of moratorium. “We have been pushing for this moratorium since 2013 but the previous government trashed it but hopefully with our new government, hopefully this time, President Duterte will heed our call.
The number of maltreatment victims has been increasing, rapes happen every day, hence, it’s the apt time for the moratorium,” stated Mary Ann Abunda, Founder of Sandigan, an OFW advocacy group based in Kuwait. “We will monitor and we will see if our government, POEA and our Labour office will act on all these pressing is- sues,” reiterated Dr. Chie Umandap, the Founder and Chairman of Ako-OFW, a group of advocates from various parts of the world bound together to protect the rights & welfare of OFWs.
However, recruitment agencies have expressed strong opposition to the idea of temporary suspension on the deployment of HSWs to Kuwait. “We believe that moratorium is not the solution to the problem. Our government should enhance the trainings of our HSWs in the Philippines because there are a lot of incidents in Kuwait that the HSW is homesick and overworked and they need to be trained and introduced to how it is to work in Kuwait,” pointed out Jones Garcia, the President of the Filipino Association of Secretaries of Agencies in Kuwait. Following Lagunzad and Cacdac’s visit, the Philippines will be sending a composite team to Kuwait soon composed of representatives from the Department of Justice, Public Attorney’s Office, Department of Social Work and Development, Department of Health, DOLE and POEA.
“It is really public policy to protect them. We do it in many ways. One is through bilateral means. Another is by regulating the recruitment agencies back home and then we have our POLO here and our embassy so we work together so that we can protect our workers and that composite team will submit a recommendation and the recommendations will vary depending on the results of the mission. But again the measure of moratorium is still on the table,” reiterated Lagunzad.
By Michelle Fe Santiago Arab Times Staff
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