Recruitment agencies in Kuwait fear OFW remittances to go down amid deployment ban


By TED CORDERO, GMA News
The Philippine Association of Agencies to Kuwait (PHILAAK) fears that remittances from Filipino workers in the Middle-Eastern country would go down further amid the total deployment ban imposed by the government.
"Pangamba ng PHILAAK na kung magtatagal ang ban ng bagong deployment at kung marami pa ang uuwi na OFW mula Kuwait ngayong 2018, maaaring mas malaki pa sa $50 million ang ibababa ng OFW remittances mula Kuwait," the recruiters association said in a statement on Friday.
"Malaking bagay iyan sa mga naghihirap na pamilyang Pilipino at ekonomiya ng bansa. Masakit iyan para sa mga pamilyang umaasa lamang sa mga padala ng OFW sa Kuwait," it said.
Citing a data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), PHILAAK said that remittances from Filipino workers in Kuwait declined by $50.23 million or 5.9 percrnt in 2017 at $806.484 million from $856.715 million in 2016.
"Sa tingin ng PHILAAK, ang 5.9 percent o $50.23 million dollars na ibinaba ng halaga ng mga padala mula Kuwait ay epekto paghina ng ekonomiya ng Kuwait dahil sa pagbagsak ng presyo ng langis sa world market mula sa kataasan nitong $100 dollars per barrel noong 2015," the group said.
"Ngunit ayon sa mga ekonomista, makakabawi ang ekonomiya ng Kuwait sa 2018," it said.
On Monday, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III ordered a total ban in the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait, days after the body of a Filipina was found in a freezer in an abandoned apartment unit. 
Prior to the total ban, the government has suspended the deployment of OFWs to Kuwait following reports of abuses, some of them resulting in deaths.
"Kung mayroon man, kaunti lang ang naging epekto ng  naging gusot sa pagitan ng Kuwait at Pilipinas dahil sa pagaabuso at pagkamatay ng pitong Pilipino roon. January 2018 na kasi nang suspindihin ng DOLE ang bagong deployment ng OFW papuntang Kuwait," it added.
An estimated 250,000 Filipinos are working in Kuwait, 75 percent of which are household service workers.
"Kaya naman, sana maresolba agad ng mga pamahalaan ng Pilipinas at Kuwait ang kasalukuyang suliranin. Umaasa ang PHILAAK na magbubunga nang mabuti at sa lalong madaling panahon, ang mga solusyon nina President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, at Special Envoy Eduardo Manalo," PHILAAK said.
Duterte has asked Filipino workers in Kuwait who are distressed or wish to return home to take advantage of the free flights that will be afforded them in 72 hours.
Malacañang, meanwhile, has said that Filipinos already working in Kuwait may stay if they have no complaints about their employers. — RSJ, GMA News

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