Kuwait officials arriving in Manila to negotiate OFW pact


President Rodrigo Duterte wants 'real, actionable measures that will protect our kababayans,' says Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano
Paterno Esmaquel II
Published 3:45 PM, March 13, 2018
Updated 3:45 PM, March 13, 2018
OFW WELFARE. Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano discusses with Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III the forthcoming talks with Kuwait on the draft agreement on the recruitment, deployment, and protection of household service workers that will take place in Manila this week. Photo from DFA

OFW WELFARE. Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano discusses with Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III the forthcoming talks with Kuwait on the draft agreement on the recruitment, deployment, and protection of household service workers that will take place in Manila this week. Photo from DFA
MANILA, Philippines – An 8-member delegation of Kuwaiti officials will arrive in Manila to negotiate a proposed agreement to protect the welfare of Filipino domestic workers, said the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
The negotiations will take place from Thursday to Friday, March 15 to 16.
The proposed pact is called the "Agreement on Domestic Workers' Recruitment, Employment, and Protection between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Government of the State of Kuwait."
In a statement, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano explained, "President Duterte wants this agreement to be different from the other agreements we signed with other countries by making sure that whatever is written there will translate into real, actionable measures that will protect our kababayans (countrymen) from exploitation and abuse."
Cayetano earlier said Kuwait has agreed to the following conditions for Filipino domestic workers: a minimum monthly salary of KD120 (P20,700), 8 hours of rest per day, possession of their passports and mobile phones, and limiting their work to one household.
The negotiations come after the Philippines banned the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Kuwait due to abuses against them. The most controversial case involves Joanna Demafelis, an OFW in Kuwait who was found dead in a freezer. – Rappler.com

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