Kuwait still needs to decide on its signatory to MOU for OFWs —Bello
The expected signing of the memorandum of understanding between the Philippine and the Kuwaiti governments for the safety of Filipino household service workers is now in the hands of the Gulf state officials.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III told Super Radyo dzBB on Saturday that while both parties want the MOU to be signed soonest, Kuwait still needs to decide on who will sign the deal --the labor minister, or the emir.
According to Bello, the signing of the MOU would be easier and swifter if the labor ministers of both countries will do so.
But should the Kuwaiti government decide to have the emir sign the deal, the process would take a longer time because it will require President Rodrigo Duterte to be the counterpart signatory.
On Friday evening, however, Bello said that the two sides have agreed to sign the MOU in two weeks, most likely in Kuwait.
Bello had reported on the main agreements in the deal that would ensure the safety and well-being of OFWs in Kuwait, especially the household service workers .
He said that provisions that have been agreed include the following: passports of all OFWs will no longer be held by their employers in Kuwait, salary payment will be made through the bank, workers should be allowed to keep their mobile phones, and their contracts will be in accordance with Philippine laws.
Initially, negotiations ended in a deadlock early Friday evening, but a breakthrough came later in the night. Earlier, Bello said he had wanted the MOU to include a clause on the "blacklisting" of employers who were proven to abuse Filipino workers.
Likewise, the Philippine negotiating team raised the strict prohibition of the "trading" Filipino workers to other employers.
Deployment of OFWs to Kuwait has been suspended after numerous cases of abuse of OFWs by their employers, which many times had resulted in deaths.
The most serious incident was the recent discovery of Joanna Demafelis' body inside a freezer in a Kuwaiti apartment. Prior to the discovery, her relatives in the Philippines said she had been missing for more than a year.
Autopsy results showed she died due to severe beating allegedly at the hands of her employer.
A principal suspect and two recruitment officials involved in Demafelis' slay had been arrested but the deployment ban on Kuwait for first-time OFWs had yet to be lifted.
Also, Bello on Saturday told dzBB that once signed, the Philippine-Kuwait MOU would be used as a template to ensure OFWs' safety in other host countries. —LBG, GMA News
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