Duterte sets conditions for Kuwait trip


By VIRGIL LOPEZ, GMA News
President Rodrigo Duterte "might" visit Kuwait if his conditions seeking to ensure the protection and welfare of Filipino workers there are met and carried out, his spokesperson, Harry Roque, said on Wednesday.
The conditions include passports of all OFWs should no longer be confiscated by their employers, the OFWs must get at least seven hours of sleep daily, should be allowed to cook their own food and to avail of one day off, and should not be subjected to physical abuse.
"[Labor] Secretary [Silvestre] Bello said they are moving to include these in the employment contract. Per Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, no final agreement reached yet," Roque said in a message to reporters.
Roque also said the ban on deployment of new hires to Kuwait remains.
Kuwaiti Ambassador the Philippines Saleh Ahmad Althwaikh earlier extended the invitation for Duterte to visit the Gulf state to check the situation of Filipino workers there.
An estimated 250,000 Filipinos work in Kuwait, 75 percent of which are household service workers. Some 300 Filipinos apply for work in Kuwait every day.
Many OFWs in Kuwait have complained of being treated badly, receiving no salary and experiencing other forms of abuse.
The most serious case was the discovery last February of Joanna Demafelis' body inside a freezer in a Kuwaiti apartment, prompting Duterte to issue the deployment ban.
A Kuwaiti court has already sentenced to Demafelis' former employers, a Lebanese man and his Syrian wife. —KBK, GMA News

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