159 OFWs to be repatriated from Kuwait


MANILA – A total of 159 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have been allowed to go home from Kuwait, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement.

The DFA said the Kuwait Chief of the Office of Domestic Workers Affairs (ODWA) Gene. Abdullak Al-Ali eased a ban on the OFWs, all household service workers, in line with ongoing mutual cooperation between the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait and the Kuwait government. 

“The announcement was made on the occasion of the Human Rights Symposium in Kuwait on April 18, and was the result of joint efforts by the Philippine Embassy and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Kuwait,” the DFA stated.

The OFWs will be repatriated in groups of 50 within the next few weeks. They are now undergoing the last processing stages prior to going home.

Recruitment agencies agreed to pay for their airfare after strong representations were made by POLO.
The OFWs had been subjected to a bureaucratic ban on fingerprinting as part of the repatriation process.
The Embassy made a series of diplomatic representations, culminating in the Human Rights Symposium, where embassy representatives met with and thanked Kuwaiti officials for their cooperation.

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