Bello urged to allow deployment of skilled, vacationing workers to Kuwait
A group of local recruitment agencies has asked Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III to modify Administrative Order No. 25 to allow the deployment of skilled workers to Kuwait as well as vacationing workers.
In a statement on Monday, Philippine Licensed Agencies Accredited to Kuwait (PHILAAK) said only the deployment of household service workers (HSWs) should be covered by the order.
It said IT professionals, store managers, maintenance personnel electricians, plumbers and carpenters must be deployed once they receive plane tickets from their employers.
PHILAAK, in its statement, said some of the deaths involving HSWs were not due to abuse, pointing out that one died of accidental suffocation due to charcoal heaters, one was killed in a love triangle, and one is a suicide that is still under investigation.
It then cited a Kuwait Times report on Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah summoning Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Pedro Villa to express Kuwait's bewilderment over Duterte's statement.
Al-Jarallah was quoted as saying that the overall status of Filipino workers in Kuwait cannot be assessed based on individual cases.
He added that while the ban does not serve the common interests of the Philippines and Kuwait, their government is ready to discuss the conditions of the Filipino community in the Middle Eastern country.
There are 276,000 Filipino workers in Kuwait, according to Jarallah. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News
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