Decision on whether or not to lift deployment suspension in Kuwait known this week —Bello



Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Monday said they may decide within the week whether to lift the suspension on the deployment of OFWs to Kuwait or turn it into a total ban.
"Anytime this week we will also be coming up with our decision on whether to make the suspension a ban or to lift it," Bello said in Cedric Castillo's report on 24 Oras.
According to Bello, they are just waiting for the report of the Philippine labor attaché in Kuwait to come up with a decision.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) suspended the deployment of newly hired OFWs to Kuwait last month following reports of maltreatment, some of them even resulting in deaths.
Meanwhile, some OFWs are appealing to the government to exempt skilled workers from the deployment suspension.
"Hindi dapat kasali ang mga skilled workers na katulad namin," said Enrico Perez, an OFW in Kuwait who was affected by the suspension.
Bello, however, said abuses don't happen only to domestic workers.
"Hindi naman pinipili 'yung minamaltrato. Hindi lang naman issue of maltreatment, meron ding, halimbawa, hindi binabayaran ng tamang sahod," he said.
There is an estimated 250,000 Filipino workers in Kuwait, most of them domestic helpers.
The report said some 300 Filipinos apply for work in Kuwait every day. —KBK, GMA News

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