Drilon supports OFW deployment ban but pushes for labor agreement between Kuwait, PHL


Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Thursday urged the administration to come up with a labor agreement with Kuwait even as he expressed support for the order of a the total ban in the deployment of Filipino workers there saying “it is something that we must do.”
“The total ban is a remedy that, radical as it is, is necessary because of the abuses but the longer term objective should be to come up with a labor agreement between Kuwait and the Philippines to define strictly the status and the protection to our workers,” Drilon told reporters.
He added that if a labor agreement is already existing it must be re-examineed it because  “apparently it is not effective.”
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III ordered Monday a total ban in the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait, days after the body of a Filipina Joanna Demafelis was found in a freezer in an abandoned apartment unit there.
However, Drilon, a former labor secretary, said the Philippines should be ready for the consequences, particularly on trade, the Kuwait might impose because of the deployment ban.
“I support the ban but there are consequences that we must be prepared to handle particularly in the area of trade. I do not know the details of the trade relationship between the two countries but certainly, from my experience before, this accepting countries would resort to all kinds of pressure on the Philippines,” he said.
“We should be able to stand whatever pressure Kuwait will put on us in terms of trade relationship,” he added,
The senator further said that the government must continually re-examine the status of Filipino workers in other countries because migration is a reality in the country.
“The reality is so long as we have a labor surplus, migration will always be a reality we have to face so we must work through international agencies through democratic channels in  order to provide adequate protection to our workers who would have to look for work elsewhere,” he said.
“In a labor surplus economy, migration of our workers is a reality,” he added. — RSJ, GMA News

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