Kuwait officials arriving in Manila to negotiate OFW pact


President Rodrigo Duterte wants 'real, actionable measures that will protect our kababayans,' says Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano
Paterno Esmaquel II
Published 3:45 PM, March 13, 2018
Updated 3:45 PM, March 13, 2018
OFW WELFARE. Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano discusses with Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III the forthcoming talks with Kuwait on the draft agreement on the recruitment, deployment, and protection of household service workers that will take place in Manila this week. Photo from DFA

OFW WELFARE. Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano discusses with Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III the forthcoming talks with Kuwait on the draft agreement on the recruitment, deployment, and protection of household service workers that will take place in Manila this week. Photo from DFA
MANILA, Philippines – An 8-member delegation of Kuwaiti officials will arrive in Manila to negotiate a proposed agreement to protect the welfare of Filipino domestic workers, said the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
The negotiations will take place from Thursday to Friday, March 15 to 16.
The proposed pact is called the "Agreement on Domestic Workers' Recruitment, Employment, and Protection between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Government of the State of Kuwait."
In a statement, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano explained, "President Duterte wants this agreement to be different from the other agreements we signed with other countries by making sure that whatever is written there will translate into real, actionable measures that will protect our kababayans (countrymen) from exploitation and abuse."
Cayetano earlier said Kuwait has agreed to the following conditions for Filipino domestic workers: a minimum monthly salary of KD120 (P20,700), 8 hours of rest per day, possession of their passports and mobile phones, and limiting their work to one household.
The negotiations come after the Philippines banned the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Kuwait due to abuses against them. The most controversial case involves Joanna Demafelis, an OFW in Kuwait who was found dead in a freezer. – Rappler.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more