PHL-Kuwait agreement says OFWs should have bank accounts


By TINA PANGANIBAN-PEREZ, GMA News
Aside from banning employers from holding the passports of Filipino workers, it was also agreed upon by Philippine and Kuwaiti labor officials last week that Filipino domestic helpers in the Gulf State should have bank accounts.
This way, according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, authorities can easily monitor if the Filipino workers are paid their right wages on time.
Cayetano, at a press briefing on Tuesday, said this was among the provisions in the preliminary agreement signed by Philippine and Kuwaiti officials last March 16 following a series of meeting in Manila.

The preliminary agreement also mandates the provision of food, housing, clothing and health insurance for OFWs, Cayetano said.
Cayetano admitted, however, that signing an agreement is one thing and implementing it is another.
He said a better solution to the issue is to improve the Philippine economy so that Filipinos will not have to go overseas to find better-paying jobs, as well as to have quality education for all.
The Philippines has banned the deployment of first-time OFWs to Kuwait following reports of abuses, some of them resulting in death, as was the case of Joanna Demafelis whose body was found in a freezer in an unoccupied apartment unit more than a year after she was reported missing.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III earlier said the country is set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on OFW protection with Kuwait in the following weeks. —KBK, GMA News

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