TUCP calls for total deployment ban to Kuwait; says gov’t ‘sleeping on the job’


By JULIA MARI ORNEDO, GMA News
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Tuesday urged a total deployment ban of household service workers to Kuwait following the death of another Filipina worker in the Middle Eastern nation in December.
TUCP cited government data that showed some 200 Filipino workers died of questionable causes in Kuwait in the last four years, 280 runaway workers are currently in the embassy shelter, while around 30 Filipinos are believed to have committed suicide.
“It’s indicative that the government of Kuwait is not taking the plight of our workers seriously and that’s why we’re calling for a total ban on deployment of household service workers,” TUCP vice president Luis Corral said in a press briefing.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines holds a press briefing on the death of a Filipina migrant worker in Kuwait and calls for action for the Filipinos in Iran. L-R: Atty. Christopher Lomibao, TUCP Vice President Luis Corral, TUCP President Representative Raymond Mendoza, Migrant workers' rights advocate Susan Ople, and TUCP Spokesperson Alan Tanjusay. Julia Mari Ornedo
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Migrant workers' rights advocate Susan Ople noted that the Kuwait government does not recognize the Standard Employment Contract of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and instead insists on using one contract for all Filipino workers.
“At the very minimum, the POEA contract should be recognized leading out to the harmonization of contracts,” Ople explained.
She added that Kuwait’s adherence to a May 2018 labor agreement with the Philippines for the protection of Filipino migrant workers is a “test of sincerity.”
“If you enter into a bilateral labor agreement and nakalagay naman do’n ‘yung provisions, then we should also be willing to walk away ‘pag nakita natin na ‘yung provisions na ‘yun, hindi rin naman carried over sa ultimate goal of accountability for the worker, employer, recruitment agency," Ople said.
The agreement prohibits employers from confiscating their Filipino workers’ passports and cellphones, among others. 
Jeanelyn Villavende, 26, was killed in Kuwait allegedly by her own employers last December.
Her employers are now behind bars awaiting the charges that will be filed against them.
Corral said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and POEA “have the blood of Jeanelyn on their hands.”
“They slept on their jobs, they are incompetent,” he said. “It was the duty and the obligation of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the DOLE, and POEA to have insisted to their Kuwaiti counterparts that these items be incorporated into the contract.”
“Anong klaseng kalokohan po ‘yan? Those charges will not bring Jeanelyn back to life,” he said.
GMA News Online has contacted DOLE and POEA for comment but has yet to receive a reply as of posting time. —KG, GMA News

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