A House leader on Wednesday said the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) intends to resume labor talks with Kuwait for the possible lifting of the deployment ban of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to the Gulf state.
In a Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing over PTV4, House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs chairperson Ron Salo said high-level discussions between the two governments centered on the OFW deployment suspension are expected to resume.
The DMW, through Advisory No. 5, suspended the deployment of first-time OFWs bound for Kuwait in February 2023 following the murder of overseas Filipino worker, Jullebee Ranara.
Kuwaiti authorities likewise imposed a restriction in response to the Philippines’ deployment ban of new household workers bound for Kuwait.
“Nais ko pong ipaalam po sa inyo na in-inform po tayo ng DMW na magri-resume na ulit iyong kanilang pag-uusap. Nagpapasalamat po tayo kay Secretary Hans Cacdac ng DMW sapagkat iyong panawagan po natin ay pinakinggan din naman po kaagad; nakikita po natin kung gaano rin po sila nagmamalasakit sa mga kababayan po natin (I’d like to announce that the DMW informed me that they will resume discussions [on the deployment ban]. We are grateful to DMW officer-in-charge Undersecretary Hans Cacdac for listening to our appeal. We also recognize their compassion for our OFWs),” Salo said.
Salo said he would personally visit Kuwait to help with the bilateral discussions between the two countries.
Salo added that even as a legislator, he had difficulty obtaining a visa, let alone average Filipinos.
“Na-delay po iyong release po ng visa po natin when it used to be wala pong requirement na katulad po ng pag-secure ng visa sa mga katulad po natin na legislators. Pero dahil po dito sa existing ban na ito, pati po tayo ay hindi nakapunta (The release of my visa was delayed when there used to be no requirements like securing a visa for us legislators. But due to the existing ban, I was unable to go earlier),” he said.
“Pero iisa lang ang ibig sabihin po nito – kung po tayo mismo na kongresista ay naapektuhan po at hindi po ma-isyuhan po ng visa, so much more doon sa mga kababayan po natin (This means one thing –if lawmakers are affected and are not issued visas promptly, how much more for our OFWs),” he added.
Salo said there are about 260,000 OFWs in Kuwait. Via PNA
