DFA officials to meet with Kuwaiti envoy over OFW abuses

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) officials will meet with the Kuwaiti ambassador to the Philippines next week to discuss the recent cases of abuse suffered by OFWs working in Kuwait.

"On Monday, our usec (undersecretary) and asec (assistant secretary) will be talking to the ambassador and show him the statement of the president," DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano told reporters in an interview on Friday.

Cayetano was referring to President Rodrigo Duterte's statement regarding his plan to stop sending Filipino workers to Kuwait amid the high number of abuse cases there.

"I'm expecting a good response from the ambassador, but of course we have to see the response translate into action. We need protection of our OFWs," Cayetano said.

While Duterte is adamant that OFW communities follow the law of their host countries, employers are told to treat their Filipino employees humanely.

DFA asec/usec will meet with Kuwaiti ambassador on Monday regarding Duterte's recent call for an OFW deployment ban. pic.twitter.com/nJ2T8Ww0Ia

— Rie Takumi (@rie_takumi) January 19, 2018

Duterte zeroed in on Kuwait due to the country having more recorded cases of abused Filipinos in its population in reports from the DFA and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

He instructed Cayetano to make it clear that while Filipinos are happy to work abroad, they must be treated as human beings and not as property by their employers.

"Si Presidente, palagi niyang sinasabi sa lahat ng FilCom (Filipino communities) abroad, sumunod kayo sa batas - but treat us humanely. Humanely means as human beings. We are not property, we are not inanimate things, we are not machines that pagka-swineldohan niyo, pwede niyo na lang ganunin. But we don't want to generalize," Cayetano said.

In the same meeting, Duterte heard from Cayetano and Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III a recommendation for the formation of an OFW cluster and from this cluster, an interagency focused on OFWs to put into one room all the services they need to go abroad.

Cayetano acknowledged that this was a short-term solution and said, "But long term, we have to open markets kung saan talaga safe sila."

"We have to be prepared. We have to fix our economy para may choice ang Filipino. Yun ang unang-unang goal ng pangulo, na dapat hindi kapit-patalim ang Filipino," he said.

The DFA and the DOLE reminded aspiring OFWs to take their orientation seminars seriously to understand the culture of their destination countries, help them adjust to their new environment, and meet other Filipinos to build a support system abroad.

"Alam kong excited na kayong umalis at maglingkod sa inyong pamilya, but napaka-importante ng Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar at 'yung Post-Arrival kasi bawat lugar, iba talaga yung kultura, iba talaga 'yung batas, and it's through this seminar na you learn," Cayetano said.

He reiterated that the legal assistance fund for Filipinos abroad, can now be used to assist Filipinos in the police level except for some countries where Filipinos are accused of terrorism.

Online jobs portal WorkAbroad.Ph states that Kuwait was the fourth top destination country for OFWs, while the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) ranked Kuwait as the fifth top country of deployment for new hires and re-hires. —KBK, GMA News