Pacquiao: Satisfying if death penalty imposed on abusive Kuwaiti employers

Senator Manny Pacquiao on Friday said he will be satisfied if the Kuwaiti government will impose death penalty on employers who have maltreated Filipino workers.

"I-death penalty nila ‘yung employer na gumawa nun at siguro masa-satisfy tayo, magkaroon tayo ng kaginhawaan sa puso natin, kaginhawaan ng Kuwait government na i-impose din nila ‘yung batas nila doon sa kanilang mga citizen dahil buhay itong nawala at hindi tayo parang hayop lang na basta lang patayin at apihin," Pacquiao said in a short speech during a press conference with President Rodrigo Duterte in Davao City.

The senator made the remarks as he was voicing his outrage over reports of hardworking domestic workers being battered and maltreated by their employers abroad, particularly in the Middle East.

"Pero naawa ako sa kanila dahil ‘yung iba may mga pasa pa, may mga bugbog. Para bang… masakit sa akin na tignan ‘yung mga kababayan natin na inaapi sa ibang bansa na malaki man sana ang naitulong natin sa kanila dahil na tayo ang nagtatrabaho sa kanila at tayo ay tumatanggap lang ng pinaghihirapan natin," Pacquiao said.

He said the Kuwaiti government must not "tolerate" abusive acts against Filipino workers.

Pacquiao is also pushing for the reimposition of the death penalty in the Philippines.

In the same press conference, Duterte said the Philippines will not lift the ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait following report of a Filipino whose body was found in a freezer in an abandoned apartment in the Gulf state.

"The Filipino is no slave to anyone, anywhere and everywhere. Every unlawful physical injury that is inflicted on an OFW [overseas Filipino worker] is an injury [that] I personally bear as the head of this Republic," Duterte said.

"Every abuse committed against an OFW is an affront against us, as a sovereign nation. [All that] I ask [for] our overseas Filipino workers, is that their dignity is honored and the rights of a human being, upheld and respected," he added.

An estimated 250,000 Filipinos work in Kuwait, 75 percent of which are domestic helpers.

Some 300 Filipinos apply for work in Kuwait every day. —ALG, GMA News