PHL team conducts desert rescue of abused OFW in Kuwait

A Philippine "rapid response team" has been going around Kuwait to rescue Filipino household workers experiencing abuse from their employers, GMA News' JP Soriano reported on 24 Oras on Thursday.

The operation dubbed "Rescue in the Desert" rescues abused OFWs in a swift and surgical manner so as not to imperil the rescuers.

The report shows the team rescuing a Filipino domestic worker who was fleeing from her employer whom she accused of physically abusing her.

Meanwhile, Philippine authorities in Kuwait are fast-tracking the registration of undocumented and overstaying Filipinos who want to avail of the amnesty ahead of the April 22 deadline.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) fears that a crackdown on illegally staying foreigners will immediately follow the expiration of the amnesty period on Sunday.

In the coming weeks, President Rodrigo Duterte and several ranking government officials are set to visit Kuwait to witness the signing of a draft memorandum of understanding that will ensure the safety and protection of OFWs there.

DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the signing may occur in May although there is no definite date yet.

"So we're using this time between now and when the President to go there to ask the Kuwaiti to show this goodwill and to help us implement all of this," Cayetano said. 

The government stopped the deployment of newly hired OFWs to Kuwait following reports of abuses, chief among them the killing of Joanna Demafelis whose body was found in a freezer in an apartment previously occupied by her employers. —KBK, GMA News