Over 100 OFWs bound for Kuwait barred from leaving PHL

Over a hundred OFWs bound for Kuwait were barred from leaving the country by immigration officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport - Terminal 1 on Tuesday, according to a report on 24 Oras.

This caught the OFWs by surprise as they thought they were not covered by the deployment ban since they were not first-time OFWs and were just vacationing in the Philippines.

Immigration officials however said they were just implementing the order from the Department of Labor of Employment (DOLE), which stopped the deployment of OFWs to Kuwait following reports of abuses, including the case of Joanna Demafelis whose lifeless body was found inside a freezer last week.

"Ang Bureau of Immigration po ay tumutugon lamang sa binigay ng instruction ng ating pangulo at ng ating Secretary of Labor at kami po ay nag-aantay ng direktiba o tinatawag na Implementing Rules and Regulation na mag-specify kung ano pa ba ang papayag at di papayagan papuntang Kuwait," said Marc Red Mariñas, chief of the BI's port operation, in Chino Gaston's report on State of the Nation with Jessica Soho.

Still, some of the affected OFWs could not help but get dismayed at the development.

"'Di man lang kami inabisuhan na ganito pala 'yung mangyayari," said Lloyd Lourd Nacnac, one of the OFWs barred from leaving for Kuwait at the NAIA, in the State of the Nation report. 

"Paano na po kami kasi matagal na po kami sa kumpanya namin. Paano na 'yung mga gamit namin na nandun? 'Yung separation pay namin?" added Nacnac, who came home to the Philippines due to the death of his mother.

Based on the DOLE order, even OFWs with existing contracts will be barred from leaving for Kuwait.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III earlier said they are still studying whether to exempt vacationing OFWs from the deployment ban. —KBK, GMA News