ACTS-OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) Representative Aniceto Bertiz III on Sunday hailed the adoption of a new pact between the Philippines and Kuwait that “offers far greater protection to Filipino domestic workers.”
“The signed MOA (memorandum of agreement) is vastly superior to the draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) that we earlier rejected,” Bertiz said.
“Our sense is, the Kuwaiti government signed the better deal on account of President (Rodrigo) Duterte’s tough and uncompromising stance in safeguarding the rights and welfare of our domestic workers,” Bertiz said.
In the MOA, Bertiz said the Kuwaiti government agreed to “take legal measures against erring employers” and to “provide legal assistance” to domestic workers concerning labor contract violations by employers.
He said the Kuwaiti government also agreed to “provide a mechanism of inspection and monitoring of the level of care offered to domestic workers through official authorities in Kuwait.”
The Kuwaiti government agreed to “establish a mechanism, which shall provide 24-hour assistance to domestic workers,” and to “ensure that aggrieved workers shall have access to the services” of the emirate’s Department of Domestic Labor, Bertiz said.
In the MOA, the lawmaker said the Kuwaiti government also conceded that the passports of Filipinos are Philippine government property, and agreed to forbid employers from seizing the passports of their workers.
Bertiz congratulated Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers Abdullah Mama-o for their team work in reaching a deal with Kuwait.
Upon their return to Manila, the three officials are expected to brief members of Congress on the MOA, he said.
Bertiz said it was now up to the President whether he would partially lift the total ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait.
“The President has the option to partially lift the deployment ban with respect to Filipino professionals and other skilled workers who are seldom mistreated because they are difficult to replace. In a way, these workers are protected by their proficiencies,” Bertiz said.
The President has the option to keep the deployment ban on domestic workers, while the two governments are working out and putting in place the specific mechanisms to enforce the MOA, according to Bertiz.
“The situation of domestic workers is different. They are far more susceptible, especially because they live with their employers,” Bertiz said.
Bertiz urged the governments as well as the recruitment sectors of both the Philippines and Kuwait to take advantage of the MOA to work closer in order to advance highly ethical recruitment practices. (PR)