Duterte may proceed with trip to Kuwait, subject to conditions

April 4, 2018

President Rodrigo Duterte might proceed with his trip to Kuwait, Malacanang said on Wednesday.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, however, said this would take place if the Department of Labor and Employment could get a commitment from the Kuwaiti government that minimum safety and welfare conditions for the overseas Filipino workers (OFW) could be assured.

These include no confiscation of passports of the OFWs and these will instead be deposited with the Phlippine Embassy in Kuwait; seven hours of sleep daily; and one day off per week

The OFWs should also be allowed to cook their own food, no pork, " plus absolutely no physical abuse," Roque said.

He said Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has promised to include these conditions in employment contract.

But as of the moment, quoting Foreign  Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, he said, "no final agreement reached yet" with Kuwait and the "employment ban (of OFWs) stays."

Duterte ordered the total deployment ban of Filipino workers following the murder of a Filipina household worker whose remains were found inside a feeezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait last February. Celerina Monte/DMS