The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said that the Philippine government will not lift the deployment ban of Filipino workers to Kuwait unless the said Gulf state agrees to impose more “pragmatic measures” for the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) there.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a statement that there have developments with the Philippines’ negotiation with Kuwait, but more measures have to be imposed.
Cayetano said that one of the measures that they are pushing is that Filipino domestic workers in Kuwait should receive a minimum monthly salary of KD120.00 or not less than P20,000.
Aside from the salary other measures include eight hours of rest daily, access to their passports and phones, and the limitation to work in one household only.
“This will ensure that our kababayans do not get shortchanged and will receive the salary they originally signed up for,” Cayetano said.
“We really must work with Kuwait to make sure we come up with an implementable agreement that would contain guarantees for the protection of our workers,” he added.
The DFA will have a meeting with the Department of Labor and Employment on March 12 to further discuss the reforms for the benefit of OFWs.
