The Makabayan bloc in the Philippines House of Representatives put forward a resolution pressing the lower chamber’s committee on overseas workers’ issues to investigate the Philippine government’s efforts to safeguard OFWs in Kuwait.
Filed by the progressive bloc on Thursday, House Resolution No. 726 cited the violent murder of Kuwait-based OFW Jullebee Ranara as well as allegations of more than 400 unhappy OFWs “stranded and cramped” in government facilities in Kuwait.
Ranara, a 35-year-old household worker, was allegedly murdered by her employer’s 17-year-old son. Her charred bones were discovered in a Kuwaiti desert.
“Ranara’s death and the plight of hundreds of OFWs in Kuwait serve as another reminder of the huge social costs of migrant development and as a wake-up call for the national government to abandon the labour export paradigm and start focusing on generating decent jobs at home,” the lawmakers said.
They added that Ranara “is alarmingly the fourth Filipina who suffered a gruesome death at the hands of Kuwaiti employers in recent years.”
“Such series of brutal killings of OFWs in Kuwait persisted despite the imposition of temporary deployment bans and despite the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the deployment of migrant workers between the Philippines and Kuwait in 2018,” the Makabayan bloc said.
With this in mind, their resolution–authored by ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas and Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel–said that “at the minimum, there is a need to review the MOU between the Philippines and Kuwait, which expired in 2022, and to scrap the highly exploitative kafala system in several countries, including Kuwait.”
To get a visa and worker’s permit under the kafala system, migrant workers must have a sponsor in Kuwait, which gives employer control over the job and migration status of overseas employees.
“Ranara’s death must put the spotlight on the immediate ratification of International Labour (ILO) Convention 190 on ending violence and harassment in the world of work, and of the enactment of laws that will strengthen protection for women workers in various settings,” they added.
If the House resolution is passed, the House panel’s probe will require the participation of “relevant officials immediately adopting the responsibility of protecting our OFWs in Kuwait.”
