Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Kuwait will be required to secure bank accounts as a part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Philippines and the Gulf state.
According to Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, the requirement will be imposed to ensure that OFWs, particularly household service workers, receive their compensation on time and in exact amount.
The MOU also includes a “provision of food, housing, clothing, and health insurance” for OFWs.
Other deals secured to protect the Filipino household service workers (HSWs) include a minimum monthly salary of KD120 (P20,700), 8 hours of rest per day, possession of their passports and mobile phones, and limiting their work to one household.
The meeting between the two countries started in Kuwait and ended in the Philippines on Friday, March 16.
Labor secretary Silvestre Bello III is expecting to have the deal signed within two weeks.
The MOU aims to ensure that rights of OFWs are protected. The two countries decided to draft a version following the imposition of deployment ban of OFWs to Kuwait after the body of Joanna Demafelis was discovered stuffed inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment in the Gulf state.
