Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) secretary Silvestre Bello III announced on Wednesday, May 23, that deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Kuwait will begin next week.
During the Senate’s hearing on the cases of OFW abuses and deaths overseas, Bello said the guidelines on OFW recruitment and deployment will be released next week, which marks the green light for the deployment of OFWs to the Gulf state.
“Puwede na sila makabiyahe next week [dahil] lalabas na ‘yung guidelines,” Bello said.
“Yung mga skilled [workers] hindi covered ng MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) so puwede na sila lumipad kahit bukas,” the labor chief also said.
Bello said that until the guidelines are released, household service workers (HSWs) bound to Kuwait will not be deployed despite the lifting of the deployment ban for all OFWs.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) headed the drafting of the recruitment guidelines for OFWs following the signing of the labor deal between the Philippines and Kuwait that protects the welfare of OFWs in the Gulf state.
The guidelines, patterned from the labor deal, seeks to provide further protection for OFWs from recruitment to deployment.
