(Eagle News) — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said it was now finalizing arrangements for the formal signing of an agreement with the Kuwaiti government on the protection of overseas Filipino workers deployed in the Gulf state.
In a statement on Tuesday, March 20, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) may take place in the first week of April.
The venue of the signing has yet to be determined.
According to Bello, officials from Philippine and Kuwaiti governments approved the final MOU draft on Friday, March 16, after a two-day negotiation in Manila.
The Kuwaiti delegation was led by Ambassador Ganhim Saqer Ali Shaheen Al Ganhim, while the Philippine panel included Labor Undersecretary Claro Arellano, Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), Administrator Bernard Olalia of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Renato Villa.
Bello said included in the the major provisions of the agreement were the ban on the surrender of Filipino passports to Kuwaiti employers, the binding effect of the Philippine-crafted employment contract, the guaranteed payment of a minimum monthly net pay of $400 paid through the bank, and the non-confiscation of mobile phones and other communication gadgets.
The MOU also stipulated that the OFW must give a written consent approved by the labor attaché before he or she is transferred to another employer.
President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered a total ban on the deployment of workers to the Arab state following reports of rampant abuses and the death of Joana Demafelis, who was found stuck in a freezer in an abandoned apartment in Kuwait early February.
Bello has said that there was no guarantee that the Philippine government would lift the ban on the deployment of OFWs to Kuwait once the MOU was signed.
