Three diplomats allegedly behind controversial OFW rescue in Kuwait return to PHL

(Eagle News)—The three diplomats who came under fire in Kuwait following a controversial rescue of distressed Overseas Filipino Workers there are back in the Philippines.

The Kuwaiti government had planned to charge the diplomats, who were not identified, over the rescue it said was illegal, but the plan was apparently aborted after successful talks between the two countries that resulted in Kuwait agreeing to allow them to return home, and in the signing of an agreement on the protection of OFWs in the Gulf state.

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration deputy administrator Arnel Ignacio said the rescue was illegal if Kuwaiti authorities were not properly informed about it.

The signing of the pact came following the strained relations between the two countries following the rescue, culminating in Kuwait recalling its Manila representative and expelling Philippine Ambassador Renato Villa.

Days after the agreement, the Philippines ordered a total lifting of the ban on the deployment of OFWs to Kuwait which President Rodrigo Duterte had ordered to be in place following the death of OFW Joanna Demafelis in the Middle Eastern country.

Demafelis’ body was found in a freezer in an abandoned apartment.