By Ricky Laxa /Staff Writer
“There is no confirmed date on the lifting of suspension and resumption of deployment of Filipino household workers to Kuwait, as that decision has yet to be finalized by the Philippines Department of Labor and Employment,” said Philippine Labor Attaché to Kuwait Nasser Mustafa during a brief interview with The Times Kuwait. He also refuted newspaper reports that suggested that the resumption of deployment would take place in a specific month.
Mustafa explained that recent meetings via zoom with Philippine Secretary of Labor Silvestre Bello III, Philippine Overseas Labor Office and Employment (POEA) and ILAB that required reports have been submitted by Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Kuwait to Bello with letter from recruitment agencies indicating the current and present status of Filipino household workers in Kuwait. Decisions will be based on these reports.
Furthermore, Mustafa explained that he met with relevant movement agencies in Kuwait that included the Ministry of Interior (MoI), Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) and Central Intelligence Department (CID), and that the results of the meetings were very positive. Among the results of the meetings include PAM agreeing to thirty endorsements of no cases per day as long as the public shelter is not full. PAM also agreed to allow five representatives from POLO and Philippine Embassy Assistance to Nationals during conciliation and mediation between employers and employee disputes. This is so that workers fully understand the process of conciliation and amicable settlement at the end of the hearing. Director of PAM also agreed to handle printout reports instead of POLO.
The MoI also agreed to accept ten (10) endorsements of runaway cases on a weekly basis and that the department will be responsible for the airfare. However Talha Deportation Center stated that in cases under its care the Embassy will still need to provide tickets. “For now we are in the process of visiting accommodations of recruitment agencies, ensuring that arrivals from the Philippines, employers returning workers and runaway cases will have a suitable place prior to POLO’s assumption of repatriation.
“Based on all these reports, Secretary Bello will take his decision, but again as to the schedule of resumption of deployment of household workers, there is no specific date,” reiterated Mustafa.