ACTS-OFW, a coalition of migrant workers organizations on Monday slammed the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) for the “urgent lifting” of the ban on the deployment of Filipino domestic helpers to Kuwait, stressing that there was no need to rush anything, yet it was still done in a hurry.
“Blood will be on the hands of POEA and on all the members of its governing board; they who recklessly voted in favor of removing the deployment ban at the soonest possible time, without even waiting for the wheels of justice to start moving,” said ACTS-OFW chairperson Aniceto Bertiz III.
“They will all be responsible in case another OFW (overseas Filipino worker) gets killed or injured in Kuwait,” Bertiz, a former member of Congress, warned.
The ex-solon, who was a former OFW, made the statement as ACTS-OFW had asked the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to verify reports that another Filipino domestic helper in Kuwait, this time from Davao City has died.
“This vicious cycle of violence will never end if we keep on sending our helpless Filipino domestic helpers.”
ACTS-OFW withheld the name of the deceased pending notification of kin, saying only that she was 45 years old and a native of Davao City.
“We strongly suspect that the immediate lifting of the ban was due to the intense lobbying by Philippine-based recruitment agencies supplying Filipino domestic helpers to Kuwait,” Bertiz said.
“These recruiters get paid handsomely by Kuwaiti employers every time a Filipino domestic helper gets deployed. They don’t care about the worker’s welfare and protection after she gets assigned to a Kuwaiti household,” Bertiz pointed out.
The POEA declared on Feb. 14 the resumption of the processing and deployment of all categories of household service workers to Kuwait, barely a month after it imposed a total ban following the killing of Filipino domestic helper Jeanelyn Villavende.
An autopsy conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) indicated that Villavende was physically and sexually abused.
“These recruiters get paid handsomely by Kuwaiti employers every time a Filipino domestic helper gets deployed.”
In 2018, the Philippines and Kuwait had a diplomatic row over the killing of Filipino domestic helper Joana Demafelis and the Emirate’s kid-glove treatment of physically violent employers.
Last year, another Filipino domestic helper in Kuwait, Constancia Dayag, was also killed by her employer. Like Villavende, Dayag was also physically and sexually abused.
“This vicious cycle of violence will never end if we keep on sending our helpless Filipino domestic helpers to a place that repeatedly abuses them, and without our government dramatically increasing their level of safety and security through a total deployment ban while setting up the necessary guarantees,” said Bertiz.