THE Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) yesterday said it is not yet seeing any signs that Kuwait will lift anytime soon the suspension of visa issuance to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
In an interview after facing some of the stranded Kuwait-bound OFWs at the department’s head office in Mandaluyong City, DMW Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac said it remains uncertain as to when Kuwait will lift the suspension.
“As of now, there is no certainty as to when will the suspension end. We are just continuing to hope that the road remains open for labor diplomacy. No period has been set on what will happen with the talks with the Kuwaiti side. For the moment, the suspension remains in effect,” Cacdac said.
For now, the DMW official said they will be closely working with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) regarding negotiations with Kuwait.
“We are talking to the DFA about what may lie ahead in the future,” said Cacdac.
The Kuwaiti government has suspended the issuance of visas to Filipinos allegedly due to Manila’s violation of its labor agreement with the Arab nation.
The suspension has resulted to at least 815 Kuwait-bound OFWs being unable to depart.
With the visa issuance suspension likely to linger, Cacdac urged affected workers to avail of the government’s alternative employment assistance.
“What we see here is we must give our countrymen affected by the suspension the chance to look at other job opportunities. It will be better if they are presented with other options,” he said, stressing that “finding alternative jobs is more sustainable. It is more important to find other jobs and have another option available.”
DMW Assistant Secretary Francisco de Guzman said job matching efforts are already ongoing for those who opt to avail of the alternative employment assistance.
“The 815 who were supposed to fly out already, we are prioritizing them now. We are assisting them, we are reaching out to them to offer alternative jobs,” said De Guzman.
He said the DMW is already in talks with different recruitment agencies to find more employment opportunities, among them in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates (UAE). “Usually, the job orders are also within the Gulf States,” he said.
De Guzman said the DMW will assist the OFWs in their application and facilitate the necessary documents for their deployment.
“As early as next week, we will be able to rollout with their transfer (to another job),” he said.
The first batch of Kuwait-bound OFWs yesterday received their one-time financial assistance from DMW amounting to P30,000 each.
