Deployment to Kuwait

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THE issue of deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait is in the news again following queries from labor export stakeholders and applicants seeking jobs in that Muslim country.

The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) made it clear that deployment to Kuwait cannot yet resume, as discussions about such resumption are still ongoing.  Migrant Workers Undersecretary and officer-in-charge Hans Leo Cacdac said talks on lifting the suspension are in progress up to this time.

Cacdac took the occasion to say some cryptic words of his own on the issue of Kuwait labor deployment, saying (although) “there is a clear path to diplomacy, the path to justice is equally important.”

‘If any host country cannot give us the basic assurance of adequate personal security, fair wages and working conditions and the like, then there is no reason to work there.’

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The official was of course referring to the case of Jullebee Ranara, the housemaid who was brutally killed in Kuwait by the son of her employer, her body burned in the desert.  This case led to former President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to suspend the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait.  The Kuwaiti judicial system did its best to give Ranara and her family back in Manila the justice that they deserve.  Finally, a Kuwaiti appellate court affirmed the conviction of the 17-year-old killer of the Filipina domestic helper.

This, however, is not the end of the Ranara family’s long quest for justice that has eluded them for so long.  The family’s supporters and followers of the domestic helper’s case said the ruling is just a step toward the complete attainment of justice.  The killer was meted a 15-year sentence which is the maximum penalty that can be handed down to a juvenile in Kuwait.

Also, Cacdac said the convicted killer might still appeal the ruling before the court which focuses on the question of law.

He said the next step of the Philippine government is to file a civil action for damages against the parents of the convicted killer.  The concerned agencies — Department of Migrant Workers and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration — have committed to help the Ranara relatives in availing themselves of this legal remedy.

As both the Philippines and Kuwait sit down to talk about the business of sending Filipino workers in that country, it should be plain to both camps that while Filipinos need the jobs and the concomitant better pay given by foreign employers, our fundamental rights as human being are primordial.  If any host country cannot give us the basic assurance of adequate personal security, fair wages and working conditions and the like, then there is no reason to work there.

During the time of Secretary Susan Ople as DMW head, she cited the importance of the adaptation of the Global Compact on Migration by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) where over 150 countries voted in favor of establishing strong cooperation among member states to protect migrants, including all foreign workers.

Perhaps it is time to follow through with the implementation worldwide of this UN convention.

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