The Department of Migrant Workers on Thursday vowed to provide assistance to first-time domestic helpers whose application processing has been delayed following the announcement of a targeted Kuwait deployment ban on Wednesday.
Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac said in two separate interviews that the deference policy will only cover pending applications that have not yet undergone verification by labor attaches, those whose contracts have not been signed and those with no exit clearances.
Otherwise, those who have been given overseas employment certificates will be allowed to leave the country for employment, but a cut-off will be put in place for the policy to take effect.
“If there is already a contract or exit clearance, we will allow them (to be deployed), but we have a cut-off. Contracts that have undergone verification by our labor attaches will be allowed, but of course, we will monitor the situation there. Those who have exit clearances will also be allowed for now, but this just cannot go on forever,” Cacdac said in a television interview.
He said that assistance will be given to applicants who will be affected by the ban, including those seeking alternative employment in Hong Kong and Singapore. Ople previously said that the two countries are great alternatives for seeking overseas household service work.
“Applicants whose applications haven’t been processed yet will not be allowed to continue for now, but they will be given alternative labor market destinations such as Singapore and Hong Kong for them to have continued work,” he explained in a radio interview.
The deployment ban for first-time applicants was instated ahead of talks between the Philippine and Kuwait labor officials to craft a more strengthened bilateral labor agreement that could add security to the welfare of OFWs in Kuwait.
The death of 35-year old domestic worker Jullebee Ranara last month, as well as the reported abuse of Myla Bagbag by her employer that prompted her to jump from the third floor of a building triggered the ban.
Cacdac said that they aim to talk with their Kuwait counterparts on the implementation of provisions in their labor agreement, including ensuring humane living and working conditions among workers and prohibiting confiscation of phones and passports, as well as checking the track record of recruitment agencies and improvement of their monitoring capacities.
“From the Kuwaiti gov’t side, they should instate added monitoring, which should be a joint effort by them and the Philippines, to ensure that those with a bad track record would not be able to employ OFWs,” he said.