MANILA, April 29 — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte today said the temporary ban on Filipinos going to work in Kuwait is now permanent, intensifying a diplomatic standoff over the treatment of migrant workers in the Gulf nation.
Duterte in February imposed a prohibition on workers heading to Kuwait following the murder of a Filipina maid whose body was found stuffed in a freezer in the Gulf state.
Duterte in February imposed a prohibition on workers heading to Kuwait following the murder of a Filipina maid whose body was found stuffed in a freezer in the Gulf state.
The crisis deepened after Kuwaiti authorities last week ordered Manila’s envoy to leave the country over videos of Philippine embassy staff helping workers in Kuwait flee allegedly abusive employers.
The two nations had been negotiating a labour deal that Philippine officials said could result in the lifting of the ban but the recent escalation in tensions has put an agreement in doubt.
“The ban stays permanently. There will be no more recruitment for especially domestic helpers. No more,” Duterte told reporters in his hometown in the southern city of Davao.
Around 262,000 Filipinos work in Kuwait, nearly 60 per cent of them domestic workers, according to the Philippines’ foreign department.
Last week the Philippines apologised over the rescue videos but Kuwaiti officials announced they were expelling Manila’s ambassador and recalling their own envoy from the Southeast Asian nation.
Duterte today described the situation in Kuwait as a “calamity”.
The two nations had been negotiating a labour deal that Philippine officials said could result in the lifting of the ban but the recent escalation in tensions has put an agreement in doubt.
“The ban stays permanently. There will be no more recruitment for especially domestic helpers. No more,” Duterte told reporters in his hometown in the southern city of Davao.
Around 262,000 Filipinos work in Kuwait, nearly 60 per cent of them domestic workers, according to the Philippines’ foreign department.
Last week the Philippines apologised over the rescue videos but Kuwaiti officials announced they were expelling Manila’s ambassador and recalling their own envoy from the Southeast Asian nation.
Duterte today described the situation in Kuwait as a “calamity”.
He said he would bring home Filipina maids who suffered abuse as he appealed to workers who wanted to stay in the oil-rich state.
“I would like to address to their patriotism: come home. No matter how poor we are, we will survive. The economy is doing good and we are short of our workers,” he said.
“I would like to address to their patriotism: come home. No matter how poor we are, we will survive. The economy is doing good and we are short of our workers,” he said.
Malaysia has a vile notoriety for some of its citizens abusing maids, especially Indonesian maids. Our lack of humanity and civility towards our foreign maids have been a terrible source of shame for many of us.
I can understand president Duterte's action and applaud his national pride and care for his people working as maids or more likely slaves in the Gulf countries. If there are employers of foreign maids worse than a Malaysian it's a Gulf country's Arab.
Excellent decision your Excellency.
Duterte did the right thing, but shot himself in the foot, though.
ReplyDeleteThe Phillipines would be a basket economy without the Billions of Dollars ( hard US Dollars) remitted by its overseas workers.
it's bad enough being a foreign maid but do you also want them those poor Filipino maids to be sexually, physically and mentally abused like slaves?
DeleteYou can write about duterte but nothing on gst exemption by multinationals.......no thanks to najib.....
DeleteWow!
Just highlighting the harsh economic reality that the Phillipines faces.
Deleteso you support slavery of the Filipinos
DeleteRight you are KT.
Delete"Duterte did the right thing, but shot himself in the foot,...."
DeleteSo Duterte did the right thing but did the wrong thing, so what should he do then?
I say he should attract more FDI from China to provide more jobs for his people at home and screw the U.S. dollar.
Duterte made the right decision by national principles, but the wrong thing by the hungry mouths of the dependents of their overseas workers.
DeleteChina FDI directly benefits China, with , maybe , a bit of trickle down to the local economy.
Foreign worker remittances directly feeds millions of mouths in the Phillipines.
Don't be just a theoretician.
I say if kaytee were to visit pinoyland, duterte can mistakenly shoot kaytee dead. Kaytee may be the biggest drug pusher. That explains his disapperance couple of days ago
DeleteDo you ever wonder why the Middle Eastern countries do not employ more Moslem maids from Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan?
ReplyDeleteIs it because of the religion factor or race factor?
Well done Excellency Duterte!
ReplyDeleteHowever, you also need to work on resolving the reasons why so many Filipinas and Filipinos need to go overseas to find work to make a decent living.
I never knew of so many Filipinos and especially Filipinas coming to Malaysia to work as maids during Marcos' time but since Marcos' ouster, the numbers have been growing.
Obviously, the Philippines people cannot eat democracy, human rights, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble and peacefully protest and so forth.
As president, you (Duterte) needs to address the economic issues within Philippines or else your people will continue to be treated like wage slaves in wealthier countries.
"You can write about duterte but nothing on gst exemption by multinationals.......no thanks to najib"
ReplyDeleteIf those GST exemptions for China multinationals building needed infrastructure provides economic opportunities for Malaysian businesses and workers, it may not be such a bad thing.
Raw Material + Construction Machinery + Railway Equipment 100% China.
DeleteConstruction Workers China (supposedly because they must understand instructions in Chinese).
What the fuck economic opportunities for Malaysian businesses and workers ?
Philippines' GDP
ReplyDelete2016 - 7‰
2017 - 6.6%
How much were the corresponding GDP of M'sia?
Ever since Duterte took over as President, the Philippines economy has been growing strongly!
The maid exporting is a legacy problem from the past due to governance malfeasances.
Talk cock lah for yr 5sec oxymoron rant, then shut the fuck up!
As long as anyone is a worker and not an employer, you are equally a slave whether the job is a maid, clerk, sweeper, lawyer, CEO, MD etc.
ReplyDeleteThe question is why are the Filipino maids mistreated in mostly Middle Eastern countries and why they don't hire Moslem maids?
Is it because of religion or race?
Since kaytee so kapochee, why not write about the impact on the world if trump didnt renew the iran deal....
ReplyDeleteThis issue....sai hei la
Sendiri problem also havent settled wanna talk about pinoyland