Hong Kong, Singapore possible and much nearer alternatives

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 8: The Philippines Department of Migrant Labor decided to suspend domestic workers' deployment to Kuwait until significant reforms for Overseas Filipino Workers in Kuwait are put in place. The Minister of Migrant Labor Affairs Susan Opel said that she believes in diplomacy and outstanding problems can still be resolved.

The decision to suspend recruitment of new Filipino domestic workers coming to Kuwait comes after a Filipino domestic worker in Kuwait Jullebee Ranara was sexually abused and killed by her sponsors son few weeks ago.

Migrant Workers Affairs Minister Susan Ople stated that Filipinos looking to work abroad can consider other countries. Hong Kong remains a strong alternative and is much closer to home. Also Singapore is a good option where Philippines and Singapore have good relationship.

Opel also stated “The newbies, who have never worked before as domestic workers abroad, or those who have worked abroad as domestic workers but not Kuwait, need to wait first because the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) wants to ensure that there are better monitoring mechanism and faster response system in place before they go there.”, reports Philstar. She further stated “Why not just impose a total deployment ban? Because there are actual OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) who have already worked in Kuwait for several years who still want to go back to their old employers or seek new ones,”. “We are preparing well in advance for these talks, bringing with us an accumulation of abuse done over the years, hence, the need for significant changes,”