An irate President Rodrigo Duterte shows photos of Filipino workers who were reportedly abused in Kuwait during his speech at the Marco Polo Hotel in Davao City on Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. (Photo from Malacañang).
The first batch of distressed Filipinos from Kuwait are expected to start returning home on Sunday, ahead of the announcement of a ban on the deployment of household workers to the oil-rich kingdom, officials said on Saturday. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said some 800 Filipinos, mostly household workers, were expected to arrive from Kuwait over the next few days. Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola said the first batch of workers were to arrive from Feb. 11 to 13. The 800 are said to be among the 10,800 “undocumented” workers in Kuwait. Arriola said there were about 260,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Kuwait, 170,000 of whom were domestic workers.
Total ban
The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) said it would finalize over the weekend an order banning the deployment of household workers to Kuwait. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III will meet with senior labor officials on Monday to thresh out the details of the ban, according to Dole spokesperson Raul Francia. “Right now, there is only a suspension of the processing of new applications,” Francia said. “The actu
MANILA – Malacañang on Monday said the deployment ban to Kuwait stays even after the arrest of the suspects in the killing of overseas Filipino worker Joanna Demafelis. Demafelis’ death sparked outrage in the Philippines, prompting President Rodrigo Duterte to continue imposing the deployment ban of Filipino workers to Kuwait, home to about 252,000 Filipinos. Demafelis was found in a freezer at an abandoned apartment in Kuwait earlier this month, more than a year since she went missing. Investigation found signs of abuse. The suspects in Demafelis’ killing, couple Nader Essam Assaf and wife Mona, were arrested last week in Syria, marking a major development in the sensational case that has highlighted the plight of Filipino domestic helpers working in the Gulf state and other parts of the Middle East. “Well, we certainly appreciate the arrest of two of Joanna’s employers. However in addition to the arrest, we would like to see them prosecuted and punished for the murder of Joanna,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a news conference in Malacañang. “As of now, the deployment ban stays because the latest statement on this made by the President was when he visited the wake of Joanna, and he said that not only must they be apprehended, they must be punished.”
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration warns both Filipino workers and tourists looking for work in Macau to be cautious in accepting offers from other Filipinos for supposed employment in mainland China. The Department of Foreign Affairs has endorsed to the POEA the case of a Filipina household service worker in Macau who was allegedly recruited by a Filipina named Pia Ciabacal. According to the DFA, the OFW went to Macau as tourist and was able to land a job as household service worker. Ciabacal allegedly offered her a job in Beijing for the same position with a monthly salary of RMB7,500 per month. The domestic worker was able to enter and work in China but the employer refused to pay her any salary for her services. They even confiscated her passport and cellular phone. Pia Ciabacal and other Filipinos in Macau allegedly work as agent for a certain Chinese recruiter known only as “Fancy”. Fancy allegedly owns an establishment called MMC Enterprises located at Beleno Shop, Red Market in Macau. The Beleno shop acts as a front for MMC which clandestinely operates as a recruitment agency targeting unsuspecting Filipinos and Indonesians. The POEA has also received reports of Filipino household service workers (HSWs) in Hong Kong, Singapore and Cyprus who were lured into transferring to another country like Dubai, Mongolia, Turkey and Russia. The OFWs later found out t
TUGUEGARAO CITY — Filipino migrant workers in Saudi Arabia are calling on the government to stop employers there from trading their maids among themselves. Filipinos based in Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah denounced the practice in online messages. “We hope the government will take drastic measures to stop this. This has been going on for many years already and it has led to the abuse and exploitation of many [Filipino women],” said Angel (not her real name), who is based in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. Angel said migrant workers were auctioned off to families needing maids legally deployed to the oil-rich kingdom by Philippine labor recruitment agencies. “Usually one can see the motive of employers who show great interest in hiring [maids] by offering higher prices—they usually make sexual advances to the women,” Angel said. Maids are moved from one employer to another, depending on who makes the highest offer and where employers make the most profit, she said. No contracts
The job transfers are not covered by contracts, leaving the maids vulnerable to abuse, she said. Employers withhold the maids’ passports and “iqama,” or work visa, she said. “I feared for my life, especially when I learned that I had been sold to another employer for 24,000 rials,” Angel said. She said she escaped from her employer last week, on the n
The suspects in the murder of overseas Filipino worker Joanna Demafelis in Kuwait have been arrested by Lebanese authorities, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) revealed on Friday evening GRIM REUNION As government officials look on, Jessica Demafelis weeps while hugging the sealed casket of her sister, Joanna, whose remains were flown in from Kuwait on Friday morning. Joanna, who was reported missing for a year, was found inside a freezer in an apartment abandoned by her employers. —LYN RILLON The suspects in the murder of overseas Filipino worker Joanna Demafelis in Kuwait have been arrested by Lebanese authorities, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) revealed on Friday evening.
The Philippines sends more people to work abroad than any country except Mexico. About 10 percent of the Philippines population (about 10 million people) have worked outside the Philippines. Filipinos work in every country except North Korea, Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas told the Los Angeles Times. More than 2.5 million work in the United States and nearly a million in Saudi Arabia, with hundreds of thousands more working in the Middle East, mostly as maids and laborers. About 70 percent of Filipino workers are legal. The other 30 percent are undocumented illegal workers.
Richard C. Paddock wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “They nurse the sick in California, drive fuel trucks in Iraq, sail cargo ships through the Panama Canal and cruise ships through the Gulf of Alaska. They pour sake for Japanese salarymen and raise the children of Saudi businessmen. They are the Philippines’ most successful export: its workers. Three decades ago, seeking sources of hard currency and an outlet for a fast-growing population, then-President Ferdinand Marcos encouraged Filipinos to find jobs in other countries. Over time, the overseas worker has become a pillar of the economy. Every day, more than 3,100 leave the country. The current president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, calls them “the backbone of the new global workforce” and “our greatest export.” Worl
Location: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia lies at the furthermost part of southwestern Asia. It is bordered by the Arabian Gulf, United Arab Emirates and Qatar in the east; Red Sea in the west; Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan in the north; Yemen and Oman in the south.
Area: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia occupies about four-fifths of the Arab Peninsula, with a total area of around 2,000,000 square kilometers.
Geographical Features: Because of its large area, the Kingdom has a diverse topography. The Tihama coastal plain which lies along the Red Sea, is 1,100 kilometers long, 60 kilometers wide in the south and gradually narrows to the north until it reaches the Aqaba Gulf. To the east of this plain, lies a chain of mountains called Sarawat. These mountains rise to 9,000 feet in the south and gradually fall to 3,000 feet in the north. Several large valleys slope eastward and westward from these mountains. They include Jazan valley, Najran valley, Tathleeth valley, Bisha valley, Himdh valley, Rumah valley, Yanbu valley and Fatima Valley. To the east of the chain stands the Najd Plateau which extends eastward to Samman Desert, Dahnaa Dunes and southward to Dwaser valley. This region is parallel to the Empty Quarter Desert and stretches northwa