PH to explore all possibilities to improve labor agreement with Kuwait

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 31) — The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) on Tuesday said it would look into all aspects of the country’s labor agreement with Kuwait following the gruesome death of a Filipino domestic worker in the Gulf state.

“We will explore all possibilities. Right now, it’s difficult to just give everything away kasi negotiations nga ‘yan [because these are negotiations],” DMW Secretary Toots Ople told CNN Philippines’ The Source.

Despite calls from several lawmakers, the DMW said it is not considering a deployment ban to Kuwait after the killing of Jullebee Ranara, whose burnt body was found in a desert in Salmi, Al-Jarah Governorate.

What the department is eyeing are additional safeguards, Ople said on Jan. 24. 

DMW Undersecretary Bernard Olalia told CNN Philippines the agency will be reaching out to the Kuwaiti government to revise the labor agreement between the two countries. 

Ople said some of the matters they will look into are the implementation of the labor agreement, complaints and reporting mechanisms, response time of authorities, tracking of welfare cases, and the possible whitelisting and blacklisting of recruitment agencies similar to what is being implemented in Saudi Arabia.

The DMW has imposed a preventive suspension against Ranara’s employer as the department also looks into the shortcomings committed by local recruiter Catalyst International Manpower Services Co. and its foreign counterpart, Platinum International Office for Recruitment of Domestic Manpower, based in Kuwait. 

Olalia said there was negligence on the part of the recruiters as they failed to continuously monitor and provide assistance to Ranara.

Ople said agencies did not have a monitoring report about Ranara’s case despite the latter already raising issues of harassment and abuse to her family in the Philippines. She noted such negligence can be considered grounds for suspension, meaning they will be prohibited from recruiting.

Kuwait’s foreign minister assured the Philippines that the case will be tried in a fair and transparent manner, Ople added.

Meanwhile, the Philippine government is working on the assistance to be given to Ranara’s family, which includes scholarships and housing, she said.