NEW KUWAIT DEPLOYMENT BAN AFTER OFW’S DEATH
Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) is now looking into the possibility of imposing another total deployment ban in Kuwait
Manila - The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) is now looking at the possibility of imposing another total deployment ban in Kuwait on the heels of the death of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) due to possible abuses.
Dole Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the re-imposition of the deployment ban is one of the options they are looking into following the death of household service worker Constancia Lago Dayag in the hands of her employer.
“The horrible fate of Ms. Dayag is deeply saddening and utterly condemnable,” said Bello.
“I am taking the Kuwaiti Government to task for the gruesome death of yet another Filipino worker in the hands of her employer in Kuwait,” he added.
Bello was seconded by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), which said such an option may be discussed by their Governing Board (GB).
“We have our regular GB meeting at the POEA, where we can possibly discuss any issue, including the ban,” said POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia in a separate interview.
In 2018, the POEA imposed a four-month total deployment ban to Kuwait upon the directives of no less than President Rodrigo Duterte amid the continued abuses and maltreatment of OFWs there.
After its lifting in May 2018, the governments of the Philippines and Kuwait entered into a memorandum of agreement on the deployment and protection of OFWs to be deployed there.
But according to the labor chief, the death of Dayag, a 47-year-old Agadanan, Isabela native, proves failure to comply in the labor pact.
“Aside from apparent violation of the agreement on the protection of OFWs between our government and Kuwait, there appears to have been a breach of the employment contract by the foreign employer,” said Bello.
He said he has already ordered the POEA and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Kuwait to take action on the case.
“Go after the foreign and local agencies that deployed Dayag,” said Bello.
Based on initial reports reaching Dole, Dayag was supposedly brought to the Al Sabah Hospital just the other night but was declared dead on arrival.
Bello said Dayag’s body bore various contusions and hematoma with a “cucumber” inside her private part.
“We extend our sympathies to the family of Ms. Dayag, and we shall do everything to find justice for her death,” said Bello.
The horrible fate of Ms. Dayag is deeply saddening and utterly condemnable. SILVESTRE BELLO III Labor & Development Secretary