Some Filipino workers will be allowed to fly to Kuwait after the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) decided to partially lift the deployment ban of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to the Gulf state.
“The Board of POEA just came up with a resolution lifting ban partly. Partial lifting of the deployment ban,” said Silvestre Bello III, Labour Secretary and POEA chair in comments published by the Philippines News Agency.
Among those who will be allowed for deployment are newly hired and returning skilled and semi-skilled workers as well as professionals, he said.
He added that the deployment ban on newly hired and returning household service workers remains in place.
Bello said the partial lifting of the OFW deployment ban was due to the recent signing of the harmonised contract of employment between the Philippines and Kuwait.
The order takes effect immediately.
Provisions of the signed document between the two countries include prohibition for employers to keep any of the worker’s personal identity documents such as passport, and the entitlement of a worker to own a phone and use it outside the working hours provided that she keeps the secrets and privacy of the household.
The OFWs are also entitled to a paid full day per week break and must not work for more than 12 hours a day. The worker should be allowed to have no less than an hour break after five consecutive hours of work, and the right to at least eight hours of consecutive night rest.
Employers are also prohibited to assign a domestic worker to work outside Kuwait or be transferred to another employer without the OFWs’ written consent.
Bello also said that the Kuwaiti employers of slain OFW Jeanelyn Villavende have been charged with murder.
“They are now presently detained at the central jail,” he said.
Last month, DOLE imposed a total deployment ban due to the alleged attempt of the host government to cover-up the real cause of the OFW’s death.
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