03 November 2011
KUWAIT: Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have been officially exempted from the list of 41 countries to which Filipino domestic workers, including housemaids, will no longer be supplied. The ban will be implemented in mid-November. "We are pleased to hear a new report but I think it is temporary," said Dolor Suarez Elinany, one of the owners of recruitment agencies, told the Kuwait Times.
The exemption was granted because some Kuwaiti MPs requested that the country be excluded [referring to the visit of some Kuwaiti MPs earlier last month]. We don't know next year. However, from our part of course, it's a good decision as many workers will surely be affected if the ban is imposed in Kuwait," she noted. Philippine Embassy officials in Kuwait could not be reached for a comment.
The Philippines authority had earlier announced its readiness to stop employing its domestic workers in countries that do not comply with Republic Act 10022 or the Amended Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995. The ban will only be applicable to new recruits. However, it will affect housemaids that plan to return.
The countries mentioned in the list has allegedly failed to sign an international treaty that protects Filipino workers. Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates were previously included in the list. The one published yesterday, however, did not mention the two Gulf Arab countries. These countries have not signed bilateral agreements with the Philippines "to protect the rights of overseas Filipino workers." We also do not have laws to protect foreign workers, the resolution added.
Included in the list were strife-torn countries like Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Sudan, Chad and Pakistan. Also mentioned in the list were: Antigua, Barbuda, Barbados, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Croatia, Cuba, North Korea, Dominica, East Timor Leste, Eritrea, Haiti, India, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritania, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nauru, Nepal, Niger, Palestine, Serbia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Tonga, Turks and Caicos, T
uvalu, US Virgin Islands, Vanuatu and Zimbabwe.
Labor and Employment Secretary (Minister) Rosalinda Baldoz said that the countries mentioned in the list issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) were not major labor markets. "It would have very minimal impact on the hiring of OFWs because most of the countries (in the list of non-compliant countries) are countries that do not receive many workers," Baldoz said. Manila will stop supplying Filipino workers from mid November, Baldoz added. An estimated nine million Filipino oversea
s workers, or about 10 percent of the country's population are working abroad, official statistics show.
Many work as maids, laborers or seamen in areas where they are vulnerable to abuse. Many Filipinos also work in higher positions in Western countries. Their dollar remittances have kept the Philippine economy afloat, although reports of abuse are common. While Manila has in the past banned manpower supply to war-torn areas, many Filipinos still leave through illegal means rather than take low-paying jobs at home.
KUWAIT: Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have been officially exempted from the list of 41 countries to which Filipino domestic workers, including housemaids, will no longer be supplied. The ban will be implemented in mid-November. "We are pleased to hear a new report but I think it is temporary," said Dolor Suarez Elinany, one of the owners of recruitment agencies, told the Kuwait Times.
The exemption was granted because some Kuwaiti MPs requested that the country be excluded [referring to the visit of some Kuwaiti MPs earlier last month]. We don't know next year. However, from our part of course, it's a good decision as many workers will surely be affected if the ban is imposed in Kuwait," she noted. Philippine Embassy officials in Kuwait could not be reached for a comment.
The Philippines authority had earlier announced its readiness to stop employing its domestic workers in countries that do not comply with Republic Act 10022 or the Amended Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995. The ban will only be applicable to new recruits. However, it will affect housemaids that plan to return.
The countries mentioned in the list has allegedly failed to sign an international treaty that protects Filipino workers. Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates were previously included in the list. The one published yesterday, however, did not mention the two Gulf Arab countries. These countries have not signed bilateral agreements with the Philippines "to protect the rights of overseas Filipino workers." We also do not have laws to protect foreign workers, the resolution added.
Included in the list were strife-torn countries like Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Sudan, Chad and Pakistan. Also mentioned in the list were: Antigua, Barbuda, Barbados, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Croatia, Cuba, North Korea, Dominica, East Timor Leste, Eritrea, Haiti, India, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritania, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nauru, Nepal, Niger, Palestine, Serbia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Tonga, Turks and Caicos, T
uvalu, US Virgin Islands, Vanuatu and Zimbabwe.
Labor and Employment Secretary (Minister) Rosalinda Baldoz said that the countries mentioned in the list issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) were not major labor markets. "It would have very minimal impact on the hiring of OFWs because most of the countries (in the list of non-compliant countries) are countries that do not receive many workers," Baldoz said. Manila will stop supplying Filipino workers from mid November, Baldoz added. An estimated nine million Filipino oversea
s workers, or about 10 percent of the country's population are working abroad, official statistics show.
Many work as maids, laborers or seamen in areas where they are vulnerable to abuse. Many Filipinos also work in higher positions in Western countries. Their dollar remittances have kept the Philippine economy afloat, although reports of abuse are common. While Manila has in the past banned manpower supply to war-torn areas, many Filipinos still leave through illegal means rather than take low-paying jobs at home.
© Kuwait Times 2011
