Senator JV Ejercito condemned the death of a Filipina worker in Kuwait and urged government to review all deployment policies for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
“I condemn the death of Joanna Daniella Demafelis in Kuwait as well as the reported 82 other OFW deaths in Kuwait in 2016,” Ejercito said.
The legislator supported the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to ban OFW deployment to Kuwait. The lawmaker also urged the Kuwaiti government to investigate the deaths of Filipino workers and ensure the protection of all migrants in their country.
“We value our foreign relations with the people of Kuwait but we cannot stand idly by as our kababayans suffer from inhuman treatment,” added the senator from San Juan, who also called upon government agencies to provide assistance to the families of the victims.
He said the Philippine government should review policies concerning the deployment of OFWs in all countries.
Let us review bilateral agreements in order to make sure that our countrymen are protected by their host countries.
“Let us review bilateral agreements in order to make sure that our countrymen are protected by their host countries, and where there are no assurance of protection, let us rethink our deployment policy,” Ejercito explained, adding that Kuwait has not yet signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) designed to protect Filipino migrant workers.
“This unfortunate development lends urgency to our task of sustaining economic growth and providing more employment so that our people would not have to risk their lives working in other countries,” he concluded.