Twenty-five distressed overseas Filipino workers from Kuwait arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport yesterday morning.
The repatriated OFWs arrived on board Philippine Airlines Flight PR 669 at around 6:30 a.m.
This is the fourth batch of OFWs who were repatriated amid a deployment ban issued by the Department of Labor and Employment in compliance with the order of President Duterte to stop sending workers to Kuwait.
The order came after the government received numerous complaints from OFWs in Kuwait such as maltreatment, including non-payment of salaries, rape, and verbal and physical abuse.
Unexplained deaths were also reported in the Gulf state involving Filipino household service workers.
An order was also issued suspending the processing of new employment certificates for Filipinos wanting to work in Kuwait.
Just last week, the government confirmed that the body found in a freezer in a vacant apartment in Kuwait was that of a Filipina. A dioxyribonucleic acid test identified the body as that of Joanna Daniela Dimapilis.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that the government is now processing the repatriation of more OFWs from Kuwait. Eight-hundred of them are arriving in the country this week.
A DFA source said only Undersecretary Ernesto Abella is authorized to speak about the issue of repatriation from Kuwait. The office of Abella, however, could not be reached yesterday.
An estimated 250,000 Filipinos work in Kuwait and 75 percent of them are domestic helpers. (Roy C. Mabasa)