President Duterte has approved the recommendation to ban the deployment of overseas Filipino workers to Kuwait after finding out that the Gulf state tried to hide the truth behind OFW Jeanelyn Villavende’s death.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the total deployment ban recommended by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III also covers skilled workers.
According to Panelo, Duterte’s decision was prompted by the result of the re-autopsy conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation which indicated that Villavende was sexually abused, something that the Kuwaiti government never mentioned in its report.
“Villavende was sexually abused and sodomized, which means that the Kuwaiti government was attempting to hide the said circumstance when it gave us a general autopsy report that the cause of death was trauma and bruises all over her body,” he said.
“PRRD is for a total ban until the Memorandum of Agreement between the two countries is fully implemented and the terms contained therein are incorporated in every labor contract with our OFWs,” he added.
Panelo had earlier said that there was no need to amend the MoA signed by Kuwait and the Philippines in 2018 but called for Kuwait to strictly implement the conditions stated in the agreement.
Malacañang had earlier said it will depend on Bello if the Philippines should stop sending OFWs to Kuwait after Villavende’s death. It added that cutting ties with Kuwait also depended on the Labor Secretary.
Duterte was reportedly outraged over the news of Villavende’s death, saying it was a clear disregard of the MoA signed between Kuwait and the Philippines. (Argyll Geducos)
