The Department of Labor and Employment yesterday announced the partial lifting of the deployment ban on overseas Filipino workers to Kuwait effective immediately.
“The POEA Board just came up with a resolution lifting the ban partially…Exempted from the ban are skilled workers, professionals, including semi-skilled workers,” DoLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.
The Labor chief cited the recent signing of the harmonized standardized employment contract for household service workers as reason for the partial lifting of the ban.
“Because finally, the proposed harmonized contract of employment was agreed upon by the Kuwaiti government. This is a measure that would provide effective protection to our overseas workers,” said Bello.
“The harmonized contract contains all the provisions that our President wants to be included have been agreed by the Kuwaiti government,” he added.
Last week, Bello, Undersecretary Claro Arellano, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration head Hans Leo Cacdac, and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration chief Bernard Olalia met Kuwaiti officials to discuss and agree on a standard employment contract to ensure the welfare and protection of OFWs in the Gulf state.
Salient provisions of the standard employment contract include: Employers are barred from keeping 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, and use such phone in a manner consistent with public morals.
Household service workers, however, will continue to be covered by the ban.
“It has to be studied very carefully because there is a school of thought to maintain permanently the ban of HSW. In fact, when I was there I had a meeting with those in Bahay Kalinga…when I asked them if they want to continue the ban on HSW, 100 percent wants to maintain it. So it will take some serious study before we can consider lifting the ban,” said Bello. (Leslie Aquino)