The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) announced on Thursday that the government is set to impose a partial ban on the deployment of household service workers to Kuwait.
In a statement, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said the partial ban may ripen into total deployment ban “if justice for Jeanelyn Villavende is not met.”
Villavende was the Filipino worker who was killed recently in Kuwait.
“This should serve as a clear message to Kuwaiti authorities,” Bello said.
According to the labor chief, the ban will cover only first time workers who will serve as household service workers to Kuwait, and excludes skilled and vacationing workers.
Based on preliminary reports submitted by Labor Attache Nassar Mustafa of the Philippine Labor Office in Kuwait, Villevende was beaten to death, and was already dead when brought to a hospital. Attending nurses reported that she was “black and blue.”
Bello said the local placement agency that sent Villavende to the Gulf estate faces possible cancellation of its license for its failure to act on her request for repatriation months prior to her brutal death in the hands of her Kuwaiti employer.
“We will also ask Villavende’s recruitment agency to explain their inaction. As early as September, she already complained about maltreatment and underpayment of salary. She also repeatedly requested the agency for repatriation but they did not do anything,” he said.
DoLE said Villavende’s family was last able to talk to her in October.
“On December 13, the family again called Jeanelyn, but her female employer was the one who answered the call and said that the OFW was busy,” said DoLE.
It added that the exact date of Villavende’s death is yet to be determined after the autopsy, but the employer is currently detained in Kuwait.
Overseas Workers Welfare Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac, who went to Norala, South Cotabato to condole with
Villavende’s family, meantime, said that death and burial benefits will be extended to the OFW, while her family will receive livelihood assistance and educational scholarship for her youngest sibling.
The partial ban was recommended by Mustafa and subject to the approval of the governing board of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). (Leslie Anne G. Aquino)
