Partial deployment ban on Kuwait in force
Credit to Author: Ma. Reina Leanne Tolentino, TMT| Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2020 16:20:30 +0000
The Philippine government has imposed a partial ban on the deployment of household workers to Kuwait in reaction to the death of a Filipina domestic worker in the Middle Eastern country.
In a statement posted on Jan. 2, 2020 on the Department of Labor’s website, Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd said the partial ban “may ripen into total deployment ban if justice for Jeanelyn Villavende is not met.”
Bello said the ban was recommended by Labor Attaché Nasser Mustafa.
Malacañang on Wednesday expressed outrage over the death of the domestic worker and said it considered her death as “a clear disregard” of an agreement between the Philippines and Kuwait.
“The Palace expresses its outrage over the death of Filipino worker, Jeanelyn Padernal Villavende, allegedly in the hands of her female employer who is now in the custody of Kuwaiti authorities,” Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement.
In 2018, the two countries agreed to protect the rights and welfare of Filipino workers in Kuwait.
The government has opened an investigation into the death of Villavende, Panelo said Thursday.
Mustafa had reported that Villevende was beaten to death and was already dead when brought to the hospital.
It was not the first time the Philippines had ordered a deployment ban on Kuwait. In February 2018, a total ban was imposed following the death of domestic helper Joanna
Demafelis, who was killed by her employers and whose body was jammed into a freezer.
The ban was lifted three months later after Manila and Kuwait signed the agreement.
But, the following month, another Filipina worker, Ma. Constancia Dayag, died in a hospital in Kuwait. She was covered in bruises and a cucumber was found inside her private part.