PH eyes trade-off with Kuwait

Keeping shelters for abused OFWs key ‘non-negotiable’ in talks

By Rey E. Requejo and Maricel V. Cruz

KEEPING shelters for runaway and abused Filipino workers in Kuwait is a “non-negotiable” for the Philippines, the government said, as it expressed openness to lifting its suspension on the deployment of household workers to the Gulf state on the condition that the host country guarantees the protections of migrant workers there.

Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo Vega and Department of Migrant Workers Undersecretary Hans Cacdac made the policy statement when asked by lawmakers about the non-negotiables in the ongoing talks with Kuwait over its ban on new Filipino workers.

“The non-negotiables are: Our shelters have to remain as it is in the law passed by Congress. Let’s make other compromises but not close down the shelter... There also has to be justice