DAVAO CITY (May 18) — Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Thursday announced that the Philippine government has officially lifted the total deployment ban of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Kuwait.
Bello signed the department order lifting the ban on the sending of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) both skilled and household service workers (HSWs) to the Gulf State.
The lifting, according to Bello, is effectively immediately, which means it took effect Thursday, May 17.
This means the OFWs who have complete papers will be able to fly to the host country.
“They can leave as early as Friday if their papers are ready,” Bello emphasized.
There are about 5,000 OFWs ready for deployment to Kuwait while 15,000 workers are processing their documents for employment.
According to Bello, President Rodrigo Duterte, decided to lift the ban as a “gesture of goodwill” to the government of Kuwait.
“The President was impressed with the goodwill gesture shown by the Kuwaiti government when they agreed to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and gave justice to Joanna Demafelis,” he said.
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On February 9, 108, Duterte ordered the ban in the deployment of OFW to Kuwait.
But last Tuesdaym the Philippine Government and the Kuwaiti government signed a Memorandum of Understanring for the protection of Filipino workers and the promotion of their welfare and interests.
A task force was created a task force which aims to protect OFWs against illegal recruiters who are offering bogus jobs in Kuwait.-Newsline.ph