Philippines to black list Kuwait’s labor offices

The Philippine government has suspended the accreditation of foreign recruitment agencies in Kuwait after the murder of an Overseas Filipino Worker, Jullibee Ranara. The Philippines is studying to blacklist Kuwait recruitment agencies that have violated labor agreements between Kuwait and the Philippines.

The Ministry of Migrant labor in the Philippines stated that the Kuwait recruitment offices will be added to the blacklist and will prevent any Filipino workers from being sent to Kuwait in future, reports Al Rai.

Under new rules monthly monitoring reports on domestic workers and individual employment contracts is also limited to 20 per week for every agency/ labor office. 1st Secretary of Migrant Workers, Susan Ople stated that the ministry officials are preparing to discuss with their Kuwait counterpart about weakness and loopholes in bilateral labor agreement between Kuwait and the Philippines.

The local recruitment industry expressed strong opposition to calls to ban the deployment of Filipino domestic helpers to Kuwait, reports Philstar. A deployment ban could do more harm to Filipino workers since it could encourage them to leave the country illegally, according to recruitment consultant Manny Geslani.

Instead of imposing a deployment ban, he urged the government to evaluate the current situation and just limit the number of those being sent to the Middle Eastern country.

In a television interview yesterday, Ople said her office is looking at blacklisting erring recruitment agencies deploying OFWs to Kuwait.The DMW has already issued a preventive suspension order against the Ranara’s employer.