BY DANIE MAE FAJARDO-DELA CRUZ
MANILA – With more than a hundred thousand Filipino domestic workers or kasambahays in Kuwait, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) will be increasing the monitoring and response mechanisms of its Migrant Workers Office (MWO) there.
For starters, according to Secretary Susan Ople, she would be sending a fact-finding team to review the performance of the MWO in the oil-rich state.
MWO was formerly known as the Philippine Overseas Labor Office.
Pending welfare cases in Kuwait will also be checked, said Ople.
“Titingnan nila bakit inordinately high yung mga welfare cases natin sa Kuwait over the past several months,” according to the DMW Secretary.
Ople bared the deployment of the fact-finding team on Jan. 28 following the repatriation to the country of the remains of domestic worker Jullebee Ranara who was killed by her son’s employer.
“Titingnan din kung nagkaroon ba ng lapses on the part of the MWO sa pagtugon sa mga panawagan for welfare assistance among our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs),” said Ople.
These are among the parameters that the fact-finding team will review:
* a comparative study on the number of welfare cases of distressed OFWs over a period of five years
* what triggered the rise in these cases
* the response time of both Philippine and Kuwaiti authorities and recruitment agencies in addressing calls for assistance
* how engaged were foreign recruitment agencies (FRAs) in monitoring their workers and screening their employers
The report of the fact-finding mission will be submitted to Ople’s office for appropriate action.
A senior labor attaché posted outside Kuwait will lead the fact-finding mission which will be organized by Undersecretary for Foreign Employment and Welfare Services Hans Cacdac.
“Given also the increase in deployment and welfare numbers in Kuwait last year, it is imperative that we look at the root causes behind these numbers,” said Ople.
Meanwhile, Jullebee’s remains would be autopsied, according to the Secretary, as requested by the victim’s family. For this, she tasked the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to coordinate with the National Bureau of Investigation.
OWWA, too, is working for the early release of insurance and other financial claims due the family of Jullebee.
According to OWWA administrator Arnell Ignacio, Jullebee was an active OWWA member./PN
