EDITORIAL: Plight of OFWs

This one has to end.

After deaths of Filipino OFWs in Kuwait, President Rodrigo Duterte thought it’s time to press the button. Taking that cue, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III took to action immediately as he suspended deployment of OFWs to the gulf state.

It’s a hard decision. Hundreds of Filipinos make a living in Kuwait. Most of them domestic helpers. Most of them women.

Poverty has sent these Pinoys to work in Kuwait, enduring the hard life and working with employers who could be difficult and dangerous to deal with in some cases. Some had to go through inhumane conditions and hostile treatment from employers. As a result, some faced charges. Last year, Jakatia Pawa was executed in Kuwait for allegedly killing her employer’s 22-year-old daughter.

We just cannot afford to see more of our countrymen suffer the same fate. It’s time to talk to the Kuwaiti government that we are not sending slaves to their land whom they can just abuse and maltreat.

Yes, poverty has forced them to leave their families behind to earn a better keep on foreign soil. Given what they have to endure and give up to for a shot at a better life for their families, it is but proper that their welfare and safety be at the foremost of any considerations in our bilateral relations with not just Kuwait but with any other country as well.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here