Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City on May 2, 2023. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

MANILA — The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) on Wednesday said they are studying the proposal of Sen. Raffy Tulfo to impose a ban on the deployment of more Filipino domestic workers to Kuwait, among other measures to protect Overseas Filipino Workerss in the Arab country.

Tulfo, chair of the Senate Committee on Migrant Workers, on Tuesday cited the "recent killings of Pinoy domestic workers in Kuwait" as a justification for the ban. He insisted the "Kuwait government is the problem" in keeping migrant workers at risk.

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"Pinag-aaralan pa natin... Tinanggap natin yung ilang mungkahi ni Sen. Tulfo tungkol sa stricter requirements bago makaalis ang ating mga kababayan papuntang Kuwait," DMW Secretary Hans Cacdac told Teleradyo Serbisyo.

(We have already accepted some suggestions from Sen. Tulfo on stricter requirements for the deployment of Filipinos to Kuwait)

He said the department has also committed to making a decision soon, adding any ban would not affect OFWs already in Kuwait.

The DMW currently prohibits the deployment to Kuwait of first-time OFWs with no prior experience working overseas.

“We are also implementing the whitelisting and blacklisting of Kuwaiti recruiters, [and] pre-departure briefings, and electronic on-site monitoring,” Cacdac said in a separate statement.

OFWs are required to attend pre-departure briefings, where DMW staff "meet them personally before they leave."

Cacdac said that there are about 220,000 Filipinos in Kuwait, and 70 percent of them are domestic workers.

"We are looking at other options, possible ways such as stricter requirements na sinasabi ni Sen. Raffy... To sit down with Kuwaiti side and discuss amendments or reforms in the current bilateral agreement is another option," Cacdac noted.

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Tulfo earlier said the Philippine government must reinstate the ban "until it [manages] to coordinate and sit down with Kuwaiti officials."

Scrutiny of the working conditions faced by Filipino domestic workers in Kuwait intensified following the death of Jenny Alvarado, an OFW who allegedly died due to suffocation from burning coal along with two Nepali domestic workers.

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