The Philippines is considering reinstating a ban on household staff working in Kuwait after the fatal assault of a Filipina maid in the Gulf state last week, according to a report by the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Friday.
Kuwait and the Philippines in May last year signed an agreement to regulate domestic workers, after a dispute between the two countries led to a ban on Filipino workers in the Gulf state.
In February 2018, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte imposed a partial ban on workers travelling to Kuwait after a Filipina maid was murdered and her body found in a freezer.
Last week, 47-year-old Constancia Lago Dayag died in a Kuwaiti hospital and an investigation said “her body bore various contusions and hematoma, as well as signs of sexual assault,” the PNA reported.
When asked whether the Manilla government was considering reinstating the temporary ban imposed by President Duterte, Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello told the PNA “it’s an option”.
“The horrible fate of Ms. Dayag is deeply saddening and utterly condemnable. I am taking the Kuwaiti Government to task for the gruesome death of yet another Filipino worker in the hands of her employer in Kuwait,” Bello was quoted as saying in a statement.
The PNA report also said the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration plans to raise the issue of reintroducing the ban on Kuwait at the body’s next board meeting.
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