Immigration to stop OFWs bound for Kuwait

Passengers at NAIA Terminal 1 line up behind the yellow lines of immigration counters. INQUIRER PHOTO/LYN RILLON

The Bureau of Immigration will prevent the departure of all overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) bound for Kuwait.

“All Immigration Officers had been directed to prevent the departure of all OFWs bound for Kuwait,” BI’s Port Operations Division Chief Marc Red Mariñas said Tuesday.

Mariñas added that even the “Balik Manggagawa” or the returning OFWs to Kuwait are also covered by the ban.

Meanwhile, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said all ports nationwide have been alerted to implement stricter immigration formalities on all departing passengers after President Rodrigo Duterte imposed a ban on the deployment OFWs to Kuwait.

Morente said rigid inspection of all departing Filipino passengers is necessary to thwart any attempts by illegal recruiters to circumvent the ban and facilitate the exit of Kuwaiti-bound OFWs through the notorious escort racket at the airport.

“We shall implement this deployment ban to the letter and immigration personnel who connive with the escort syndicates will be dealt with severely,” Morente warned. /je