Duterte invited to visit Kuwait amid OFW deployment ban

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte greets Ambassador of Kuwait to the Philippines Saleh Ahmad Althwaikh who met with the President at the Malacañan Palace on February 7, 2018. ACE MORANDANTE/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque confirmed on Thursday that Kuwait has invited President Rodrigo Duterte to visit the Gulf state amid the ongoing ban of deploying Filipino workers there.

Roque said Duterte’s trip to Kuwait was supposed to be “confidential” but the President revealed it in a speech in Malacañang on Wednesday.

“Any day now, I will go to Kuwait. The ambassador is here. I’m angry because there were already four Filipinas who were raped,” Duterte said in Bisaya.

Roque said the President’s trip to Kuwait “is in the offing.”

“I guess Kuwait wants to assure the President that Philippine nationals are protected in Kuwait,” he said in a Palace briefing.

Duterte on Wednesday met with Kuwaiti Ambassador to the Philippines Musaed Saleh Althwaikh.

The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) in January decided to suspend the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Kuwait.

READ: DOLE suspends OFW deployment to Kuwait

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III’s order came after Duterte said he was mulling a total deployment ban in Kuwait after the reported cases of abuses of OFWs. /je

READ: Duterte considering total ban on OFW deployment to Kuwait