Deployment ban depends on Kuwait’s response to NBI findings — Bello

MANILA, Philippines — Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Wednesday said the reimposition of a labor deployment ban on Kuwait depended on how the Gulf state responded to the National Bureau of Investigation’s findings on the death of overseas Filipino worker Constancia Dayag.

“If there is foul play and the Kuwaiti government does not take the appropriate action, that (deployment ban) could be [an] …  option,” Bello told reporters on the sidelines of the Migrant Workers’ Day celebrations.

Initial inaction

Bello said he had not recommended the move to President Rodrigo Duterte because the Kuwaiti government seemed to be “trying to recoup from their initial inaction.”

He said he warned of the reimposition of a labor ban last month because Kuwait had not made a “reasonable reaction” three days after Dayag was allegedly beaten to death by her employer.

Though the 47-year-old maid was found to have a cucumber stuffed into her private parts, Kuwaiti authorities said Dayag died from “natural causes,” a finding that Bello said was “not acceptable.”

Bello said the NBI would release its autopsy report in the next few days. —Jovic Yee