Panelo: Kuwait may exempt Duterte from COVID-19 travel ban for possible visit

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte may be exempted from Kuwait’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) travel ban if he wishes to visit the Gulf State, Malacañang said Tuesday.

In a press briefing Monday night, Duterte said he will visit Kuwait and ask its government to hand out the “maximum” penalty to those responsible for the killing of Filipina domestic worker Jeanelyn Villavende.

“I want their executioner to cut off the heads of those who are responsible for the death of the Filipina,” Duterte said.

However, Kuwait has suspended inbound and outbound flights in 7 countries including the Philippines beginning March 6.

But Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo said the Kuwaiti government may make an exemption in Duterte’s case through government-to-government coordination.

“Pwede namang pag-usapang ‘yan (We can settle that) government to government. They can always exempt the President,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

The Palace official added that the President, given his character, is likely to push through with his visit to Kuwait even if the Presidential Security Group (PSG) had advised him not to proceed to be safe from infected by the virus.

Villavende’s employers, a married couple, are already detained at a high-security facility in Kuwait and are facing murder charges.

Outraged by Villavende’s death, the Philippine government imposed a total ban on the deployment of OFWs to the Gulf state.

The ban has already been lifted.

Duterte has threatened to pull out Filipino workers from Kuwait following persistent reports of abuse and maltreatment by their employers.

In 2018, Duterte expressed outrage over the death of Filipino worker Joanna Demafelis, who was found stuffed inside a freezer in an abandoned apartment a year after she was reported missing. Her death triggered the crafting of a labor protection agreement for Filipinos working in Kuwait.

Edited by MUF