100 Filipinos repatriated from Kuwait

Image from the Facebook post of Philippine Embassy in Kuwait.

A hundred Filipinos have been repatriated from Kuwait following experiences of severe abuse and exploitation from their employers, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Saturday. The overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were repatriated through the assistance of Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking. The repatriates landed at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on board a Gulf Air Flight from Kuwait on Friday morning. The BI noted that the most common reasons given by the Filipinos for going home were maltreatment by their employers, improper documentation, poor working conditions, contract violation, delayed salary and pregnancy. Due to the series of abusive cases against OFWs in Kuwait, the Department of Migrant Workers last May banned first-time Filipino domestic helpers from working in Kuwait. The total number of OFWs repatriated from Kuwait has reached more than 800 this year. —Jacob Lazaro