Kuwait deployment ban to end – Marcos

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos said the ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait would end.

“At that very quick, very short meeting, we agreed to continue to discuss some of the obstacles in our relationship in terms of the bans that we had imposed for employment. And he (Kuwaiti Crown Prince) was very, very effusive in saying that we should remove all of those and we should continue as we had done before, which is a very important development,” Marcos said in his speech as he arrived from Saudi Arabia yesterday.

President Marcos had a brief meeting with Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on the sidelines of the first Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Gulf Cooperation Council (ASEAN-GCC) Summit in Saudi Arabia.

“For a few months now, we have had to ban the deployment of Filipino workers in Kuwait. Now that will end, we will now return to the normal state of affairs with the Kuwaiti government,” he added.

Marcos said the Kuwaiti government has moved “very quickly” and has started discussions on the matter at the ministerial and ambassadorial level.

In an interview with Filipino journalists in Saudi Arabia, Marcos said the crown prince apologized to him and clarified that he was against the action taken by the Kuwaiti government against the Philippines.

In May, Kuwait suspended the issuance of entry and work visas to Filipinos due to the Philippines’ supposed non-compliance with the labor agreement between the two countries.

Kuwait also asked Manila to apologize and admit what it considers several employment violations in the Philippine embassy, including housing workers in shelters, searching for runaways without involving state institutions and communicating with Kuwaiti citizens without permission from authorities.

Kuwait’s move came after the Philippine government temporarily banned the deployment of first-time household service workers to Kuwait following the killing of Jullebee Ranara, whose burnt corpse was found in the desert in January.

“We will fix it and we will make it because we love the Philippines,” Marcos said, quoting the crown prince.

Marcos considered this as one of the successes of his trip to