CLARK FREEPORT – The government is ready for the repatriation of thousands of Central Luzon overseas Filipino workers from Kuwait.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration in Region 3, an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment, said on Tuesday that a total of 37,430 OFWs in Kuwait are from Central Luzon.
Esperanza Cobarrubias, OWWA regional director, also said a total deployment ban was imposed on Kuwait after the body of Jeanelyn Villavende was found to have been maltreated and sexually abused.
Villavende’s body was autopsied by the Nation al Bureau of Investigation in her hometown of Cotabato on January 10, shortly after her remains were returned to the Philippines.
Villavende’s case was preceded by that of Joanna Daniela Demafelis whose body was found in a freezer in Kuwait in 2018.
Cobarrubias said OFWs still in Kuwait are just waiting to finish their contracts and come home. She added that the total deployment ban also applies even to professionals.
She said the total deployment ban covers Kuwait due to several incidents, Iran and Iraq due to war as well as Libya.
In another development, Cobarrubias said the first batch of 13 OFWs from Iraq came home last week, with one of them coming from Central Luzon.
She hopes that another batch will follow. “I am encouraging our OFWs in Iraq to come home,” she said.
Cobarrubias said 537,000 OFWs from Central Luzon are deployed in the Middle East as of Sept 2019. Of these, Iraq has 482 OFWs from Central Luzon while Iran has 236 individuals.
Cobarrubias said OFWs coming home will receive P20,000 from the OWWA as a form of assistance.
Cobarrubias disclosed that there are 27,977 inactive OFWs in the Middle East whose memberships to OWWA have expired or are undocumented. “But these OFWs will also get P10,000 upon their return,” she noted.
Cobarrubias said the OWWA membership is $25 or P1,269 and is valid for two years. She said Iran has a total 236 OFWs and 231 are inactive while only five are considered active, while Iraq has 452 and only 25 active members. There is an ongoing repatriation in Libya, she said.
Cobarrubias said the government has an alternative market for the displaced OFWs as mentioned by Labor Sec. Silvestre Bello. These are Canada, Australia and New Zealand, among others.
Cobarrubias was accompanied by labor communications officer Meagan Claire David during the “News@Hues” media forum organized by the Pampanga Press Club in cooperation with Park Inn Hotel by Radisson Clark.
