Manama: A total of 46 distressed Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWS) have been repatriated from Kuwait to the Philippines this week.
The move was part of the series of mass repatriation by the Philippine embassy and the Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO) in coordination with the Kuwait Ministry of Interior.
"The mass repatriation was made possible through the auspices of the Office of the Domestic Workers Affairs (ODWA) of the Ministry of Interior. The plane tickets were also shouldered by ODWA," David Des Dicang, Philippine Labour Attache, told Arab Times.
Thirty-six were from the Filipino Workers Resource Centre (FWRC) in Jabriya while 10 came from the Talha Deportation Centre,
According to Dicang, the 36 OFWs did not have legal cases against them, even though some have absconding cases but have been already cleared through the assistance of the Kuwait immigration authorities.
"We would like to thank the Kuwait government and the interior ministry for helping us expedite the repatriation process of our stranded OFWs," he said.
Most of the distressed OFWs worked as household service workers who were victims of nonpayment of salaries, fatigue, lack of food, physical, verbal and sexual abuse prompting them to escape from their employers and seek temporary refuge at the Filipino Workers Resource Centre (FWRC) at the POLO in Jabriya. The distressed OFWs expressed happiness as they left the FWRC and boarded the bus for the airport. They thanked the Philippine Embassy and POLO for taking care of them and helping them go home.
"I'm so excited to see my family and be with them again. At last, the long wait is over," Jenny Yamota said.
Dicang who earlier vowed to decongest the FWRC upon his assumption to office in June told the daily that the mass repatriation of stranded OFWs will continue in cooperation with the Kuwaiti government.
Currently, there are still 338 distressed OFWs who are housed at the FWRC waiting for their repatriation to the Philippines.
