After ties have been restored between the Philippines and Kuwait, and after provisions of the MoA have already been set into motion, some citizens of Kuwait apparently do not entirely agree with this development.
Last July 20 (Friday), a Kuwaiti social media influencer, Sondos Alqattan, took to Facebook her opinions about the new law which sanctions Filipino household service workers (HSWs) in getting a day off from work and not surrendering their passports to their employers through a video post via Turkey’s English Language Channel, TRT World, which had gained over 520,000 views that day.
Kuwaiti Celeb Slammed for Criticizing Law to Protect Filipino Household Service Workers
In the video, Alqattan was quoted saying, “I don’t want a Filipino maid anymore” in Arabic. And further expresses her disappointment by sharing her opinion on the matter, “How can you have a servant in your house who gets to keep their passport with them? If they ran away and returned to their country, who will refund me? And what’s worse is, they even have one day off every week.”
Here is a clip of the video post from TRT World Facebook Page:
Alqattan’s statement was clearly in direct opposition of the labour agreement set by the Philippines and Kuwait to uplift the working conditions of Filipinos in the Gulf State, and at the same time to ensure their safety and protection and to avoid another major blow to the recently-restored bilateral ties between the two concerned countries owing to a dark precedent which happened not too long ago.
Around the third week of May, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano together with his Kuwaiti counterpart, Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah signed a bilateral agreement which ensures greater protection for OFWs working in the Gulf State.
The agreement was brought about by the murder of a Filipino domestic worker in Kuwait who had gone missing for over a year.