Philippines optimistic on resolving diplomatic crisis with Kuwait

MANILA: The Philippines on Tuesday expressed optimism that its friendship with Kuwait could withstand the “misunderstanding” over the “rescue” of Filipino maids from their employers’ houses. 

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Cayetano welcomed Kuwait’s commitment to work with the Philippine government in addressing labor issues facing Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the Gulf state.

“This gesture on the part of Kuwait, a country with which we have a shared history and strong people-to-people ties, will allow us to move forward and hurdle the challenges we face,” the secretary said in a statement.

“We acknowledge with heartfelt thanks the assurances of Kuwait to work with us in protecting the rights and promoting the welfare of Filipinos working there. This is a shared goal that should be pursued with willingness to understand and respect where each side is coming from,” he said.

Cayetano said that “the strength of that friendship will withstand this misunderstanding.”

On Monday, Kuwait’s Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah, reacting to remarks made by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte at the weekend, said: “Kuwait is ready to cooperate with Manila to explore all means to address labor issues including 800 Filipino citizens who were currently in shelter centers.”

A report by the Kuwait News Agency also quoted Al-Jarallah as saying that the Kuwaiti government “is keen on maintaining the safety and rights of all expatriates, including the Filipino community, within the labor laws of the country, which have been praised by international human rights agencies.”

“This is largely a misunderstanding and exaggeration of some minor or one-off cases,” Al-Jarallah said of the diplomatic crisis between the two nations due to alleged abuses of OFWs that resulted in the expulsion of Filipino Ambassador Renato Villa and recall of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the Philippines.

Following the expulsion of Villa, who was also declared persona non grata, Duterte called on all Filipino workers in Kuwait, numbering about 260,000, to come home. This was followed by the president’s announcement that the ban on deployment of Filipino workers to the Gulf state “stays permanently.”

But experts, lawmakers, and senior diplomats were quick to advise the president to reconsider his decision.

Speaking to Arab News, Lauro Baja, former Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) undersecretary for policy, said that relations between Kuwait and the Philippines were good except for the current hiccup.

He said these kind of diplomatic conflicts “happen every now and then between two countries and it’s up to the respective governments to repair whatever damage is done through quiet diplomacy, not through press releases or press conferences.” 

Baja emphasized the need to solve the issue in a diplomatic way and expressed concern that the situation “may go beyond the Kuwaiti borders and spill over to the other countries” in the Middle East.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said he looked forward to normalizing ties between the Philippines and Kuwait as soon as possible.
 
“There are many OFWs in the region. Perhaps we can ask the help of Saudi Arabia or Qatar to act as our intermediaries with the Kuwaitis,” Pimentel said.

Harry Roque, Duterte’s spokesman, said in a press briefing that the Philippine government was trying to normalize ties with Kuwait. Roque said that the president was “not picking a fight” with the Arab nation, noting that he (Duterte) was “very somber, very calm” when he said that if Kuwait does not want Filipino workers, he would ask them to come home. 

Roque said that Duterte had expressed gratitude that Kuwait employed many Filipinos. “So the whole tenor was non-confrontational,” he said.

Roque said that Philippine diplomatic ties with Kuwait remain, with the presence of a diplomatic mission headed by a chargé d’affaires.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello clarified that the deployment ban on Filipino workers to Kuwait was not permanent. He said that the ban would remain in effect until a memorandum of agreement (MOA) ensuring the protection of Filipinos was signed by the two countries.

Bello, along with other members of Duterte’s cabinet, is scheduled to leave for Kuwait on May 7 to continue diplomatic negotiations with the Kuwaiti government.

Opposition senator Rissa Hontiveros earlier attacked Duterte for calling on Filipinos in Kuwait to come home, saying his administration did not have an alternative economic strategy to the country’s labor export policy.

A recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that unemployment in the Philippines rose to 23.9 percent during the first quarter of the year from 15.7 percent during the last quarter of 2017. There are now an estimated 10.9 million jobless Filipinos, compared to 7.2 million in December 2017.