Philippines embassy doing everything to help deportees – Kuwaiti lawmaker comments unfair Two days ago, a Kuwaiti lawmaker accused the Philippine and Indian embassies in Kuwait of not cooperating to help with the deportation of runaway housemaids detained at the Talha deportation center. But the Philippine Embassy yesterday strongly denied the accusation, saying the embassy is doing everything for OFWs at the deportation center with daily official communications with the chiefs of the deportation centers and regular visits to them. Philippine Consul General Raul Dado said the normal process of deportation is ongoing at all times with Filipinos being repatriated on a regular basis. “Some of them, like the ones who went home last week in a mass repatriation did not even have to go through detention. The ones who have to go through administrative detention are being given adequate and sanitary accommodations by the immigration authorities. Through the intercession of the embassy, they are given free tickets home. The embassy also buys these tickets,” he said. The embassy expressed gratitude to the Kuwait government for their humanitarian assistance in repatriating their workers back home. The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait is working on case by case basis regarding the workers’ situation. Daily newspaper Al-Jarida said in a report on Sunday that MP Abdulkareem Al-Kandari, chief of the National Assembly’s human rights committee, said that Filipinos and Indians make the majority of inmates at the deportation center. The parliamentary panel conducted unscheduled tours of jails and detention centers around Kuwait. The deportation center alone holds 1,047 men and 385 women, many of whom are Filipino workers awaiting completion of their documents. “The reason behind this is a lack of proper concern from the inmates’ respective embassies to return them home,” Kandari told Al-Jarida. Kandari claimed that the Philippine embassy has not cooperated with Kuwaiti authorities to finalize the deportation procedures for Filipino nationals locked up in the facilities. He also urged Philippine officials to “look after” their citizens by cooperating in prisoner exchange arrangements with Kuwait’s foreign ministry. Philippine Labor Attache to Kuwait Cesar Chavez said they have never neglected their housemaids. “We respect the opinion of lawmaker, but as far as I know, as labor attaché of the Philippine Embassy and under the rules of the embassy, all of our workers undergoing deportation proceedings are being taken care of. The Philippine Embassy’s role is just to issue travel documents and the rest of the process must be done by the host government. If the employers do not surrender their passports, we provide them travel documents. Probably the report that came out recently was not verified. We do not keep pending any case more than 24 hours at the embassy,” Chavez said. “If the workers are ready for repatriation, we immediately send them to the deportation center, and the rest of the work is done by the host government. If they are endorsed at the deportation center, they are in control, not us,” he explained. According to Chavez, the timetable for processing runaways is not their concern, as it depend on the number of deportees since the detainees are not only Filipinos but of other nationalities as well. “Most of the problems that take time (at deportation centers) are cases of runaway housemaids who are not from the embassy but people who were arrested by the police at checkpoints. They should be reported to us too. The local authorities are doing that, but sometimes it takes a long time since their employers file cases against runaways,” he mentioned. “Once our kababayans (countrymen) are under their custody, the process and everything is being taken care of by the host government.” Kuwaiti lawmakers are seeking to deport 1.1 million of the country’s 2.5 million expatriates as a way to address demographic issues. “The fact that Kuwait is home to twice as many foreigners as locals is a dangerous indication of the socioeconomic conditions in the country,” MP Khalil Abdullah said in previous reports. The Indian Embassy did not respond to a request for comment. By Ben Garcia
Posted on: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 07:08:55 +0000
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