Kuwait protests Philippine envoy’s rescue of abused OFWs

MANILA, Philippines — Kuwait has summoned Philippine Ambassador Renato Pedro Villa for his alleged “inflammatory comments” against the Arab state and for perceived misconduct in the rescue of distressed Filipino workers by Philippine diplomatic staff.

Villa was summoned on Saturday for the supposed “inappropriate behavior” of Philippine diplomatic staff, who were seen in a viral video rescuing Filipino workers, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported yesterday.

The Philippine rapid response team on Thursday located abused Filipino domestic helpers who had requested to be rescued.

In the video, the embassy staff were seen whisking an abused Filipina domestic helper away from her employer.

Villa also supposedly made offensive comments against Kuwait in a newspaper article.

The government of Kuwait has served protest notes to Villa and summoned him.

KUNA reported that a spokesperson for the Kuwait Interior Ministry said the protest notes were “related to recent remarks by several Filipino officials which amounted to serious offences against the State of Kuwait and led to the actions of some embassy employees in violation of the diplomatic norms governing relations between the two countries as per the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.”

In a separate statement, the Kuwait Interior Ministry also expressed “grave concern” over the viral video and warned that “the full force of the law will be brought to bear on those complicit in the wrongdoing.”

Member of the parliament Askar Al-Enezi said the situation has exceeded the limits of diplomatic tact and reached the point of interference in the affairs of the country.

“It is unreasonable that a team from the Philippine embassy roams the streets of Kuwait and ‘rescue’ individuals and take them to the embassy under the pretext the maid has been assaulted by the sponsor. This is a violation of our sovereignty,” he added.

Villa said the Philippine embassy would answer Kuwait’s protest.

In a statement yesterday, ACTS-OFW party-list Rep. Aniceto Bertiz III stressed that the Philippine government is “duty-bound to safeguard” all Filipinos wherever they may be.

“In extreme cases wherein Filipino domestic workers are being physically battered or sexually abused, and cry out for help, our embassy is expected to take appropriate action,” he added.

Bertiz is in Kuwait to facilitate the repatriation of undocumented Filipino workers who obtained amnesty from the government of Kuwait.

Bertiz also warned the government of Kuwait against expelling Villa

“If they throw out our ambassador, it will not be left unanswered by the Philippine government. There will surely be tit-for-tat,” he said.

“We understand that several members of parliament in Kuwait have demanded that the Philippine ambassador be kicked out over the incident portrayed in the video. This is totally uncalled for,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has given assurance that it has sufficient funds to provide cash assistance to returning workers from Kuwait.

OWWA chief Hans Cacdac said for this year, the board has approved a P500-million standby fund for crisis-related repatriation, including the amnesty repatriation in Kuwait.

“So there is no problem in cash assistance in case there is unpredictable number of availeess or returnees from Kuwait,” he added.

Cacdac said thousands of Filipino workers are still expected to return home even after the amnesty for undocumented workers in Kuwait ended yesterday.

The Philippine government is also establishing additional shelters to accommodate workers seeking repatriation. – With Delon Porcalla, Mayen Jaymalin