Team in Kuwait to check OFWs living conditions

MANILA, Philippines — Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Susan Ople has dispatched a high-level team to Kuwait to check the living conditions of distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) currently housed in a government-run shelter.

The team, led by Undersecretary for Foreign Employment and Welfare Services Hans Cacdac, arrived in Kuwait yesterday.

Ople sent the team after seeing for herself the living conditions of OFWs currently staying at the shelter via a virtual inspection.

More than 400 distressed OFWs are currently residing in the Bahay Kalinga shelter in Kuwait.

Ople met with Cacdac before his departure Friday and gave instructions to ensure that distressed OFWs at the shelter are provided with proper assistance and medical care.

“First order of business is to visit the shelter. Make sure there is full time staff to take care of the needs of our OFWs there. There should be medical staff to focus on the needs of the sick and those experiencing depression,” she said in a statement.

She also stressed the importance of maintaining secure and habitable shelters for OFWs.

“It’s important to have very humane, dignified, comfortable and safe shelters as temporary residences for our distressed OFWs across the globe,” Ople said.

The team also includes Arnell Ignacio, administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, an attached agency of the DMW, and social welfare attaché Bernard Bonino.

Ople said the DMW is tapping the social welfare attachés of the Department of Social Welfare and Development for their expertise in upgrading shelters overseas.

Shelters are currently being run by the Migrant Workers Offices, formerly known as Philippine Overseas Labor Offices.

Ople added the DMW intends to relocate its shelters to new and larger facilities that can provide a more comfortable and safe environment for OFW residents.