Palace ‘outraged’ by rape of Pinay in Kuwait

Malacañang on Thursday condemned the rape of a Filipina household worker in Kuwait by a Kuwaiti police officer.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said although he has yet to seek the reaction of President Rodrigo Duterte, the Palace is “outraged” by the incident.

Panelo assured that Labor Secretary Bello III is providing assistance to the Filipina household worker and following up the case against the 22-year-old suspect Fayed Naser Hamad Alajmy.

“I haven’t talked to him (Duterte) with that but we’re certainly outraged by that and Secretary Bello is responding to that incident,” Panelo said.

Last month, Panelo said Palace will support migrant rights groups’ calls for a review on the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the protection of Filipino workers in Kuwait.

This came following the death of Constancia Lago Dayag, a Filipino worker from Agadanan, Isabela who was allegedly abused by her employer.

Citing Bello, Panelo said the labor department revealed it is looking to reimpose a ban on the deployment of household service workers (HSWs) to Kuwait.

Duterte imposed a total deployment ban on new workers to Kuwait after the murder of domestic worker Joanna Demafelis and reported abuse and maltreatment of Filipino domestic workers.

Panelo said there has been a “breach” in the agreement signed between the Philippines and Kuwait on the protection of Filipino workers in the Gulf state.

He was referring to the “Agreement on the Employment of Domestic Workers” signed between the Philippines and Kuwait on May 11, 2018, which contains a contract of employment template where provisions “particularly stated” by the President are enumerated.

These provisions include requiring workers’ passports to be deposited to the Philippine embassy and not confiscated by employers; workers are given one day off every week; workers are given seven hours sleep a day; workers are provided with decent meals and sleeping quarters, and workers are provided with cellphones.