More than 200 distressed Filipino workers will be returning home soon from Kuwait, the Philippine government has announced.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said on Wednesday that 235 Filipino workers would be flown in from Kuwait by the end of this week, ABS-CBN News reported.
Bello said the 235 Filipinos were among 601 wards currently staying in two of the Philippine Embassy’s shelters in Kuwait.
“Most of our people in the wards now are those that are charged [with a crime] or they are the ones charging their employers with cases,” Bello explained.
Meanwhile, Hans Leo Cacdac, administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, said the Philippine government was trying to strengthen the pre-departure education program for Filipinos bound for Kuwait, Arab News reported.
“The latest government effort should ensure that overseas Filipino workers bound to Kuwait know their rights and responsibilities,” Cacdac said.
Over a quarter of a million Filipinos are currently working in Kuwait, while many more are in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
More than 5,000 Filipino workers have already been repatriated under Kuwait’s amnesty program, officials said this week.