Migrante asks Duterte to provide for needs of families of Filipinos in Kuwait
Published Apr 29, 2018 02:19 pm
By Leslie Ann Aquino
Migrante today asked President Duterte if he can provide the needs of the families of the thousands of Filipinos in Kuwait in the event that they heed his call to return home.
(Google Images / Manila Bulletin)
"Can the president provide for all the needs of the 260,000 OFW families in Kuwait once they return here in the country?” asked Arman Hernando, chairman of Migrante-Philippines, in a statement.
"How can they survive with endo and a P512 minimum wage?”
"Mr. President, as much as they want to, OFWs in Kuwait cannot just come home. Until and unless you stop exporting them continually and your promise of a better Philippines, a country where there are regular, decent and living jobs for all able-bodied Filipinos, is fulfilled, they will be forced to search for greener pasture in foreign lands, even if it is in Kuwait or any other hostile country," Hernando added.
He said OFWs cannot be expected to come home if the root cause of their migration, which is poverty due to landlessness and lack of decent jobs, still exists and is actually worsening.
"We want our families to be whole again but we are forced by our economic condition to be torn apart," Hernando said.
The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said there will be chaos and anarchy here in our country if we take back all the 260,000 OFWs from Kuwait now.
"There are no available jobs here in the Philippines for them. There are already 11 million Filipinos with part-time jobs and without jobs. And if they will all be made to return, we will have a crisis," said Alan Tanjusay, ALU TUCP spokesperson.
"There are no opportunities for our Kuwait OFWs either because the domestic job-skills-mismatch is growing because of more Filipinos graduate from college and K-12. This is made worse by poor government and private schools’ lack of coordination and poor labor market information access to jobseekers," he added.
Tanjusay said wages and benefits here in the Philippines are also low compared to the one they are getting in Kuwait.
"Government should have transition and reintegration plan first before they are actually repatriated," he said.
Duterte today urged Filipinos in Kuwait to come home amid the tension between the country and the Gulf State.
(Google Images / Manila Bulletin)
"Can the president provide for all the needs of the 260,000 OFW families in Kuwait once they return here in the country?” asked Arman Hernando, chairman of Migrante-Philippines, in a statement.
"How can they survive with endo and a P512 minimum wage?”
"Mr. President, as much as they want to, OFWs in Kuwait cannot just come home. Until and unless you stop exporting them continually and your promise of a better Philippines, a country where there are regular, decent and living jobs for all able-bodied Filipinos, is fulfilled, they will be forced to search for greener pasture in foreign lands, even if it is in Kuwait or any other hostile country," Hernando added.
He said OFWs cannot be expected to come home if the root cause of their migration, which is poverty due to landlessness and lack of decent jobs, still exists and is actually worsening.
"We want our families to be whole again but we are forced by our economic condition to be torn apart," Hernando said.
The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said there will be chaos and anarchy here in our country if we take back all the 260,000 OFWs from Kuwait now.
"There are no available jobs here in the Philippines for them. There are already 11 million Filipinos with part-time jobs and without jobs. And if they will all be made to return, we will have a crisis," said Alan Tanjusay, ALU TUCP spokesperson.
"There are no opportunities for our Kuwait OFWs either because the domestic job-skills-mismatch is growing because of more Filipinos graduate from college and K-12. This is made worse by poor government and private schools’ lack of coordination and poor labor market information access to jobseekers," he added.
Tanjusay said wages and benefits here in the Philippines are also low compared to the one they are getting in Kuwait.
"Government should have transition and reintegration plan first before they are actually repatriated," he said.
Duterte today urged Filipinos in Kuwait to come home amid the tension between the country and the Gulf State.