By Charissa Luci-Atienza Kabayan party list Rep. Ciriaco Calalang urged yesterday the Duterte government to tap a third-party negotiator who would negotiate and de-escalate the diplomatic tension between the Philippines and Kuwait. Filipina workers, among hundreds who have left Kuwait following the murder of a Filipina maid, arrive at Manila International Airport on February 18, 2018. (AFP / NOEL CELIS / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) "We might need a third-party to negotiate, cool down, and iron out the current kinks in the diplomatic ties between the Philippines and Kuwait," he said in a statement. "That third-party may be a person, a company, an organization, or a country which has good rapport with both sides," he said. He said backchannel talks may be needed to convey assurances and sincere apologies. "The lives and families of over 260,000 Filipino OFWs in Kuwait and thousands more wanting to go to Kuwait hang in the balance," Calalang said. "De-escalation of the tensions is needed right now, not retaliation and not the cold shoulder," he said. He said the Philippines could initiate the revisit of the draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the welfare of the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) after the Kuwaiti municipal elections on May 12. "Meantime, maybe the third party friendly to both the Philippines and Kuwait can soothe bruised feelings," Calalang said. "Maybe both sides can scale down the fiery, combative, and in-denial rhetoric to make way for refocusing on the draft MOU," he said. The controversial rescue mission that went viral got the ire of the Kuwaiti government and resulted in the declaration of Ambassador Renato Pedro Villa as persona non grata, the continued detention of four Filipinos hired by the Philippine Embassy, and the issuance of arrest warrants against three diplomatic personnel. The diplomatic row also prodded the career diplomats to call for the resignation of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano.