Hanoi (VNA) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has banned thecountry’s people from travelling to Kuwait to work following reports ofwidespread abuse and exploitation.
ThePresident ordered the ban after reports emerged about the deaths of severalPhilippine women in the Gulf state, his spokesman Harry Roque said on January20.
In addition,Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello also ordered the suspension of the deploymentof workers to Kuwait, Roque told reporters.
It was notimmediately clear how long the ban, which does not affect workers already inKuwait, would last.
In hisspeech before overseas workers earlier, President Duterte said he would urgethe Kuwaiti government to act against the abuses.
An estimated10 million Filipinos work overseas and the money they send home is a majorpillar of the Philippine economy. About 170,000 Filipinos are working inKuwait.-VNA