LIST'S OF APPROVED CLINICS IN PHILIPPINES Metro Manila (March 4) — The Labor Department will be scaling down deployment of workers to Kuwait over its requirement for expatriates from 10 countries, including the Philippines, to show proof that they are free of the coronavirus disease, officially known as COVID-19.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Wednesday that the government would be slowing down the issuance of overseas employment certificates by delaying its release by around a month in a bid to sway Filipino workers away from Kuwait.
“It’s not a retaliatory order, it’s a practical order. They are requiring so many requirements for our workers, that’s giving more burden to our workers. In order to prevent our workers from going there, they might as well go to other countries,” Bello said in a press briefing.
He said the "many requirements" result in added burden to Filipino workers, which effectively prevents them from going there.
"They might as well go to other countries,” Bello said.
He added that deployment to Kuwait will be scaled back up again if the Middle Eastern country waives the medical clearance requirement.
Bello, however, said he has spoken with Foreign Affairs officials to work out an arrangement with Kuwait for it to honor medical certificates from Department of Health hospitals and local health centers, which are issued for free.
Kuwait, which has reported 56 cases of the novel coronavirus as of Wednesday morning, announced that expatriates who came from the Philippines, India, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Syria, Lebanon will need to present proof that they have not been infected with the virus.
These certificates must come from health centers approved by Kuwaiti embassies or health authorities in countries covered by the rule.
Should they fail to comply with the new procedure, the expatriates will be sent back to their country of origin “without the state bearing any financial costs” via the same air carrier. The airline company will also be fined for violating Kuwait’s order.
A partial deployment ban to Kuwait is still in place, with the Philippines only allowing skilled, semi-skilled and professional workers to go back to their employers.
Assistance for OFWs
The Labor Department, meanwhile, assured that overseas Filipino workers who might get laid off or would want to return home due to the coronavirus outbreak would get assistance from the government.
Labor officials said they are seeking an additional ₱2-billion from the government to fund financial and livelihood assistance packages for returning Filipino workers.
Bello said workers who return home from their work abroad would immediately receive ₱20,000 each. He added that if they stay in the Philippines for good, their children will receive scholarships from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
The OWWA told CNN Philippines that 35 Filipino workers have been terminated in Hong Kong due to the coronavirus outbreak. The semi-autonomous Chinese city has reported 100 cases of the virus and two deaths.
The employers of 16 of them have left or are leaving Hong Kong, while the rest have issues regarding their rest days, OWWA said.
But Bello downplayed these terminations, saying these are only “isolated” cases.
“‘Yong mga (Those) incidents of some of our workers losing their jobs is because ‘yong mga (their) employers nila are not permanent residents in Hong Kong. So they have to let go of their workers. But it’s not very hard for them to find another employment,” he said.
Locally, the Labor Department is also bracing for a possible surge in coronavirus cases and is adopting measures to mitigate the effects of a prolonged outbreak, including encouraging establishments to adopt flexible work arrangements.
The Philippines has reported three cases of COVID-19, all of them involving Chinese nationals from Wuhan. Two of them have recovered and returned to China, while one died — the first death due to the viral infection outside of mainland China,
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