By Meanne Corvera
Eagle News Service
Almost 200 Filipinos have died in Kuwait in the past few years.
During the Senate labor committee’s hearing on Overseas Filipino Workers abuses, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration head Hans Leo Cacdac said of the 196 who were reported dead, 79 percent were “medical cases,” 7 percent were accidents, 11 percent were suicides, and 3 percent were unidentified cases.
He said over 6,000 have also experienced abuse.
According to Susan Ople of the Blas Ople Policy and Training Institute, as of 2017, 65 rape cases have been recorded and 243 sexual abuse and sex harassment cases, among others.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ernesto Abella, the numbers could be because of the sponsorship system or kafala prevailing in the Middle Eastern country.
The kafala system requires all migrant workers to have a sponsor in the country so that he may be issued a valid visa and residence permit.
The system, authorities said, places the OFW at the mercy of his or her employer.
The Department of Labor and Employment has imposed a total ban on the deployment of OFWs to Kuwait.
This was following the discovery of the body of Joanna Demafelis in a freezer in an abandoned apartment in the Middle Eastern country.