Duterte threatens total ban on workers going to the Middle East, if any more Filipinos are abused

杜特蒂威脅若有更多的菲律賓人遭虐待，那他將徹底禁止工人前往中東

The President of the Philippines made the comments on Jan. 24, earlier banning Filipinos from seeking work in Kuwait


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – After the abuse and suicide of four Filipino domestic workers in Kuwait over the past few months, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been making tough statements to governments of the Middle East.

Duterte earlier this week demanded that foreign countries treat Filipinos working abroad with respect, and also promptly introduced a ban on Filipinos seeking employment in Kuwait.

Then on Jan. 24, Duterte went one step further, threatening that if one more case of abuse, rape or suicide of a Filipino woman is reported in any Middle Eastern country, that he would ban all Filipino’s from seeking employment in the region.

The President stated; “One more incident about a woman, a Filipina worker being raped there, committing suicide, I’m going to stop — I’m going to ban (Filipinos working in the Middle East). And I’m sorry to all the Filipinos there, they can all go home. Let me be blunt about this.”

According to Gulf Business, there are currently around 250,000 Filipinos in the state of Kuwait, who will not be unaffected by the current ban.

The region is also host to hundreds of thousands of Filipinos working in neighboring countries, many as maids and retail workers.

The President stated the ban on more workers going to Kuwait was to send a message to the entire region that Filipinos must be treated with dignity, if the region hopes to continue to benefit from the service and labor of Filipino nationals.