DFA asks OFWs: Give more time to ‘kafala’ reforms

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) admitted on Thursday that the supposed reforms in the kafala, or work sponsorship, system prevailing in the Middle East did not cover foreign workers most prone to abuse, including Filipino domestic helpers.

But Foreign Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola is confident that reforms in the kafala system that several Arab countries have begun will soon benefit Filipinos.

“We are very positive. When I was in the forum, it was mentioned that there was no turning back because the reforms have already begun. And even Saudi Arabia said it started with skilled and semiskilled workers, and it was studying the inclusion of household service workers,” she said at the Laging Handa briefing.

She also noted that Saudi Arabia—which began its kafala system reforms on March 14—is the biggest and richest country in the Middle East, and it could influence its neighbors to implement the same reforms.

More time“We need to give our brothers in the Middle East more time to reform because it is not that easy. Although all the governments are willing, there [have] been some resistance from their citizens and also from the business community because it has financial implications,” she said.

Presidential assistant on foreign affairs and chief of presidential protocol Robert Borje agreed that kafala system may not be abolished overnight, but the “constructive partnership” the country has developed with some of the concerned countries is already a welcome development.

“The DFA and (the Department of Labor and Employment) have long been at the front-line in engaging our different partners, but this has been strengthened because the message is now coming directly from the leaders’ level,” Borje said at the Laging Handa briefing.

Borje said President Duterte’s remarks on Tuesday about the inequity and injustice of the kafala system had heightened discussion of the issue.

“I think, as we speak, because of this, a lot of governments from the Middle East are reaching out again to the DFA to find ways not to only move it forward but to move it forward a little bit faster,” he said.

“It deserves noting that [Mr. Duterte] is the only leader who has actually confronted the issue of the kafala system straight on; he directly described the system as unjust and unequal,” Borje said.

Risky move“It’s a risky move for the President because it’s something that’s not really talked about in the open. It’s couched under different terms. Kafala system is not openly tagged as the problem. But President Duterte tackled it head-on, that the system must be abolished,” he added.

The kafala system requires foreign workers to have a sponsor in the country of employment to get a visa and worker’s permit. This allows employers to control the employment and migration status of foreign workers and even sell their contracts to others.

The Philippines has consistently objected to the system which came along with the “Asianization” of the labor forces of Middle Eastern economies in the 1990s.

Asians, like Filipinos, Indonesians and Pakistanis, now constitute more than three-fourths of the workers of those economies, but enjoy the least benefits among foreign workers.