• PHL on brink of deployment ban to Kuwait as maid dies

THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Monday said it is closely monitoring the investigation in the death of another Filipino household service worker (HSW) in Kuwait, as labor revived calls for a partial deployment ban on the tiny oil-rich kingdom.

• Philippines sets ‘partial’ deployment ban to Kuwait

The Philippine government imposed a partial deployment ban to Kuwait following the recent death of another overseas Filipino worker.

• Prepare air, naval assets for MidEast evacuations, AFP ordered

In the wake of rising tension between the United States and Iran, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has been ordered by President Rodrigo R. Duterte to prepare its air and naval assets which could be used in the evacuation of overseas Filipino workers in the Middle East should hostilities erupt in the region

• Forced evacuation of Filipinos in Iraq sought

The country’s special envoy to the Middle East has recommended the forced evacuation of Filipino workers in Iraq amid escalating tensions between the United States and Iran.

• Trade deals ease health worker mobility — WTO

Philippine trade deals that grant access to health workers in partner countries represent a “substantive commitment” to allow a measure of worker mobility in the health care sector, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said in a working paper.

• OFW Iraq to Doha exodus begins

The first batch of Filipinos being moved out of Iraq will depart on Monday night for Qatar, where they will await their flight back home, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Monday.

• Philippine FM fumes: “I want an eye for an eye, 2, 3 Kuwaiti lives for a Filipino life”

The Philippine government yesterday (Jan 15) began enforcing a ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait following a local autopsy report which found household service worker (HSW) Jeanalyn Villavende had been sexually abused and tortured before she died.

• ‘Prolonged US-Iran row more troubling for PHL’

Unlike the US-China trade tiff, a prolonged US-Iran conflict would prove to be more challenging for the Philippines, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

• Filipino domestic helpers fled mistreatment in Middle East but government hasn’t delivered the support it promised

Filipinos who have returned home after fleeing oppressive work conditions in the Middle East face an uphill battle to claim a rehabilitation cash grant offered by the government and start a new life to make up for lost foreign currency earnings.

• Filipino investigators to join probe on Kuwait OFW’s killingThe Kuwaiti government will allow Philippine authorities to join the investigation on the murder of Filipina domestic worker Jeanelyn Villavende, a top Kuwaiti official said.

•  OFWs may cite humanitarian grounds for working in Libya

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Libya may now cite humanitarian grounds to be given exemption from the existing deployment ban in the African state.

• Labour rights abuse on the rise

Unable or unwilling to invest in technological advances that would automate production and ease workloads, many factories across Southeast Asia are filled with migrant workers who have appeared in the news for all the wrong reasons