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Ban deployment to Kuwait: Sen. Raffy Tulfo, chairperson of the Committee on Migrant Workers, calls for an immediate deployment ban of Filipino workers bound for Kuwait Wednesday, February 8, 2023 following the murder of Jullebee Ranara, a household staff who was reportedly killed by her employer’s son. Tulfo, who presided over the public inquiry on the Jullebee case, said it is time that the Philippines should take a firm stand against violators of bilateral agreements. “We can enter into bilateral agreements but our terms should be clear and unequivocal. If there are violators to such agreements, we have to prioritize the welfare of our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and act at the soonest possible time. Make these violators accountable and liable without concession and pursuant to our laws and international conventions,” Tulfo stressed. He said his radio program and office had received complaints and calls for assistance from other OFWs in Kuwait. “We have almost two million OFWs all over the world and about 100,000 to 120,000 migrant workers are still working in Kuwait. Let us not wait until one or more of them would come home wounded, beaten black and blue or a corpse like what happened to Jullebee,” Tulfo said in Filipino. Migrant Workers Undersecretary Maria Anthonette Velasco-Allones told Tulfo the deployment of first-time or newly-hired household workers bound for Kuwait has been suspended. She said they would be offered alternative jobs in Singapore and Hong Kong. (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate PRIB)