Negotiating with the lion inside its mouth

“The most dangerous negotiation is the one you don't know you're in.”

—Christopher Voss

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

WE can never win if we continue to negotiate with the lion inside its mouth.

I’m referring to the efforts of the Philippine Government to convince the Kuwait Government to lift the ban on Filipinos without residence permit by sending a delegation to negotiate in Kuwait two weeks ago.

So far, so bad; I mean, nothing happened. The trip yielded a negative result.

To make the long story short, Team Philippines went home empty handed. The ban continued to be enforced as of this writing with no bright prospect in sight whatsoever.

Let’s hope something positive will unravel in the soonest possible time with or without the second trip by our negotiating officials to Kuwait.

We heard Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) officials are planning to go back for a second round of negotiation.

Kuwait must be thinking we are willing to go extra mile or negotiate on bended knees for the OFWs. 

Kuwait and other countries in the Middle East and Persian Gulf employing Filipino workers are aware that, as a Third World country, we badly need dollar remittances that will come from our OFWs.

The only way for us to get a fair deal or positive concession from Kuwait is to negotiate outside the lion’s mouth.

 

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Let’s be firm and show them our fangs; that we are hell-bent to actually totally ban Pinoy workers in Kuwait if they can’t guarantee the safety and basic rights of our OFWs there. 

We lose the dollar remittances, they lose quality workers. Who blinks first loses.

Kuwait actually had suspended all types of work and entry visas for Filipinos after the Philippines reportedly violated a bilateral labor agreement with the country, according to reports that cited sources from the Ministry of Interior.

The visa pause was reportedly ordered by Sheikh Talal al-Khaled al-Sabah, the Minister of Interior, after a breach.

The suspension was due to the Philippines having not “complied with the provisions of the labor agreement between the two countries,” reported the Kuwait Times.

It was actually the Philippines that drew the first blood.

In February 20223, the Philippines barred first-time workers, especially domestic workers, from entering Kuwait after the brutal murder of a 35-year-old Filipina maid by the teenage son of her Kuwaiti employer.

The Philippines government had also suspended the accreditation of new recruitment agencies in Kuwait.

Thus the Kuwait’s “counter offensive” must have caught the Philippines by surprise. 

 

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Kuwait’s lethal punch came after Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople disclosed in January that a team of officials would be traveling to Kuwait

to investigate the rise of cases of abuse against Filipino workers, as well as to work with Kuwaiti officials to take preventative measures.

Sexual abuse and rape, human trafficking, labor contract violations and illegal terminations were reportedly among the common complaints of Filipinos.

Domestic workers in the country also report delayed or unpaid salaries, long working hours, uncomfortable sleeping arrangements, and the confiscation of their passports and personal belongings.

Around 268,000 Filipino workers are employed in Kuwait. According to data from the Department of Migrant Workers, there were more than 24,000 cases of violation and abuse against Filipino workers in 2022 alone.

 

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Firefighters battled a massive inferno May 21 at the historic Manila Central Post Office for seven long hours. The horrific scene was flashed in prime time news all over the world, including in most social media platforms.

Photos of the blaze showed large flames and thick smoke billowing from the windows of the neoclassical building built in 1926. Officials said an investigation would be launched into the cause of the fire, and investigators haven't ruled out the possibility of an electrical fault or arson.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)