Pact between UAE, Philippines on Filipino workers a ‘historic model’

Pact between UAE, Philippines on Filipino workers a ‘historic model’

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter A migrant specialist in the Gulf since 2010 has welcomed and hailed the commitment and dedication of the UAE and Philippine governments in addressing concerns surrounding household service workers (HSWs), resulting in the implementation of a progressive bilateral labour agreement whereby Filipino domestic workers would be re-deployed to the UAE beginning April 1. Implying that this progressive bilateral labour agreement is a historic model, Rights Corridor managing director/International Labour Organisation-Migration Advisory Group Regional Office (Beirut) member Froilan Malit Jr. was hopeful this would "in the future" be embraced and carried out "for other domestic workers within their own legal systems in the UAE." Malit shared his views with Gulf Today late on Tuesday evening, hours after the state-owned Philippine News Agency (PNA) and state-owned Emirates News Agency (WAM) released their respective reports on the conclusions of the March 1 and 2 virtual Joint Committee Meeting (JCM) in Manila. PNA quoted Department of Labour and Employment Undersecretary Claro Arellano, Philippine Delegation JCM head. WAM quoted Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation-Ministry for Human Resources Affairs Undersecretary Saif Al Suwaidi, UAE Delegation JCM head. The deployment of Filipino HSWs to the UAE had been suspended since 2014. But