Last week, Duterte barred Filipinos from seeking work in Kuwait over reports of widespread abuse, exploitation and deaths, although the ban did not affect workers already in the Gulf state. "One more incident about a woman, a Filipina worker being raped there, committing suicide, I'm going to stop — I'm going to ban" Filipinos working, he said. Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said separately that Duterte had reacted to a recent report on abuses in Kuwait. Cayetano said Kuwaiti and Philippine diplomats had met in both countries to discuss the issue after Duterte imposed the ban. "We expressed the same concerns and they expressed surprise or shock that we used a ban immediately," Cayetano said.

Source: Philippine Star January 24, 2018 12:00 UTC