Manama: A lawyer in Kuwait on Monday filed a legal suit calling for declaring the Philippines ambassador persona non grata.
The lawyer accused the Philippine embassy of breaching the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Kuwaiti daily Al Qabas reported on its website, without naming the plaintiff.
In a statement, the interior ministry said it had apprehended a third man for his alleged role in “enticing house workers to run away from their employers’ houses.”
Meanwhile, in its weekly session, the cabinet said it was monitoring closely the repercussions of statements by Philippine officials and the actions taken by some employees of the Philippine embassy in Kuwait.
The cabinet said the remarks and embassy activities were an infringement and violation of the sovereignty and laws of Kuwait.
MP Al Humaidi Al Subaei lashed out at the foreign minister and said he warned him that “if he does not take measures to safeguard the dignity of Kuwaitis, he will be held politically responsible and grilled”.
Foreign Minister Shaikh Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah briefed the cabinet on the measures taken by the ministry, including summoning the ambassador on Friday and Saturday and telling him that Kuwait condemned the remarks by Philippine officials and reserved the right to take the legal measures to deal with the abuse of its sovereignty and laws of the state.
The cabinet was also briefed by Interior Minister Shaikh Khalid Al Jarrah Al Sabah on the procedures taken by the ministry on the issue.
The two cars in the video that shows people assisting Filipino domestic helpers escape from the homes of their employers were also seized, the ministry said in a press statement, according to Kuwait News Agency (Kuna).
On Sunday, the ministry said it had apprehended two Filipinos for helping Filipina house workers run away. The two men, apparently embassy staff members, “confessed their crime” during questioning “in addition to other similar offences that had been committed in various areas of the country”.
The two suspects also admitted they had been tasked with encouraging Filipinas working in their employers’ houses to flee, the ministry added.
“The authorities have launched investigations into such recurring cases following protests by citizens that their domestic helpers have been lured by strangers,” the ministry said.
The legal suit, the cabinet statement, and the arrest of a third suspect on Monday were the latest developments in the increasingly dramatic diplomatic saga involving the Philippines embassy in Kuwait.
Ambassador Renato Pedro Villa said that he was aware of the first two arrests and that the embassy’s attorney would follow up their case.
A security source told Kuwaiti daily Al Rai that one suspect was arrested at the airport where he drove several workers to fly back home.
The second suspect was arrested in Hawalli.
