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MANILA - A labor official on Monday believes up to 60,000 Filipino workers from Kuwait may return to the Philippines following President Rodrigo Duterte's request for OFWs in the Gulf state to come home.

• Duterte pleads to OFWs in Kuwait: 'Come home'

"At the rate that abuses, maltreatment...are being perpetrated on our people or the domestic, maybe, minimum of 10,000 perhaps - a maximum of 50,000 to 60,000 if indeed the government is really serious in repatriating that number although there must be massive operation that should be done by government, chartered flights and all those things..." Labor Undersecretary Jacinto Paras said in an ANC interview.

"Kung ang purpose ng gobyerno ay alagaan ang mga inaapi na mga OFWs doon, the government should have this resolve in bringing them home."

Paras said the President made the request to help Filipino household workers who may be suffering abuses in Kuwait.

Asked if the Philippines can offer competitive salaries for domestic workers coming from Kuwait, he said: "That is why these people have to come home because they will not care anymore for the salary. They'd rather be home because they are free. They can sleep 8 hours a day. Kaysa doon na sakripisyo."

President Duterte on Saturday appealed to the 260,000 Filipinos in Kuwait to come home, amid rising tensions between the Philippines and Kuwait over the controversial rescue operations of distressed Filipino domestic workers in the Gulf state which angered the Kuwaiti government.

“I now appeal to your sense of patriotism. Come home. Tutal marami nang trabaho sa Pilipinas,” he said.

It was the first time the president addressed the issue after the Kuwaiti government expelled Philippine ambassador Renato Villa, a move which the Philippine government called inconsistent with the assurances given by its envoy in Manila.

• Kuwait expels Philippine envoy amid tensions over domestic workers

Kuwait's foreign ministry said it had given the ambassador 3 days to provide the names of Filipino residents in Kuwait who had "kidnapped" domestic workers from their employers' homes, adding it had yet to receive a response from the embassy.

Kuwaiti security forces "will continue to chase down those who violated the security of the country" and put them on trial, the ministry added in a statement.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque on Monday said the President is "not compelling anyone to come home" if Filipino workers want to stay in Kuwait.

"The context there is if Kuwait does not want the Filipinos, the Filipinos can come home and we will help them," he said.

He added that diplomatic ties between the Philippines and Kuwait remain despite the absence of an ambassador.

"Kuwait is also duty-bound to protect aliens under the standards dictated by international law. We are trying to normalize as much as we could ties with Kuwait," he said.

TRAINING OFWS

In the interview, Paras said the government should train repatriated overseas workers from Kuwait and turn them into "top notch" skilled workers in order to help them access opportunities here and abroad.

"I propose na we will train them to be skilled workers, the DOLE and TESDA should come up with an academy," he said.

He said the Duterte administration's Build, Build, Build program requires more skilled workers, adding even women can be good welders.

There are also other opportunities abroad if Filipinos still prefer to work overseas, he said.

China needs 100,000 English teachers and Poland has expressed its intent to open 10,000 to 20,000 opportunities for skilled workers, he said.

"Marami pa tayong napipisil ngayon. They are a lot of countries that are open kasi Filipinos are top notch service providers. We are always preferred," he said.

When asked about the rescue of domestic helpers in Kuwait, which severed the ties between the 2 countries, Paras said the government should review its policies because the country is not supposed to send workers in countries with no bilateral agreements in the first place.

• Duterte: Kuwait deployment ban ‘stays permanently’