MANILA - The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has enforced a ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers to Kuwait over recent deaths of seven migrant workers.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said he has directed the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to stop processing overseas employment certificates of Kuwait-bound workers.

The order, issued late afternoon, takes effect immediately.

The ban came after President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday that he plans to engage Kuwaiti officials in talks following a string of deaths of Filipino women working in the Gulf state. He did not give any details.

“We talk to them, state the truth and just tell them that it’s not acceptable anymore,” Duterte said.

Kuwait is home to about 600,000 domestic helpers, mostly Asian. In January last year, Filipino migrant worker Jakatia Pawa was executed in Kuwait for allegedly killing her employer’s 22-year-old daughter.