Rosalinda Baldoz, the Philippines labor secretary, as reported by the National. This week, the official discussed Manila’s new plans to protect its expats by cracking down on abusive sponsors and shady recruitment agencies in the Gulf.

The news follows last year’s request by the Philippines government that Gulf countries honor the $400 monthly minimum wage requirement for their domestic workers. Since then, there has been an unofficial ban on Filipina maid visas in Qatar.

But that issue and others are expected to be revisited over the next few months, as labor officials hold talks with the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar about the protection of domestic workers, the National reports.

Maids and other live-in household employees in the GCC are particularly vulnerable to abuse because they depend on their sponsors for salaries, food and the ability to travel outside of the home, human rights groups have said.

Previously, the head of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration discussed a five-year program to reduce the number of Filipinos seeking maid jobs abroad. But no movement has been made on that front, the newspaper added.

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