Manila : Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has announced that a ban on Filipinos working in Kuwait will be made permanent and he urged those still working in that country to return home, state media reported on Sunday.

Duterte made the comments during a speech on Saturday in Singapore on the sidelines of the 32nd ASEAN Summit, Efe news reported.

“Those who are there in Kuwait… I now appeal for your sense of patriotism. Come home,” Duterte said.

Duterte in February issued a temporary ban on sending additional workers to Kuwait pending an investigation into the murder of a 29-year-old Filipino house worker, whose body was found in the freezer of her employers. They have been sentenced to death for the murder.

The case sparked outrage in the Philippines and has triggered a diplomatic crisis as thousands of domestic workers left the Gulf nation.

The Philippine Ambassador in Kuwait, Renato Villa, has also been recalled.

The two nations are due to sign a MoU on the protection of overseas Filipino workers in June.

—IANS