Filipino workers in Kuwait have been urged to keep their composure, stay alert, and heed instructions from local officials and the Philippine Embassy after fresh hostilities disrupted operations at the country’s main aviation gateway.
The advice came from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), which released a public advisory addressing the latest turmoil at Kuwait International Airport. In its statement, written in Filipino, the agency told overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to “manatiling kalmado, maging mapagmatyag, at sundin ang mga abiso ng lokal na awtoridad at ng Embahada ng Pilipinas sa Kuwait.”
The guidance follows a June 3 assault in which Iranian drones and missiles struck the airport’s Terminal 1, killing at least one civilian and wounding more than 60 others, according to Kuwaiti authorities cited in international reporting. Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry denounced the attack as a “dangerous escalation” and cautioned that additional strikes remain a possibility. Civil aviation regulators briefly halted all air traffic before allowing a partial reopening later the same day, with Kuwait Airways shifted to a separate terminal while other carriers stayed grounded.
OWWA laid out several channels for workers needing urgent help. Its Kuwait office can be reached at +965 9403 9063, with email support through kuwait@owwa.gov.ph and tulong@owwa.gov.ph. The Migrant Workers Office (MWO) in Kuwait is contactable at +965 6040 3858 or via mwo_kuwait@dmw.gov.ph, while the Philippine Embassy’s Assistance-to-Nationals hotline is +965 6558 5355. The agency also pointed workers to its round-the-clock 1348 hotline.
The June 3 incident marks a renewed flare-up in a conflict that has battered the Gulf since late February, when Iran began targeting Kuwaiti sites and US-linked assets across the region as part of the wider 2026 Iran war. Earlier waves of attacks had already forced a prolonged shutdown of Kuwaiti airspace and damaged the airport’s radar systems and fuel facilities.
OWWA said it, the Department of Migrant Workers, and the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait remain on standby to respond to the needs of OFWs and their families. The earlier closure of Kuwaiti airspace, which stretched from late February into April, had previously pushed the Philippine government to route repatriation flights through Dammam, Saudi Arabia, after direct service from Kuwait became impossible.
