Filipinos in Iraq press govt for ruling on travel ban

MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos in Iraq are asking the Philippine government to decide on the possible lifting of the travel ban to the war-torn country, days after the United States military’s August 9 deadline for the start of the repatriation process for third-country nationals whose countries have such bans lapsed.

Their comments are posted to an INQUIRER.net story that the Philippine government has sent Special Envoy Roy Cimatu to Iraq to assess the security situation there. However, since Cimatu’s arrival on August 7, the government has not announced any decision.

In a telephone interview, Cimatu apologized and said he could not divulge his assessment. He said it has been decided in Malacanang that it would come out with a statement on his report.

“I hope you understand. Maybe they have other considerations apart from my assessment,” he told INQUIRER.net.

Despite the travel ban, Department of Foreign Affairs estimates that about 8,000 Filipinos are in Iraq, many of whom want the five-year travel ban lifted.

“What is the Philippine government waiting for? An assessment if Iraq is safe? What a joke! How many cases of abuses are there in the other ME [Middle East] countries where we export Filipinos? How many Filipinos have just been repatriated to the Philippines from Jeddah? Please compare to Iraq and then talk about safety. The issue is, WALANG NAKUKUHANG PERA ANG GOBYERNO NG PILIPINAS FROM THE OFW'S IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN [the government doesn’t earn off the OFWs in Iraq and Afghanistan]!” one of them, pinoydproduct, said.

Some are less angry and try to explain that they are actually safe inside the US military facilities, doing various maintenance work for monthly salaries reaching P100,000. They argued that if they were really in danger, they themselves would ask to be repatriated.

Some point out that Nepal, the other country mentioned in the US military directive regarding third-country nationals’ repatriation, has already lifted its own travel ban to Iraq.

The US military is scheduled to pull out of the country by 2011, starting with a major drawdown by the end of August.

In light of this, US military authorities in Iraq on July 20 directed its private contractors and subcontractors to identify within 20 days their foreign workers there who have violated US, Iraq and their respective countries’ laws and policies. The directive also ordered their contractors to develop a plan for their repatriation.

Cimatu left for Iraq July 20 and returned August 7. Apart from the security assessment, his instructions were to study options to address the situation and concerns of OFWs.

In its news release announcing Cimatu’s departure for Iraq, the DFA said the inter-agency committee – composed of the Office of the Executive Secretary, the Foreign Affairs department, the Department of Labor and Employment and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, among others – was expected to issue policy guidelines following the special envoy’s findings and recommendations.

The Philippine travel and labor deployment ban has been in effect since July 2004, following the kidnapping of OFW Angelo dela Cruz “[because] of continuing volatile security there,” the DFA said.

The Migrant Workers Act, or Republic Act 8042, mandates that the government adhere to strict guidelines in allowing the deployment of Filipino workers to other countries, and imposes heavy penalties on government officials who allow the deployment of migrant workers without the guarantees required by law.

Source: Inquirer