OFWs in US bases in Iraq may stay, but ban remains – DFA

Overseas Filipino workers already in Iraq and deployed in US military facilities may continue working there until they finish their contracts, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday. The department reiterated, however, that the total ban on the deployment of Filipino workers in the country continues in light of its volatile situation. In a statement posted on the DFA website, the department said the directive was approved by the inter-agency task force created to assess the situation in Iraq. “Upon the approval of the high-level inter-agency committee mandated to assess the security situation of and ensure the safety and welfare of Filipino workers in Iraq, Filipino workers in US military facilities may continue working there until their contracts expire," the DFA release stated. The task force said Filipino workers currently employed by the U.S. government or by its subcontractors inside US military bases and facilities will be allowed to continue working in Iraq on the condition that their safety is assured. Repatriation of Filipino workers at the end of their employment contracts will likewise have to be guaranteed, according to the release. The inter-agency task force is composed of the Department of Labor and Employment, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, DFA, and the Office of the Executive Secretary. The release stated the “high-level decision" has been sent to pertinent U.S. authorities through the Philippine Embassies in Washington D.C. and Baghdad. The decision will be the basis for Filipino nationals now working inside the U.S. bases to be considered compliant with a previous U.S. directive of repatriating non-compliant foreign workers, the DFA said. The US government earlier ordered all its military contractors to send home all foreign workers coming from countries that have imposed a deployment ban to Iraq. (See: US orders pullout of Filipino workers in Iraq) In this light, Special Envoy to the Middle East Roy Cimatu was sent to Iraq on July 29 to assess work conditions in the country and to recommend policy guidelines. (See: DFA sends envoy to Iraq to assess security situation of OFWs) Filipinos have been banned from working in Iraq since 2004 following a series of suicide bombing attacks and abduction of foreigners, including two Filipinos, as part of the Iraqi insurgent forces’ campaign against the US-led occupation of the country. “There are now only some 2,000 overseas Filipino workers in U.S. military bases and facilities in Iraq," the DFA release noted. Records from the DFA showed that earlier there were around 6,000 Filipino workers in Iraq. On the other hand, recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani said there are at most 15,000 Filipino workers employed in 75 US bases in the war-torn Mideast country. Migrants’ rights group likewise scored the government for failing to implement the ban, which it described as a “joke". “Under an intensively deregulated labor export program, there is no way the government could be successful in its attempt to stop the deployment of OFWs in war-torn countries, and even those hostile to OFWs," Migrante regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said.—JV, GMANews.TV