High pay lures OFWs to Afghanistan despite ban

Despite the existing deployment ban and the volatile situation in Afghanistan, Filipinos continue working in the war-torn country due to offers of high salaries and benefits, such as insurance. A report by GMA News’ Jiggy Manicad on “24 Oras" said majority of the Filipinos who land jobs with private security contractors in the Islamic republic are former police and military officers who easily get admitted due to the nature of their previous work. The US government hires these private security contractors to assist the US military, which has established its presence in Afghanistan in the last nine years. According to the report, those who are admitted as enlisted personnel stand to receive at least US$2,500 (about P108,000), but the salary can reach as much as US$10,000 (about P432,000), depending on the Filipinos workers’ previous rank when they were still working in the Philippines. Reporter Jiggy Manicad was able to interview Lando (not his real name), previously deployed in Afghanistan, who said it is the generous insurance benefit offered to him that made him risk working in the war-torn country. “Ang insurance namin, kayang bumuhay ng pamilya namin saka ng mga apo namin (The insurance we get can give our families, including our grandchildren, a decent life)," Lando disclosed. Lando likewise revealed he knew the six Filipinos who died when a cargo plane crashed east of Kabul on Tuesday.
Baka pinag-aralan din ‘yung mga galaw nila ng mga Al-Qaeda doon dahil yung taas ng binagsakan niya, napakababa pa, abot na abot pa ng RPG ng mga Taliban," Lando explained. (Perhaps their movements were patterned by the Al-Qaeda there, because the plane was still flying low when it crashed, and that height could easily be reached by RPG fire from the Taliban.) Al-Qaeda has been labeled internationally as a terrorist group with supposed links worldwide such as with the Taliban. Despite this, Lando, who has been able to buy a car and a house using his earnings from his previous jobs in Afghanistan, said he will go back to the country despite its dangers. “Babalik at babalik ako (I will keep coming back)," Lando said in the newscast. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) had been repeatedly reminding Filipinos who are planning to work in Afghanistan of the existing deployment ban there, which has been in effect since early 2005. "Ang advise ko sa kanila, isiping mabuti, dahil talagang high-risk ang trabaho roon. Ginagawa ng gobyerno ang lahat para malayo kayo sa harm's way," said DFA Undersecretary Rafael Seguis. (My advice is for them to think it over, because jobs there are really high-risk. The government is doing everything to keep you out of harm’s way.) Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs executive Director Ricardo Endaya meanwhile said the department is coordinating with the Philippine Embassy in Islamabad for the immediate repatriation of the victim’s remains. The US Central Command earlier ordered its contractors to remove third-country nationals, including Filipinos, from US military and other facilities in Afghanistan whose domestic laws prohibit their citizens from working there. (See: US orders pullout of Pinoy workers in Afghanistan) Government records show that there are about 1,800 Filipinos living in Afghanistan as of 2008. Based on Philippine Overseas Employment Administration records, only four Filipino workers were deployed in the country in 2009. The nature of these Filipinos’ work is unclear. (See: DFA admits 'lapses' in enforcing labor ban on Afghanistan)—Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV