Iraq OFWs share stories in war-torn country

Edgar left for Iraq in 2004 and has not gone home to his family in the Philippines since then. He has worked under three companies in the last three years. “Nagpalipat-lipat ako para humanap ng medyo malaking sweldo at sa awa ng Diyos ay nakakita din ako sa aking pagtitiyaga kahit na may kaunting hirap at delikado," he said in an e-mail to GMANews.TV. Edgar is one of the estimated 10,000 Filipinos in Iraq despite the standing government ban on the deployment of workers to the war-torn country. On July 5, Cirilo Borgonia, a 33-year-old worker from Cebu, was killed in a rocket-and-mortar attack in the headily-fortified Green Zone in Baghdad. Borgonia was among many Filipinos believed to have entered Iraq through Kuwait. Edgar, who did not want his full name disclosed publicly, said he and many other Filipinos endure the hardships and dangers of working in Iraq to be able to send money to their loved ones in the Philippines. The plight of Filipino workers in Iraq has caught the government’s attention lately after Senator Mar Roxas II called for an investigation of an alleged “smuggling" of 51 Filipino workers into Iraq through Kuwait, as testified by former American private contractor Rory Mayberry before the US House committee on oversight and government reforms on July 26. On Tuesday, the same day Roxas called attention to the issue, GMANews.TV reported an admission from Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Ricardo Endaya that complaints of exploitation of Filipino workers in Iraq were not new to him. He said he has investigated it since 2004 when he was still charge d’affaires in Baghdad, and has urged the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to recommend to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) the blacklisting of First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting Company, the employer of 51 Filipinos purportedly trafficked into Iraq in 2006. Even before the “smuggling" issue came out, a number of Filipinos working in Iraq have told GMANews. TV their stories there, including being victimized by fellow Filipino agents who send them there and exact excessive fees from their monthly salaries. One group of OFWs in Iraq said they were employed by a British company at Victory Camp to secure a construction site in the Red Zone, said to be the most dangerous place in Iraq. “Mga security kami kung tawagin. Minsan naman ay matatawag rin kaming private army dahil na rin sa malalakas naming hawak na mga armas at nage-escort kami sa mga engineer na mga Amerikano," one Filipino said. “Pero sa loob ng halos isang taon ko sa trabaho na ‘yan, dalawang beses lang kami napasabak sa putukan. Hindi naman grabe kasi parang sabotahe lang sa trabaho sa construction na aming pinag-duty-han." (After more than a year, I only experienced two instances of hostilities, but the encounters, which seemed to be caused by sabotage, were that risky), “ he added. The Filipino now works with another company where the working condition is safer than before. He has belied claims that life of OFWs in Iraq is difficult. He said, they eat well, they are paid well and they are happy. Another OFW said the lucky ones among them get $4,700 dollars monthly salary. The unlucky ones get only $400 and some recruitment agencies take advantage of them, especially the neophytes in overseas work. He said of the $400 a month salary the recruitment agencies in the Philippines get $100. Amid deaths of OFWs caused by bomb attacks, testimonies of OFWs paint a good picture of Iraq as a land of opportunities for good earning. Some of them would even dare to face all threats to limbs and lives. Yet another Filipino said he would not have money to send to his family for the education of his children had there been no war in Iraq. The recent report about some 51 Filipinos “smuggled" to Iraq by a notorious Kuwaiti construction company has stirred up government concern especially that the travel ban to Iraq is still enforced. In the past, the First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting Company, had been accused of abusing its workers by nonpayment of salaries and poor working conditions. The case of the 51 OFWs is being investigated, and the result of the probe could lead to strict enforcement of the travel ban. Should it happen, Filipinos would still be willing to work in Iraq. Ellen Sana, executive director of the Center for Migrant Advocacy, believes that no amount of restriction could bar OFWs from finding jobs in Iraq. “The Department of Foreign Affairs knew all along that since the travel ban’s enforcement in 2004, some OFWs opted to stay and many yet from other countries in the Middle East found ways to sneak into Iraq," she said. The case of a group of 700 Filipino drivers in Iraq and individual OFWs who contacted us through the SOS-SMS, a short messaging service for distressed OFWs, is known by the DFA because SMS messages are automatically send to its database. The government has no choice but to impose the ban, just as some Filipinos who find Iraq a place to be has no other option but to stay, Sana said. - GMANews.TV