Cimatu report confirms OFW trafficking to Iraq

A government fact-finding mission to Iraq has confirmed reports of trafficking of Filipino workers into the war-torn Middle East country by a Kuwait-based construction company. Senator Mar Roxas II arrived at this conclusion after meeting on Wednesday with special envoy Roy Cimatu and Foreign Affairs Undersecretaries Esteban Conejos Jr and Rafael Seguis regarding the group’s findings. Roxas said the recruitment of Filipino workers to Iraq continues by companies like First Kuwaiti International despite a deployment ban since 2004. The senator said Cimatu briefed him on how Filipinos managed to enter war-torn Iraq. “According to Ambassador Cimatu, OFWs enter Iraq usually by air travel coming from Dubai or Kuwait, accompanied by their employers in chartered planes. An OFW whose passport is stamped with ‘Not Valid for Travel to Iraq’ could still pass through immigration and be able to enter Iraq upon the facilitation of company representatives," he said. In view of the mission’s report, Roxas called on the Department of Labor and Employment to “adopt a better system of monitoring the recruitment and deployment" of Filipinos overseas, particularly to the Middle East. “The unabated recruitment of Filipino workers to Iraq, despite the government’s deployment ban, is alarming, especially since they are being made to work long hours under extremely stressful conditions," said Roxas, who filed a resolution on July 31 requesting the DFA to investigate reports that 51 Filipinos were smuggled into Iraq. After Wednesday's meeting, Roxas said the case is closed after the Cimatu group established that there were only 11 Filipinos, not 51, on the flight from Kuwait ti Baghdad and that they knew they were bound for Iraq to work at the US embassy compound in central Baghdad's Green Zone. Nonetheless, Roxas underscored the need for tighter monitoring of the recruitment and deployment of Filipinos to the Middle East, particularly to Iraq where there is an existing ban. “Clearly, the government must demonstrate political will in charging these recruitment firms for endangering and deceiving Filipinos," the senator stressed. “We have to show agencies and companies both local and abroad that we mean business, and that nothing comes before the safety of Filipinos," he added. Roxas said Cimatu reported that the number of Filipinos in Iraq had gone down from 7,600 in 2004 to 6, 647 this year. The number, he said, remains considerable in view of the fact that a deployment ban has been in place since 2004. “We are happy that the DFA has shared with us the results of their fact-finding mission," Roxas said, citing the group’s recommendations to better implement the deployment ban. These are: - requiring contracts of Middle East-bound OFWs to contain a provision that says “an OFW shall at no time be deployed or work in Iraq; - for the Philippine Consulate in Dubai to inform Dubai Immigration that all Philippine passports bear the marking “Not Valid for Travel to Iraq"; and, - a perusal of the contracts of Filipino drivers employed by First Kuwaiti, Agility Co. and Jassim Co. of Kuwait, to determine whether violations are being committed. At the same time, Roxas quoted Filipino engineer Ruperto Mirhan echoing the call for close monitoring of recruitment activities in the Philippines. Mirhan worked for two months in Baghdad’s heavily-fortified Green Zone as workshop and plant manager. Roxas said Mirhan quit his job after two months due to health problems. Mirhan told Roxas that for two weeks, the US Embassy complex where he worked was the target of day and night bombings by Iraqi rebels. “One night, a bomb landed and exploded two meters away from where I was sleeping. The ground shook and I was awaken from sleep, and it made me realize that I prefer to go home than to stay and work in Baghdad," Mirhan said. Roxas said Filipinos could not be blamed for trying to look for work outside the country. “Marami sa kanila ay kumakapit sa patalim dahil sa sobrang kahirapan. Kailangang parusahan natin iyung mga recruiters, legal man o iligal, na patuloy silang pinagsasamantalahan," he said. Roxas said he would ask the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) on how erring recruitment agencies managed to get accreditation, and find out how to improve monitoring of their activities. Two former employees of First Kuwaiti, John Owens and Rory J. Mayberry, testified before the US Congress in July about the smuggling of Filipinos into Iraq. Owens, a general foreman, said foreign workers were packed in trailers, lacked shoes and gloves, and were required to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Mayberry, a medical technician, said 51 Filipinos were on his flight to Baghdad but that all their tickets - and his own - showed they were going to Dubai. Mayberry said a First Kuwaiti manager told him not to tell the Filipinos they were being taken to Baghdad. ''They had no idea they were being sent to do construction work on the US Embassy,'' Mayberry said. ''I believe these men were kidnapped.'' - GMANews.TV