Most OFWs from Iraq victims of trafficking

By Bernadette Tamayo, with WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL, 17 Jan 2020

MOST of the 13 Filipinos repatriated recently from Iraq were victims of human trafficking, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Thursday.

Foreign Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Lou Y. Arriola welcomed today 13 distressed Filipinos from Iraq. As DFA raised Alert Level 4 and started the mandatory repatriation of Filipinos in Iraq, Usec Arriola vowed that DFA, through OUMWA and PH Embassy in Baghdad, will continue to bring home Filipinos amidst increasing tensions in the Middle East. Photo By Department of Foreign Affairs
The first batch of repatriates — 11 adults and two children — from Iraq arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on Wednesday afternoon.

The DFA said the government would continue to bring home Filipinos amid increasing tensions in the Middle East, stoked by the conflict between the United States and Iran, following the killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in a US drone airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq.

The DFA paid for the repatriates’ exit visa and airfare.

“Most of the repatriate are victims of human trafficking,” the DFA said in a statement.

The Filipinos came from Baghdad and Erbil in Iraq. The first batch included a group of seven adults and two children, whose trip from Baghdad to Doha in Qatar was delayed by immigration problems.

They rode two armored vehicles together with Philippine Embassy Charge d’Affaires Jomar Sadie to Baghdad airport.

“There were some visa issues that needed to be resolved and they were resolved through quiet diplomacy,” said DFA Assistant Secretary Eduardo Meñez in a text message.

The other four adults, who came from Erbil north of Baghdad, formed the second group, the DFA said.

Upon instructions of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., DFA Undersecretary Dado Dulay met with the Iraqi Chargè d’Affaires on January 14 to discuss the matter of the stranded Filipinos.

Sadie made similar representations with the Iraqi government.

The DFA thanked the Iraqi Embassy in Manila for its “invaluable assistance cooperation in expediting the repatriation of our kababayan (countrymen).”

“I’ve thanked the Iraqi CDA (Chargés d’Affaires Khalil Rashow) for his instant response,” Locsin said on Twitter on Wednesday.

Locsin added that the DFA “is getting those it can get out, out as fast as they can to lighten the load on these ships that are gonna fly the flag in waters it’s never flown.”

On Thursday, Malacañang said the deployment ban to Kuwait would stay unless the labor deal that sought to protect overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the Gulf state was being fully implemented.

Speaking to reporters, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said the memorandum of agreement (MoA) between the Philippines and Kuwait on the protection of OFWs had not been fully implemented by the Gulf state.

“Until such time the terms of the MoA are incorporated in each labor contract between the employer and the employees, the ban remains. Kasi hindi pa nasusunod ‘yun (That’s not being followed). That’s why [Labor] Secretary [Silvestre] Bello [3rd] told me,” he added.

“That’s the condition. If you don’t keep your end of the bargain, the ban will continue,” the spokesman said.

The ban was in reaction to Kuwait’s lapses in handling the case of Filipino worker Jeanelyn Villavende, who was killed last month allegedly by her employers.

An autopsy by the National Bureau of Investigation on Villavende found that she was also sexually abused.

An earlier autopsy report prepared by Kuwait’s Health Ministry did not indicate that Villavende had been raped.

The Philippines entered into an agreement with the Kuwaiti government after the deaths of several Filipinos in Kuwait, including Joanna Demafelis, who was found dead in a freezer in 2018.

Among the stipulations in the agreement was that OFWs should have a day off and at least seven hours of sleep daily, and their passports must not be confiscated by their employers.
Kuwait hosts some 262,000 Filipinos, nearly 60 percent of whom are domestic workers.
Bellos said it was the Kuwait government’s attempt to whitewash the murder of Villavende that prompted the Philippine government to impose the total deployment ban.