DFA retains travel, labor ban in Iraq

THE ban for travel and labor deployment in Iraq “remains” even as various overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) groups call for the lifting of the ban because of the possibility of losing their jobs, an official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday. Esteban Conejos Jr., Foreign Affairs department undersecretary for migrant affairs, said that their primary concern in whether or not they will lift the travel and labor deployment ban in Iraq is the “security situation” in the country.

He said their decision must come from the latest assessment of current security on the ground.

Conejos said that during the last week of July, several killings and attacks happened in the war-torn region of Iraq where more than 25 were killed.

There was even a rocket attack in the green zone where Filipinos are working, he added.

The green zone, or the International Zone of Iraq, is a 10-square-kilometer in central Baghdad, which is the center of international presence in the city. It is a heavily guarded diplomatic and government area of closed-off streets in Baghdad.

Conejos said that the assessment of security situation in Iraq is the reason why the government decided to send Special Envoy Roy Cimatu, head of the Presidential Middle East Preparedness Committee, to evaluate the work conditions of OFWs there.

Cimatu left for Iraq on Thursday, and will return to Manila on Saturday. He will immediately submit his report and recommendations to an inter-agency committee.

On July 20, the United States military authorities in Iraq directed its private contractors and subcontractors to identify within 20 days their foreign workers who have violated United States, Iraq and their respective countries’ laws and policies. The directive also ordered their contractors to develop a plan for their repatriation.

Filipino workers in Iraq have been requesting for the Philippine government to lift the five-year travel and labor deployment ban there for them to have better opportunities to legally work in the Middle Eastern country.

There are around 6,000 Filipino workers in Iraq despite the Philippine government’s travel and labor deployment ban to Iraq.

“[But] the ban remains. We give benefit of the doubt because they [OFWs] are asking what are they going to do here [after they lost their jobs there]?” Conejos said.

“Anything can happen. We hope they can run their government properly, and I wish there can be peace and progress in Iraq,” he added.

The Philippine travel and labor deployment ban has been in effect since July 2004, following the kidnapping of OFW Angelo de la Cruz “[because] of continuing volatile security there.”

The Migrant Workers Act, or Republic Act 8042, mandates that the government adhere to strict guidelines in allowing the deployment of Filipino workers to other countries, and imposes heavy penalties on government officials who allow the deployment of migrant workers without the guarantees required by law. –BERNICE CAMILLE V. BAUZON REPORTER, Manila Times