The Department of Foreign Affairs continues with its efforts on all fronts to enforce the OFW deployment ban to Iraq.  Undersecretary Brillantes reported to me that he presided over an interagency meeting on further strengthening the OFW deployment ban on 06 December.  The DFA, together with DoLE, POEA, BID and the PAIRTF outlined specific measures to augment current measures to prevent Filipino workers from sneaking into Iraq.

Also, Ambassador Roy Cimatu informed me that he joined Philippine Ambassador to Jordan Ruperto Dizon in meeting with the management of Dawood and Partners, an Amman-based firm employing about 50 OFWs working in Fallujah and Ramadi in Iraq.  They met on the alleged large-scale OFW recruitment by Dawood and Partners in defiance of the Philippine government ban and also about the repatriation of three Filipino workers currently in Iraq, who quit from the company because of the security situation.

After the meeting, Dawood management promised the Presidential Middle East Preparedness Committee that they will respect the OFW deployment ban and provide Philippine officials with a list of OFWs Dawood had already deployed in Iraq for transmittal to and processing by POEA.  The OFWs Dawood had deployed to Iraq did not pass through the POEA process and are undocumented.  Dawood further promised to facilitate the repatriation of its Filipino employees, including the three who already filed a request, should they desire to go home.

CDA Ricardo Endaya also met with the project manager of Kellogg, Brown and Root, main contractor of the Pentagon, to complain that its Turkey-based sub-contractor Kulak Construction Company has been blatantly violating the deployment ban.  Kulak is reportedly set to deploy a new batch of about 700 OFWs to Camp Anaconda in Iraq.  The KBR project manager promised to take up the matter with Kulak management.

The Philippine government’s resolve to continue implementing the deployment ban is a result of the security situation in Iraq, which according to Ambassador Cimatu, appears to have deteriorated in the past weeks, since the U.S. launched an offensive against Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah.  Widespread violence, mortar attacks, bomb threats and general lawlessness are pervasive.

British and American authorities have even declared the seven-mile road leading to the Baghdad International Airport as off-limits to their nationals due to the almost daily occurrence of bombings along that stretch.  The American and British forces have been using helicopters to go to and from the airport and this advisory to avoid using this dangerous stretch of road is also heeded by personnel of other embassies, including that of the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad.

As a result of the increased armed conflict in Iraq, two Filipinos have been reported injured in the past months.  The DFA has already reported the injuries sustained by and the medical attention and other forms of assistance given to OFW Arnulfo S. Abrea, a mechanic employed by Prime Projects International or PPI, and OFW Ludwig Mark Reyes, who works in Camp Anaconda.

Let me assure you that Philippine officials in Iraq are responding to their mandate to ensure the safety and welfare of Filipinos overseas in the face of the difficult and dangerous conditions in and around Baghdad.  The Philippine Team Iraq and the DFA assure you all that we will continue performing our duties as best we can.

It is with this same mandate and commitment that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Team Iraq, headed by DFA Undersecretary for Special Concerns Rafael E. Seguis, continue the unrelenting work for the release of abducted Filipino worker Robert Theodore V. Tarongoy, who remains in the hands of his Iraqi captors.

I have instructed Team Iraq to continue coordination with the contacts, conducting negotiations and double all efforts to secure the freedom of Mr. Tarongoy.

Undersecretary Seguis continuously updates me and the DFA Crisis Management Team based here in Manila on the actions they are taking in sending through intermediaries the appeal of the Philippine government for Mr. Tarongoy’s safe and expedient release.

As we exert all efforts, we join the Filipino people in their unceasing prayers to The Almighty for the safe release of our fellow countryman.

Thank you.  END
 
 

/jay