23 August 2004 – The Department of Foreign Affairs today assured the family of Danilo Pasia, the Filipino telecommunications engineer injured in an attack in the Northern Iraqi City of Mosul, that he is safe and is receiving the appropriate medical attention.

After receiving the report of the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad, case officers with the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs of the DFA (DFA-OUMWA) met with Mr. Pasia’s wife, Joyce, at the DFA this afternoon and said that Danilo is safe and is now confined at the Al-Jumuhiri Hospital in Mosul.   According to the report, Mr. Pasia will undergo surgery, tentatively set for tomorrow, for treatment of his bullet wounds.

 OUMWA assured Mrs. Pasia that the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad is doing everything it can under the present conditions in Iraq especially in Mosul to extend every possible assistance to Mr. Pasia.

Mrs. Pasia related that her househelp received a call from Danilo himself after the incident and left a message that he was already out of harm’s way and that his family need not worry about his condition should they hear of any news report of the attack on them.

According to the report of Chargé d’Affaires in Baghdad Ricardo M. Endaya, Danilo Pasia was wounded when their vehicle was attacked on Sunday, 22 August 2004, near the Iraqi city of Mosul, some 450 kilometers north of the capital Baghdad.  An Indonesian national as well as two Iraqis who were with Mr. Pasia were killed when unidentified attackers ambushed their vehicle, Mr. Endaya also said.

OUMWA said a team from the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad headed by CDA Endaya would visit Mosul to ascertain Pasia’s latest condition and provide the necessary assistance.

In the light of this development, the DFA reiterated its call for Filipino workers in Iraq to be more security conscious, take extra precautions for their personal safety and, as much as possible, confine their movements to secured areas. END.