13 October 2004 – Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Special Concerns Rafael E. Seguis today instructed the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad to monitor the future entry of Filipino workers into Iraq and extend all possible assistance to them, especially to those OFWs who wish to be repatriated.  Undersecretary Seguis also gave standing instructions to the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait to coordinate with Kuwaiti government officials, regarding the implementation and observance by Kuwaiti companies employing Filipinos of the ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Iraq.

These instructions came after the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad informed the Department of Foreign Affairs that 53 Filipinos have been brought to Iraq despite the efforts of the Philippine government to strictly implement the deployment ban in the face of mounting hostilities in the war torn country.  The 53 Filipinos allegedly came to Iraq via Turkey sometime in the last week of September and were recruited by the Turkey-based Kulak Construction Corporation, a subcontractor of the American corporation Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR).  The 53 Filipinos are now deployed at Camp Anaconda in Balad, where they joined 27 other OFWs who were also earlier recruited by Kulak.

According to the report by Philippine Embassy in Baghdad Chargé d’Affaires (CDA) Ricardo M. Endaya, the entry of 53 OFWs into Iraq, brings to 90 the total number of Filipinos deployed to Iraq by Kulak Construction Corporation.  CDA Endaya recently spoke with KBR Project Manager Gerald Warner and emphasized to him that there is a Philippine government ban on deployment of OFWs to Iraq.  CDA Endaya told Mr. Warner that KBR should discourage its subcontractors from violating the ban.

CDA Endaya was also able to speak with Mr. Ismail Kulak, Vice President of Kulak Construction Company with whom he discussed the Philippine government’s deployment ban.  Mr. Kulak promised CDA Endaya that his company would stop recruiting OFWs in the meantime.  CDA Endaya also brought to Mr. Kulak’s attention the living conditions of the Filipinos encamped in temporary facilities within Camp Anaconda and requested that these be improved.

CDA Endaya saw during his visit to the Camp at the end of September that Filipinos are being housed only in temporary tents without access to adequate medical care, while food supplies are being procured locally despite the possibility of sabotage by militants.  CDA Endaya also reported that only a handful of the 90 Filipinos recruited by Kulak have signed employment contracts and none have remitted salaries so far.

The DFA meanwhile reported the cases of violation of the Iraq deployment ban being abetted by APEX Manpower, the Manila-based recruitment agency employed by Kulak, to the Presidential Anti-Illegal Recruitment Task Force (PAIRTF).  For the meantime, however, PAIRTF could only place APEX Manpower in its watch list since no one among the 90 OFWs now in Camp Anaconda is willing to file a written complaint against either Kulak Construction Corporation or APEX Manpower.  As such, no formal legal action could be taken against the Manila-based manning agency.  END.