No decision yet on Iraq deployment ban
Friday, July 30, 2010
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CALLS for the lifting of the deployment ban in Iraq will have to wait for a few more days as the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) is still waiting for the report of Presidential Middle East Preparedness Committee (PMEPC) Ambassador Roy Cimatu.
In a press conference, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz related that they are putting the Iraqi deployment status of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) on “status quo” pending the recommendation of Cimatu’s team.
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“Status quo muna tayo doon sa deployment pero once na dumating na ang assessment ng DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs), kung ano recommendation nila, yun ang susundin ng POEA (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration),” said Baldoz.
She said they expect the report to contain which area remain vulnerable to Filipinos and which can already be considered safe and secured.
Asked when the report will be released to Dole, the labor chief said it should be soon enough.
“I would like to think that the DFA will come out report before August 9 kasi yun ang repatriation date,” said Baldoz.
Last July 20, the United States (US) Central Command ordered the removal of all Filipinos currently deployed in Iraq by August 9 in respect to the laws of the host country and nations with deployment bans imposed.
Several sectors, including recruiters and OFWs, have since been calling on the government to simply lift the deployment ban in Iraq instead of risk having additional thousands of unemployed returning OFWs in the country.
Since July 2004, the Philippine government had imposed a deployment ban in Iraq following the abduction of truck driver Angelo dela Cruz in Baghdad and the start of the war on terror campaign by the American government.
Despite the ban, some 15,000 Filipino workers are still able to sneak to Iraq, most of whom are working in US military camps and are in-charge of laundry, cleaning, maintenance of electrical and mechanical works, catering, transport of logistics and food. (AMN/Sunnex)
