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Friday, February 21, 2003
War or peace, M. East OFWs refuse to come home: Dole
By Christie E. Uayan
WHETHER a US-Iraq war erupts or not, most Filipinos working in the Middle East refuse to go home.
This according to Department of Labor and Employment Undersecretary
Josephus Jimenez during his recent visit in Davao City for a consultation and orientation with the labor sector.
Jimenez said the report was relayed to him by Labor Secretary Patricia
Santo Tomas during her one-week sojourn to the Middle East to assess and check the situation of Overseas Filipino Workers in the area.
Jimenez said most of the workers were quoted as saying, "Inyo mong
i-rescue diri gikan sa kamatayon, mamatay ra man gihapon mi kung mupapauli mi (You will rescue us from death here, but if we come back in the Philippines we will also die)."
An estimated 1.5 Filipinos are working in the Middle East.
Jimenez said the huge population of OFWs in the Middle East makes it difficult to repatriate all of them if a war commences.
Sto. Tomas, he said, implied that relocating the 1.5 Filipinos in the Middle East is like relocating citizens of a whole country bigger than Singapore.
"Can you imagine how much we will spend for that?" Jimenez asked.
He added that the government, through the Middle East Preparedness Team
(MEPT) headed by Gen. Roy Cimatu has already rented a relocation site in the southern part of Iraq's neighboring country Kuwait.
Although it could only house about 100 thousand persons, Jimenez said the government is not sleeping on its job in securing the welfare of the workers by looking for other means for the safety.
He said it is more reasonable to house the OFWs in the relocation site than to repatriate them here and add to the already rampant social and economic problems in the country.
"Of course, on the individual basis, we would also help those who would wish to come home. Many labor attaches are there, so are the representative from Owwa (Overseas Workers Welfare Admnistration) and POEA (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration)," he added.
He said families of OFWs should not worry too much because this might worsen the tension being felt by their loved ones in the Middle East.
(February 21, 2003 issue)
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