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Thursday, November 04, 2004
Gov't sends Cimatu to Iraq to secure Tarongoy's release
* Tarongoy's wife appeals for his freedom
* Evacuation of Pinoy workers from Iraq eyed
MALACAÑANG activated Wednesday its Middle East response team to work for the release of Filipino accountant Roberto Torongoy, who was taken hostage in Iraq.
This, as Tarongoy's wife appealed to his abductors to release him and government is now considering the evacuation of all Filipino workers from Iraq to ensure everybody's safety.
"Our crisis team is in place to verify information, take care of the family, put officials on the ground, establish back channels and muster support from all sectors, informing our political leaders," Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.
"We will see this crisis through, systematically and with sensitivity. Government knows what to do and let us hope for the best," Bunye said.
He also called for prayers for 31-year-old Torongoy, adding "we must steel ourselves for dangerous times."
"Filipinos live and work at the edge of conflict in parts of the world and are exposed to grave risks," he said.
Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said special envoy to the Middle East Roy Cimatu is in Kuwait and will head for Iraq to work for Torongoy's release.
Sto. Tomas said there was supposed to be a meeting in Malacañang Wednesday morning regarding Torongoy's case.
Tarongoy, who was working as an accountant in the Saudi Arabia Transport Contracting Corporation (Satco) was abducted by the Islamic militants but the government has not identified the group responsible for the kidnapping since they have not been contacted.
She said Torongoy's abduction shows that the Iraq situation has not yet improved and that the ban on the deployment of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to Iraq would have to remain in effect until after the New Year.
Sto. Tomas expressed fears that Torongoy may not be the last Filipino to end up as hostage since there are others like him who violated the government ban on deploying workers to Iraq.
The ban took effect last July after the kidnapping of Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz by Iraqi militants. Malacañang has been warning those who persist in entering Iraq illegally that they may not be as lucky asdDe la Cruz.
Sto. Tomas said Torongoy left the country in July 23 for Bangkok then went to Baghdad.
She said Torongoy was working outside US bases in Iraq but close to the so-called green zone, which was supposed to be relatively safe.
Meanwhile, Ivy Grace Tarongoy appealed to the Iraqi kidnappers to let her husband go.
"Please release my husband. He is a very good husband and a very good man," a tearful Ivy Grace said.
The 28-year-old wife of Tarongoy admitted that she was totally unaware of his husband's abduction because she was able to talk to him two to three hours before the abduction.
"I was not aware of the abduction but the last time we talked was last Monday," Ivy said.
According to Ivy, she was surprised when her husband called her sometime in July and told her that he is working as an accountant for one of the food concessionaires in Iraq.
Although Roberto informed her of his plan to go abroad, Ivy said when her husband left Davao Cty last June 28, 2004, he said he would be working in Manila.
Knowing that Iraq is a critical country, Ivy said she keeps on praying for the safety of his husband who calls him every night prior to the kidnapping.
When asked what pushed Tarongoy to leave the country and opt to work in Iraq, Ivy said "he wanted to earn more". The Tarongoys had been married for two years and both of them were working as accountants in Davao.
Meanwhile, Sto. Tomas said the government is considering the evacuation of Filipino laborers from Iraq after the abduction of Tarongoy.
Sto. Tomas said Tarongoy left the country using a business visa or a visitor's visa to Doha, Qatar but there were no records from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) indicating that Tarongoy left the country without passing through the POEA.
At least 200 OFWs are estimated to be living outside of the green zone areas and Sto. Tomas admitted that workers in those areas are very much at risk.
"Our labor attaché there said Bobby Tarongoy was living outside the camp or the green zone area and this is a vulnerable area so these people left without passing through POEA," Sto. Tomas said.
She said the government is now preparing for any possible eventuality as the situation in Iraq has started to worsen.
"We're staring work both at the worksite and here at kung mag-escalate pa at mukhang nag-escalate dahil napatay ang (and if it will escalate and it seems it will escalate because of the killing of a) vice governor last week, we might eventually evacuate or move people," Sto. Tomas said.
But she stressed that these are just preparations and that the actions had been done since the time of the Iran-Iraq war.
"Many times in the past, we had evacuations and during the Iran-Iraq war, and this could exist now in Iraq. We are trying to cover the bases and these are all preparations more than anything else. We have existing contingency plans for that," Sto. Tomas added.
About 800 undocumented OFWs are believed to be in Iraq and 500 of them were able to found employment in the two US military camps, namely, Camp Victory and Anaconda. There are an estimated 5,000 OFWs in Iraq now with about 4,200 documented.
Since Tarongoy left the Philippines without having his papers processed with the POEA, Sto. Tomas appealed to other undocumented or "irregular" OFWs not only in Iraq but those in the Middle East as a whole to refrain from crossing borders and entering Iraq.
Sto. Tomas vowed to do everything to ensure the safe release of Tarongoy, who left the country sometime in July 2004 to work in Iraq.
Meanwhile, POEA administrator Rosalinda Baldoz said Tarongoy's documents were initially processed by JS Contractor. However, when the ban in Iraq was imposed, it was withdrawn by the recruitment agency.
Baldoz said they have asked JS Contractor to explain and disciplinary action will be taken against Satco.
"We will initiate disciplinary action against the employer because they recruit workers here and deployed them to Iraq despite the ban. They will not be allowed now to recruit workers here pending investigation, and once we find out that they indeed committed a violation, they will eventually be black listed," Baldoz said.
Ivy Grace Tarongoy, Robert's wife, said it was only last July that is husband left but she clarified that at the time of Angelo de la Cruz kidnapping, her husband was still in the country. (JMR/Marie Neri)
(November 4, 2004 issue)
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