Friday, July 09, 2004 Arroyo bans Pinoys from Iraq, works to free kidnap victim
MANILA -- President Arroyo Thursday banned Filipinos from traveling to Iraq as the government established contact with the Islamic militant kidnappers who are threatening to execute a Filipino worker.
The Philippines' charge d'affaires in Iraq confirmed Thursday that a Filipino worker has been abducted in Iraq, but said "communication lines" have been established with his captors.
Labor and airport officials swiftly enforced the travel ban when 120 Filipinos hired by a Dubai-based contractor were prevented from leaving the Ninoy Aquino International airport.
Arroyo ordered the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) to "completely stop the processing of workers bound for Iraq."
A Filipino worker was reported by a pan-Arabic television network as being taken hostage by a group of militant Iraqis who threatened to behead the victim in 72 hours unless the Philippines pulls out its troops.
He was later identified by ABS-CBN as Angelo dela Cruz, employed by a Saudi company working with US troops based in Iraq.
Khaled Ibn al-Walid Brigade, a group linked to the Islamic Army in Iraq said in a video footage that they had killed an Iraqi security guard who was with dela Cruz.
An identity card bearing the picture of an Iraqi and a company card on which was written: Al-Ghadeer Security Service Company. Hafidh H. Amer, Security Officer, was also shown by Al-Jazeera.
Arroyo held an emergency cabinet meeting after Al-Jazeera shown the footage.
She ordered her Cabinet members to "explore all avenues to obtain the release of the hostage," who the government said lived in Saudi Arabia and frequently travelled to Iraq.
"The president's paramount concern is saving Filipino lives. We pray that no harm comes to our countryman," said a Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.
Philippines' charge d'affaires in Baghdad, Ricardo Endaya, in a television interview said he was working to free the hostage.
"Technically, we are not yet negotiating with the hostage takers, but we have already established lines of communication with them through intermediaries," Endaya said.
Members of the interim Iraqi government "and some leaders of political parties allied to pro-American forces" are helping, he said.
Arroyo's special envoy to the Middle East, Roy Cimatu, was heading to Iraq "to work for the resolution of the problem".
Ban extension
As this developed, Bunye said the government is now studying the possibility of extending the ban on the deployment of Filipinos to cover the entire Middle East.
He said some overseas workers either travel to Iraq through some Middle Eastern countries or transfer work from a company in the Middle East to another firm in Iraq.
Bunye said Filipinos in Iraq were reminded of the government's offer to assist those who wished to be repatriated back to the Philippines.
Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo convened the Cabinet oversight committee on internal security in Malacaņang Thursday noon where they decided to meet on Friday to await and study the recommendations to be submitted by Iraq Team chairman Roy Cimatu.
Foreign Affairs Sec. Delia Albert said Endaya, with the help of some officials from the Iraq interim government, had been instrumental in negotiating the release of another Filipino driver who was taken hostage in April, along with several others.
She said no negotiations would be made unless proven that one of the hostages is a Filipino.
Albert said at present they have identified three Filipino drivers, who are still missing from their company headquarters. She said Philippine authorities in the Middle East are locating these Filipinos to ensure their safety.
Labor Undersecretary Manuel Imson, on the other hand, said initial reports they received said the Filipino captive did not pass through the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
He said the labor attaches in Saudi Arabia and Iraq have been directed to verify the identity and investigate if there were any Filipinos missing in Iraq.
Deputy Presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo said the government is hoping to keep the hostage issue a "low profile" in the hope that it would help speed up the process of releasing the hostages.
Saludo said this was practiced during the captivity of two Turks "so we hope that the same low-profile approach will yield a successful result in this case."
Defense Sec. Eduardo Ermita said there are no plans at the moment to pull out Filipinos in Iraq.
He said the uncertainty in the identity of the hostage is not enough basis to decide whether the Filipinos should be withdrawn or not.
Records showed that there are 43 Filipino soldiers, 33 of them enlisted personnel and 10 officers led by Brig. Gen. Jovito Palparan who are now part of the Philippine Contingent Team in Iraq and about 4,200 OFWs.
Ermita said the Philippine contingent have until August 20 to complete its task in Iraq.
He said the Philippines would have to wait for a United Nations resolution on the creation of a multinational force that would be left behind in Iraq to determine if the Philippine contingent should be left behind after August 20
Barred
In a related development, Rosalinda Baldoz, POEA chief said the Filipino workers were scheduled to leave at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. but were prevented from boarding after the re-imposition of the ban.
"We have coordinated with the agency because of the hold order," Baldoz said.
Baldoz said the workers were hired by the Dubai-based firm Prime Projects International to work in Camp Victory, one of the US military camps located at the Baghdad International Airport Complex in Iraq.
But Chito Arcilla, president of the Anglo-European International Placement Services condemned the move of the government noting that there is no reason to stop the deployment of the 120 OFWs since their documents have already been processed.
"The knee-jerk reaction of the government in banning anew the deployment of OFWs to Iraq is hurting the country's image as a reliable manpower supplier," Arcilla said.
He added that the new deployment ban will definitely cause a "setback" in the Arroyo administration's pledge to provide six to 10 million jobs in the next six years.
The 120 OFWs supposed to leave Thursday were a new batch of workers to be deployed by Anglo-European to Iraq. There were 400 OFWs who left last week, Arcilla said.
Migrant groups demanded for the immediate pull out of the Filipino humanitarian contingent in Iraq.
Three Filipinos were also killed in bombings and ambushes targeting US-led occupation forces and their civilian contractors prior to the handover of sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government last week. JMR/Marie Neri/JPM
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