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Tuesday, September 07, 2004
24 Pinoys flew to Iraq amid ban: Sto. Tomas
MANILA -- Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas confirmed Monday that at least 24 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are now working in the United States military camps Anaconda and Victory in Iraq despite the ban on their deployment there.
"It's a big risk. They are employed in camps," Sto. Tomas told reporters during the signing Monday of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the promotion of industrial peace in the workplace nationwide.
The memorandum was between the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Sto. Tomas said the 24 Filipino workers got around the ban by entering a neighboring country as tourists and then crossing the border to Iraq.
Sources from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) also confirmed several Filipino workers recently left the country for Turkey on a tourist visa but their real destination is Iraq.
"There had been several OFWs that had been prevented from leaving NAIA (international airport) because we received reports that the main destination of these workers is Iraq but they enter from a neighboring country like Turkey," the Owwa source said.
An inter-agency committee tasked to review the ban on the deployment of workers in Iraq recommended the partial lifting of the prohibition to President Arroyo before she left for China for a three-day state visit.
Sto. Tomas, however, said Arroyo has not acted on the recommendation so "the ban stays".
According to Sto. Tomas, the partial lifting of the ban on the deployment of OFWs to Iraq had been elevated now to the National Security Council (NSC), which is scheduled to meet on Tuesday to decide on the recommendation. (Marie Neri)
(September 7, 2004 issue)
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