Philippines prepares to lift ban on sending workers to Iraq

Producer: Bharati Jagdish
First broadcast: 5 August 04, Radio Singapore International

The Philippines is drafting measures to lift a ban on civilian workers going to Iraq for work.

Labour Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas said the ban could be lifted this week once the government finishes the final draft of measures to protect the Filipino workers in Iraq.

The government imposed the ban after truck driver Angelo de la Cruz was kidnapped by militants in Iraq.

President Gloria Arroyo later gave in to kidnappers' demands to pull out the small Filipino military contingent in Iraq four weeks earlier than scheduled in exchange for the hostage's release.

There are still more than 3,000 civilians still working there, many of them employed in camps run by US-led forces.

There are also reports of Filipinos frequently crossing over from other Middle Eastern countries to enter Iraq and the government reportedly has had no control over the movement of this particular group of workers in spite of the ban.

Workers are lured by the promise of monthly wages of up to US$1,000 compared to an average wage of about one-tenth of that back home.

So if the government decides to officially lift the ban, what measures can it possibly take to ensure the safety of its workers in Iraq?

Bharati Jagdish put this to political analyst, John Avila (JA) from the University of Asia and the Pacific.

JA: "As far as I see it, with the Philippines now supposedly not present among the coalition forces in Iraq and having no presence apart from a small diplomatic representation in Iraq, the Philippine government really is in no way in any position to protect the Filipino workers who are currently already in Iraq or those about to go to Iraq from the Philippines once the ban is lifted or those who are going to Iraq from other Middle Eastern countries."

Government agencies say that the Philippines stands to lose as much as 100 million in remittances if the ban stays. Is this the chief impetus for moves to lift the ban?

JA: "Certainly, there is that issue about losing the remittances, but there is also demand from the workers here. There are a lot of contracts that are coming from Iraq and there's a huge demand for Filipino labourers who are known for their good work in construction and other aspects of transportation. There is a demand for them and the government will be hard-pressed to not allow Filipinos to receive those kinds of contracts.

"Even under the ban, the only effective measure that the Philippine government could take pertained to those workers that are sourced directly from the Philippines. The Philippine government doesn't have any control over those who are now located in other parts of the Middle East who are now seeking jobs in Iraq. It's happened that Filipino workers destined for Iraq would first go from the Philippines to Dubai and then they are sourced from Dubai to go to Iraq. This, despite the ban."

So, your point is that the ban was not effective to begin with?

JA: "The ban is not working. The ban, if in place, will not be effective and cannot be implemented."

So why is the government making this formal gesture to lift the ban if it wasn't that effective to begin with?

JA: "My guess is that its more of a political signal to show that they're concerned about the situation. The ban was imposed as a response to the Angelo de la Cruz incident. Lifting the ban really is a move towards giving in to the demands of workers who are in the Philippines right now and want to go directly to Iraq."

Although there is no formal sizeable Filipino contingent in Iraq now, would ordinary Filipinos working there still be in danger of being kidnapped?

JA: "I guess so because the terrorists have been rather indiscriminate whether there is a troop presence or not. They have been able to kidnap nations irrespective of the kind of involvement the countries have in the occupation of Iraq. So given the number of Filipinos that are still working there, they would be very prone to being kidnapped.

"In fact, the terrorists have been known to kidnap certain nationals from un-involved countries in order to force the businesses they work for to leave. The chief aim of this would be to force other nationals whose countries are involved in the occupation to withdraw from Iraq. It might be possible in the future that a Filipino is kidnapped again in order to force all labourers who are supporting reconstruction efforts to leave the country."

How do you expect the government to react if another Filipino is taken hostage in the future?

JA: "The government will, as in the past, act in the interest of Filipino workers and work on a contingency to bring them out of the country."

I understand that there are almost a thousand workers who are awaiting clearance to proceed to Iraq and another 6,000 pending job orders for Filipinos to work in Iraq. Aren't these workers apprehensive about going to work there?

JA: "Certainly, they are apprehensive, but the financial need is greater. They're willing to bear the risk to go work in Iraq and probably they calculate the probability of something bad happening to them is less than the financial problems it would cause for their families if they didn't go to Iraq."