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Filipinos working at Camp Anaconda in Iraq had defied a
deployment ban and now face security risks. In May 2007
the Department of Foreign Affairs renewed its call for
OFWs in Iraq to seek the help of the nearest Philippine
labor office if they needed assistance to come home. The
department promised they would not be prosecuted and
“everything is forgiven.” The advice came following the
death of a Filipino worker in a rocket attack in
Baghdad’s US-controlled Green Zone.
Thirteen Filipinos have been killed in Iraq since 2004,
according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, a
Web-based service that monitors war-related deaths. But
despite the three-year-old deployment ban, Filipinos
continue to pour into Iraq, using Dubai as a transit
point.
A
licensed recruitment firm hired Andres Jose (not his
real name) to work as a warehouseman for the Dubai-based
Prime Projects International, a subcontractor of US
military contractor Halliburton.
“The
recruitment agency in the Philippines arranged my visa
for Dubai. From there, I was able to get through Iraq,”
confesses Jose. He adds that while he wants to, he
cannot go back home for a vacation because he had
violated the deployment ban.
“Because of that stupid ban, I couldn’t come home and
see my family.
Our
employer is also using this ban as an excuse not to pay
for our visa and a return ticket to Dubai if we wish to
come back to Iraq,” he fumes.
Others, such as Peter Noble and Jun Santillan, who also
work in a US-run facility in Iraq, chose to pay their
way to get a reprieve from the 12-hour daily work
schedule they endured for years without seeing their
families. They felt that the occasional telephone calls
and chats on the Internet were not enough to relieve
their stress and homesickness. They are also prevented
from leaving the camp because of security threats.
Santillan shelled out P75,000 to return to Iraq after a
brief vacation in the Philippines. Someone working at
the Philippine foreign affairs department asked him to
pay P13,000 so that the “not valid for travel to Iraq”
would not be stamped on his passport. In Dubai, a
Filipina known only as “Mommy” arranged for his visa and
plane ticket to the UAE and his transit flight to Iraq.
“Mommy’s” contact in the Philippines escorted Santillan
through the airport immigration check.
From
cunning agents who victimize rural prospects to shady
immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International
Airport in Manila, the network of leeches that bleed OFW
victims dry is extensive.
Philippine officials are well aware of this “guided”
departure of unauthorized Filipino immigrants, but have
not launched a serious effort to stop it. The
anti-illegal recruitment task force previously formed by
President Arroyo did little to prosecute those
responsible for these unlawful acts. The task force died
a natural death as its head, a former police officer,
was recently convicted of killing fellow law officers in
a drug operation.
Meanwhile, there seems to be no stopping more Filipinos
from joining the diaspora despite the personal risks
involved. “I would do anything for my family. I’m
willing to go through anything to give my kids a better
future,” says Javier, a mother of three. |
