ZAMBOANGA CITY, 7 February 2004 — President Gloria Arroyo named a decorated former police general as the Philippines’ new ambassador to Oman.

The 56-year-old Acmad Omar, who retired last year as commander of police forces in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), took over from Candidato Gutoc, who died from a lingering illness in November.

Omar was instrumental for the rescue of several kidnapped foreigners, notably US national Jeffrey Schilling, and the capture of several notorious criminals.

Omar said he would improve the bilateral relations and promote economic exchange between the Philippines and Oman and also look into the welfare of thousands of Filipino workers in Oman.

“There are a lot of things to be done in Oman and we should start by improving more bilateral relations between the two countries, and the welfare of the Filipino workers in Oman is on top of our agenda,” Omar said.

He said he would work hard for the lifting of Oman’s ban on the deployment of Filipino workers. “Our government’s priority now is to seek the lifting of the ban on Filipino workers to Oman and we will work hard on this and appeal to the Omani government,” he said.

Oman has banned the deployment of Filipino workers in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States following the arrests of several of its nationals in the Philippines, who were suspected as terrorists.

Filipino labor officials said some 4,000 workers were being deployed to Oman every year prior to the ban.

President Arroyo also ordered Special Envoy to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Ambassador Amable Aguiluz V to urge the Omani government to lift the ban. Aguiluz would fly this month to Oman to appeal the re-deployment of Filipino workers there.

A letter to President Arroyo by Romeo Vislenio, who works for the Petroleum Development Corp. in Oman said the ban on the workers started after the Philippine government arrested some Omani nationals in Manila.

He said Oman is now hiring domestic helpers, salesladies and nurses from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and other Asian countries.

“There are no more Filipino bands performing in the hotels here. These jobs were formerly populated by Filipino workers and most Omanis prefer Filipino workers due to their fluency in English and they perform better than their other Asian counterparts,” he said.