MANILA, 9 July 2004 — As the government groped fpr solutions, Senate President Franklin Drilon appealed to various groups, politicians, and the media to refrain from making statements on the hostaging of a Filipino worker in Iraq.

Drilon said warned that “unsolicited advice” could jeopardize government efforts to save the life of the victim.

“We should avoid the usual knee-jerk reactions here. We must allow the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to do its work and I’m certain Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Albert will appreciate it if unsolicited advice, including those coming from politicians, is given to her in private,” Drilon said in a news conference.

He added reactions to the situation, including calls from several groups to withdraw the Filipino humanitarian mission in Iraq, could only “embolden” the terrorists.

Drilon made the statement in reaction to public statements on how the government should handle the Iraq situation, including an immediate pullout of the Filipino peacekeeping mission in the war-torn country as demanded by the hostage takers.

“It’s just an appeal addressed to everybody ... the government can’t impose any gag on anyone,” Drilon said when asked whether the administration issued an order not to talk about the crisis.

He added the president should seriously consider making a similar call for sobriety to allow the DFA and other concerned agencies to do their job.

Drilon said the next 72 hours would be crucial for the government.

“Let the DFA do its work. Let the experts do its work. We have an embassy in Baghdad. We have a chargé d’affaires there. We should allow them to put into action contingency plans that I am sure are in place in incidents such as this,” he said.

After news of the abduction and death threat reached the Philippines early yesterday, President Arroyo ordered a ban on deployment of workers to Iraq.

About 130 Iraq-bound workers were stopped at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport yesterday from boarding a plane for the Gulf.

Ironically, most of the workers were from Pampanga, home province of President Arroyo.

As the government prepared to deal with the hostage crisis, various groups renewed their call for troop pullout in Iraq and for the immediate repatriation of OFWs there.

Carmelita Nuqui, president of Philippine Migrants Rights Watch (PMRW), said the government should have heeded this call even before the OFW was kidnapped.

“They did not listen then. We hope they will listen now,” said Nuqui.

Ellene Sana, executive director of the Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA), said the Philippine-US connection added to the vulnerability of the Filipinos in Iraq.

“As it is, the situation in war-torn Iraq is already dangerous, but unfortunately ordinary Filipinos are being dragged into the international policies of the Philippine government,” she said.

Maita Santiago, secretary-general of Migrante International, said the welfare of civilian Filipinos in Iraq must also be addressed. “Malaca?ang must issue a policy statement calling on OFWs there to return home and offer an alternative livelihood program for those who heed that call. Without this, they will still go there for want of job

opportunities here,” she said.

Temporary Ban

Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, however, said the sudden ban woull most likely not be permanent as the last ban was lifted only last week.

“The ban is an indefinite thing and we have issued advisories to our embassies and consulates in neighboring countries around Iraq not to let Filipinos enter Iraq as truck drivers.

She added that the humanitarian force is scheduled to stay only until the end of August. “Our principal objective is to get our workers out of harm’s way,” Sto. Tomas said.

Re-elected party-list Representative Loretta Ann Rosales, former chair of the Committee on Human Rights, noted that the situation was similar to the kidnapping of a Korean worker last month. The worker was eventually beheaded when South Korean troops were not pulled out as demanded.

In a press briefing, head of the Middle East Preparedness Team Ambassador Roy Cimatu, said “we have checked the names at the work sites and all the Filipinos in the work sites are accounted for. Amir (the name on the identification card the hostage-takers showed on the television station Al-Jazeera) is not on the list of the (Philippine Overseas Employment Administration).”

Cimatu and foreign affairs undersecretaries Rafael Seguis and Jose Brillantes form Team Iraq, which is mandated to draft policies on the welfare of Filipinos there.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said he was against the withdrawal of the peacekeeping mission in Iraq despite the hostage crisis, but added that the government should study this option. (Additional input from Inquirer News Service)

“Now is not yet the time to reconsider immediate withdrawal of troops because it will have more consequences, but we should study the withdrawal,” said Biazon, the former head of the defense committee in the Senate.

Through the United Nations Security Council, Biazon suggested the government could exert its influence to have the UN send its peacekeeping forces to replace the US-led coalition where the Philippines is a member.