MANILA — Nineteen female Filipino workers in Iraq returned to the Philippines yesterday, saying they decided not to continue working because of worsening violence.
“Some of our companions asked to be redeployed to other camps but I decided not to continue working there. It’s very dangerous,” said Annalyn Terio, one of the returning workers.
Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas said the workers were employed at a remote American military camp in Tajik where they worked in laundry and janitorial services.
The workers left for nearby Kuwait last week. They were flown home on Friday.
Philippine officials have highlighted the case of the 19 workers in a bid to discourage others desperate of getting into Iraq despite a government-imposed ban.
Many Filipinos want to work in American bases in Iraq because of the good pay. A laundrywoman gets about $800 a month, or about 45,000 pesos, bigger than what most professionals at home get.
In July, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo stopped the deployment of workers to the war-ravaged nation after Iraqi militants kidnapped Filipino truck driver Angelo dela Cruz.
The hostage was released only after Arroyo bowed to the militants’ demand by pulling out Philippine peacekeepers from Iraq.
Arroyo’s decision was sharply criticized by the US, Australia, and other allies in the global war against terrorism.
There are more than 6,000 Filipinos in Iraq, mostly employed in American facilities.
On Monday, militants seized another Filipino worker, along with an American and a Nepalese in Baghdad earlier in the week.
The Arabic television network Al-Jazeera reported on Friday that the Filipino and Nepalese captive had been freed late on Friday. Nepalese officials confirmed the release of their national but there was no word on Roberto Tarongoy, a 31-year-old accountant from the southern city of Davao.
The Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday said the government had not been able to any information about Tarongoy's fate.
“We’re not confirming anything at this stage,” DFA spokesman Gilberto Asuque said, adding that Al Jazeera appeared to have withdrawn the report from its website.
Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite network did not give a source for its information, saying the release of the two hostages comes after the wife of Tarongoy appealed to the kidnappers for his release on the occasion of Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Ivy Tarongoy appealed for her husband’s release and reminded his abductors that there are no longer any Filipino troops in Iraq.
“Robert is a good man with deep respect for all Muslims,” she said. “My country, the Philippines, has no troops in Iraq. My husband and I wish only the best for the Iraqi people.
“I ask that he be freed as a symbol of goodwill and friendship between the peoples of Iraq and the Philippines,” she told The Associated Press. “I do not see any more possible grievances that the kidnappers may have against the Philippine government.”
Seeking Contacts
A statement by the DFA also said the Philippine charge d’affaires in Iraq, Eric Endaya, “is speaking with our contacts in Iraq” to get information on Tarongoy.
It said the contacts, who were not identified, assisted in efforts to win the freedom of Filipino truck driver Angelo dela Cruz who was seized by Iraqi insurgents in July.
Endaya also is in touch with officials of the Saudi Trading and Construction Co., Tarongoy’s employer that provided catering and foodstuffs to the Iraqi army and others, the statement said.
The government has refused to say whether it would negotiate with the abductors, despite fresh pressure from the United States not to give in to militant demands.
“These are difficult situations. One can only pray and be strong and, of course, never give in to terrorist demands,” US ambassador to the Philippines Francis Ricciardone was quoted as saying on Friday by local media.
To put more teeth to the government’s ban on the deployment of workers to Iraq, the Bureau of Immigration will off-load passengers profiled to be traveling to the war-torn country as tourists or workers.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) will also conduct surveillance of recruitment agencies, and suspend those found violating the ban.
The DFA has instructed the embassy in Baghdad to identify the employers of Filipino workers violating the ban for possible prosecution.
DFA spokesman Asuque said these were among the government measures drawn up during a meeting on Friday to stop the blatant violation of the ban.
Despite the ban, which was imposed following the dela Cruz hostage crisis in July, hundreds of Filipinos have managed to sneak into Iraq by land or air, to take on jobs in US military camps.
A fourth of the estimated 5,000 Filipinos now working in US camps are believed to have illegally entered that country.
In Marawi City, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front issued a piece of advice to Filipinos planning to work in Iraq.
“They should wait for the situation to normalize. If they insist and then become hostages too, they only have themselves to blame,” said Janati Mimbantas, director of the MILF’s Darul Imam Military Academy.
Mimbantas’ advice jibed with Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo’s plea to would-be Iraq workers, who have been protesting in front of the DFA and Malaca?ang, demanding that the ban be lifted.
Romulo had asked the protesters to wait till January if violence in Iraq would abate after the result of the elections is known.
Mimbantas added that the MILF did not support the hostage-taking activities of Iraqi militants.
“Kidnapping should not be used as an instrument to gain the upper hand in any conflict,” he said.
(Additional input from Inquirer News Service and agencies)
