MANILA, 15 October — Officials said yesterday that in the unlikely event that the US-led war against Osama Bin Laden affects some countries in the Middle East, the safest place for Filipinos to go is Saudi Arabia.
National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said that at the moment, the repatriation of Overseas Filipino Workers and their dependents is a "remote possibility."
But should the unexpected happen, said presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao, the government would activate "Oplan Aquila," an emergency evacuation plan for some 1.4 million Filipinos in the Middle East.
The evacuation was among the measures discussed during a meeting last week of the Cabinet Oversight Committee (COC) on internal security.
"The assessment is that (evacuation) may not be necessary considering that the bulk of our workers are based far from the field of conflict," Tiglao said.
As planned, the government would charter commercial flights to "move OFWs out of danger to safer areas, not to the Philippines."
Officials said the Saudi government has agreed to allow Filipino workers in neighboring Middle East countries to seek refuge in the Kingdom if the situation in Afghanistan worsens.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) included the eastern part of the Kingdom in its initial list of potentially dangerous places for Filipinos.
But in an apparent admission that the list was wrong, the DFA removed the Kingdom in a subsequent list.
Citing reports from labor and welfare officers in Kuwait, Bahrain, Libya and Saudi Arabia, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) noted that "sentiments of OFWs in those areas indicate that they opted to stay put in their work places despite a military option by the US."
"OFWs in other Middle East countries also said they preferred to stay in their respective job sites. In case of military strikes by American forces, the Filipino workers expressed willingness to be moved to safer grounds along with their foreign employers," an OWWA document reported.
OWWA chief Wilhelm Soriano said: "Our countrymen working abroad have displayed a deep sense of concern for their foreign principals since they felt it was not right to leave their employers in the most trying times."
Soriano assured families of OFWs of the government’s "preparedness in facing the situation affecting our OFWs."
Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas admitted, however, that the government could afford to repatriate only 50,000 of the 1.4 million OFWs in the area, because of budget limitations.
Business as usual
Rosalinda Baldoz, chief of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), said the deployment of OFWs to the Middle East and other parts of the world is continuing at the same pace.
"There are no hold orders, no temporary ban on the deployment of land- and sea-based Filipino workers abroad. We continue to process job contracts. There is no reason for our overseas contract workers to worry," Baldoz told the Inquirer.
She noted that before the Afghanistan crisis, the POEA processed an average of 2,000 job contracts a day. "Today, about 2,300 contracts are being processed by the agency each day," she said.
"At this point, there is no reason for our OFWs based in the Middle East to be alarmed. Our moves here will depend on the situation in Afghanistan and the Middle East."
"When it comes to OFWs, much of the effect on the workers’ deployment program might be felt next year. That is, if the conflict lasts. But we’re closely monitoring the situation," Baldoz said.
POEA records show that from Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 this year, a total of 679,040 workers were "deployed" overseas.
Of the number, 326,042 are classified as "rehires." The rest are "new hires."
The number of workers deployed is distinct from the number of OFWs currently abroad, estimated at over 5 million.
Remittances
In 2000, Filipinos working abroad remitted some $6.05 billion, an 11-percent decline from the previous year’s $6.8 billion.
The figures, however, applies only to remittances through banks. Not included are those sent through underground courier services, through vacationing friends, or brought home personally by OFWs.
In the first five months of 2001, remittances reached $2.24 billion dollars, a 13-percent drop from the same period last year, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
The United States remained the top source of remittances as of last year, accounting for $3.9 billion or 65 percent of the total, with Asia a distant second at $832 million. Remittances from the Middle East reached $594 million.
In the first five months of 2001, remittances from the Middle East hit $294 million, up by a third from the same period last year.
