Attack on RP post in Iraq won’t hinder possible lifting of ban, says DFA

MANILA, Philippines - Despite the death of a Philippine Embassy worker in Iraq, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) sees no reason for the incident to gravely affect the assessment of the safety of Filipinos in the conflict-ridden area.

DFA spokesperson Bayani Mangbin told GMANews.TV that the government team set to leave for Iraq this month would be looking into several aspects of the real situation in the area.

The Philippine team will be led by Ambassador Roy Cimatu, head of the Middle East Preparedness Team, which will be leaving for Iraq this month to study the possibility of lifting the ban.

Cimatu’s team will also visit Lebanon and Nigeria — two other countries with existing bans on Filipino workers. The DFA is set to decide on the possible lifting of deployment bans next month after the security assessments.

“While we are concerned with the incident, I don’t think it should stop Ambassador Cimatu from seeing the bigger picture. He won’t be swayed easily just by one detail," Mangibin told GMANews.TV on Friday.

The embassy staff, Vergine Elias Jamil, and two other companions were killed by unknown assailants on the night of Feb. 5. Jamil, an Iraqi, had been a caretaker of the Philippine chancery since November 1985.

The death of the worker cast a shadow of doubt over the security and safety conditions in the Middle Eastern country. The Philippine government had earlier hinted at rethinking the deployment ban to Iraq after a meeting with some of its labor ministers last month.

Mangibin clarified that despite the killing of the embassy worker, the attacks in Iraq do not reflect that the militants have a grudge on the Philippines.

“We don’t feel that this is a personal attack on the Philippines. It’s just one of the realities of war, ‘To whom it may concern.’ [The attacker] doesn’t choose," Mangibin said.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo stopped sending Filipino workers to Iraq following the kidnapping of a Filipino truck driver in 2004 and an accountant in 2005.

Before the ban, around 6,000 Filipinos were working in Iraq and confined inside US military camps due to the volatile security condition in the country. The Philippines was also one of the first countries to send troops to Iraq when the US asked for international support.

Several sectors have called on the Philippine government to lift the deployment ban to Iraq, claiming that the situation there has greatly improved since the end of the war and has vast opportunities for Filipino workers.

Recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani said the situation in Iraq has improved in recent months and the government should rethink the ban there especially since the US government is set to fund an $80-billion infrastructure project in the war-ravaged country.

Geslani estimates that between 10,000 and 15,000 Filipinos are in Iraq, most of them working inside heavily fortified US facilities.

Vice President Noli de Castro is pushing for a selective ban on Iraq, seeking to lift travel and deployment restrictions in areas considered as centers of economic activities and where security situation have normalized.

Aside from Iraq, Lebanon and Nigeria, the Philippines has also put on hold the deployment of Filipino workers to Afghanistan and Jordan. - GMANews.TV

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more