Iraqi employers wanted $10,000 or P0.5M from each returning OFW —Cimatu


By ERWIN COLCOL, GMA News


The first batch of Filipinos who were repatriated from Iraq last week had difficulty in leaving the country after their respective employers demanded $10,000, some P500,000, from each of them before they could travel back to the Philippines.
Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, the country's special envoy to the Middle East, made the remark during the hearing of the House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs on the issues affecting Filipino migrant workers in the Middle East.
Cimatu indicated that the Iraqi employers wanted to be reimbursed for the $10,000 they paid recruiters so they could hire the Filipinos 
He said Filipinos had not been allowed to work in Iraq due to the Philippines' employment ban in the country, but some managed to do so by having their employers pay their recruiters.
"And when they volunteered to come home, the employer would not allow them until they have to pay US$10,000," he added.
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A total of 13 Filipinos from Iraq were repatriated to the country last week after an Alert Level 4 has been raised over the Middle Eastern state amid rising tensions there following the death of top Iranian military general Qassem Soleimani in a US airstrike.
The arrival of the repatriated Filipinos back to country, however, was delayed.
Cimatu said when these Filipinos arrived at the airport, they were barred at the immigration as they were stopped by their employers.
"Sumunod doon [yung employers], sinabi nila hindi pa nakakabayad ng US$10,000. So hindi sila nakaalis at that time. Natulog sila sa airport, they stayed there," Cimatu said.
"So ang rason nila kung bakit hindi makaalis ay magbayad muna," he added.
Cimatu commended the chargé d'affaires in Baghdad for staying with the Filipinos inside the detention center in the airport until the issue was resolved.
During the same hearing, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola said the second batch of OFWs from Iraq are set to return to the Philippines on January 23. —NB, GMA News

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