|
By Francis Earl A. Cueto Reporter
THE Philippines has sent a note
verbale to the Kuwaiti government to remind the country of the
long-standing ban imposed by the Arroyo government on the deployment
of Filipino workers to Iraq and has sought assistance for its strict
enforcement.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary
for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Esteban Conejos said Philippine
Ambassador to Kuwait Ricardo Endaya issued the note verbale.
Endaya, who served as charge
d’affaires to Baghdad, also asked the management of First Kuwaiti
General Trading and Contracting Co. to explain the reported
“smuggling” of Filipino laborers to Iraq to work at the
construction site of the US Embassy in central Baghdad.
Conejos said Foreign Secretary
Alberto Romulo had also instructed the Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration (POEA) to investigate any local agency
recruiting for First Kuwaiti.
He said Romulo had also tasked
Ambassador Roy Cimatu, head of the Presidential Middle East
Preparedness Committee, to go immediately to Kuwait and confer with
Endaya and Jordan-based Charge d’affaires to Baghdad Willie
Cuyugan as well as Labor Attaché Leopoldo de Jesus in Kuwait to
check the accuracy of the reported “smuggling” of Filipinos into
Iraq through Kuwait.
President Arroyo extended the
life of the PMEPC until December 31, 2007, and gave the agency P6
million for administrative and operational expenses.
“The mission of Cimatu is to
ascertain the veracity of this report. Remember this was not given
to us directly. It was a result of a testimony made in Congress in
the US and reported in the papers, so we do not know. We would like
to have primary evidence if this really happened,” Conejos said.
“If it is ascertained to be
accurate, [we have] to locate the said 51 OFWs and immediately bring
them home to the Philippines,” he added.
Conejos said Cimatu was also
instructed “to look into other similar cases, if there are such
cases, and recommend to the department what other steps we can take
to really stop and strengthen the ban so it will not be violated
again,”
He said Vice-President Noli de
Castro, the presidential adviser on OFW affairs, was briefed on
Friday on how the DFA would investigate the reported human
trafficking.
Cornejos said the US could not be
held accountable yet because the testimonies of John Owens and Rory
Mayberry, two former American private contractors who worked with
First Kuwaiti, indicated that First Kuwaiti was the employer of the
Filipinos.
“The first line of approach
should be [with] this alleged employer. And we will see from there
if there’s a need to address the US government, but right now we
would like to address the employer,” Conejos said.
Endaya earlier said that he had
recommended to the DFA as early as March 2006 to ask the POEA to put
First Kuwaiti on a watch list for possible violations of the
government ban on the deployment of Filipinos to Iraq.
First Kuwaiti General Trading
& Contracting Co. got the deal to build the $592-million US
Embassy in central Baghdad—touted to be the biggest US diplomatic
facility in the world—because no American company met the
qualifications.
“Way back in 2004 when I was
Charge d’Affaires in Baghdad, I investigated complaints of OFWs
(overseas Filipino workers) against First Kuwaiti for violation of
employment contracts involving salary, overtime pay and
accommodations,” Endaya said.
The company has been accused of
trafficking foreign workers, including Filipinos, to work at the
American embassy site.
American civilian contractors
John Owens and Rory J. Mayberry testified about the “kidnapping”
of foreign workers to Iraq during a hearing of the US House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on July 26.
|
