Team to evacuate Pinoys in Iraq mulled

The Department of Labor and the Department of Foreign Affairs should create an inter-agency rapid response team that could be activated at any moment to evacuate Filipino workers from host countries threatened by war, Sen. Edgardo Angara proposed yesterday.

He issued the proposal as war clouds now hover over Iraq, which could affect the entire Middle East where there are about 1.5 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Angara noted that right now, there is no institutionalized support for OFWs who have to be moved en masse from host countries threatened by war and similar emergencies.

"Such support should be institutionalized so that the rapid response team can mobilize people and resources as soon as the need for mass evacuation becomes clear," Angara urged. "A rapid response team should be a permanent fixture of government support of OFWs."

He pointed out that OFWs have been a vital cog of the national economy for decades and the national government should do everything possible to help those who need assistance.

In a related development, Senate Majority Leader Loren Legarda and Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said that it is the United Nations and not the United States that should determine whether force is needed against Iraq.

Legarda said that the Philippines has no option but to support the primary role of the United Nations in settling international disputes.

"International law does not recognize pre-emptive war as a just war. Only a war of self-defense is legitimate," she added.

Biazon, on the other hand, said that a unilateral declaration of war against Iraq by the United States would undermine the effectiveness of the UN.

He noted that there is a great debate within the US Congress and even within the UN on whether Iraq is a terrorist state and whether it should be punished for preventing the entry of an international nuclear inspection team.

He urged the Philippine government to weigh its options carefully in response to the Iraq crisis. – Efren Danao