GMA urges OFWs: Continue remittances to stabilize peso

President Arroyo exhorted the families and relatives of overseas Filipino workers to ask the OFWs, when they call their loved ones in the Middle East, to remit their dollar earnings to the country to help stabilize the peso.

The President made these specific appeals to OFW families and relatives availing themselves of the free three-minute long distance calls at call centers set up by government for them following the outbreak of war in Iraq.

"Please tell your loved ones to remit their dollar earnings here," she told one of the relatives of OFWs in the Middle East with whom she spoke in a teleconference from Malacañang. "Then sell your dollars to help strengthen the peso."

The peso-dollar exchange rate improved after six private banks were put under investigation by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and Department of Justice (DOJ) for over-buying their dollar requirements.

The peso gained as much as 50 centavos during trading Thursday. The stock market also saw an 18-point increase in trading last week, a "vote of confidence" of the markets for the Philippine support of the US-led coalition strike on Iraq, Mrs. Arroyo said.

"But, as I said, the fundamental price of the peso should be 52 to $1," she added.

On Friday, however, the peso fell anew — a development the Chief Executive blamed on the continuing nervousness of the market over the United States-led coalition forces’ military strikes on Iraq.

Mrs. Arroyo reiterated her warning against dollar hoarding and currency speculation. People engaged in these activities, she said, may be charged with economic sabotage by the DOJ’s special task force of prosecutors, based on information gathered by the BSP.

Meanwhile, 264 overstaying OFWs in Kuwait were evacuated to safety as allied forces intensified missile attacks on Iraq.

Reports reaching the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said the OFWs, who ran away from their employers, were evacuated to the Bahay Pinoy relocation center in Nuwalsib, an hour’s drive away from Kuwait City.

Nicon Fameronag, DOLE-Information Public Service (IPS) director, disclosed that they received reports from the Middle East Preparedness Team (MEPT) that there are now a total of 384 evacuees in the relocation center.

"All those who are staying in the relocation site are runaways," Fameronag said. Of that number, 180 already have the necessary documents and will be repatriated as soon as air traffic in Kuwait has returned to normal.

The threat of missile attacks on Kuwait has already diminished, but buses are on standby in case the need for the OFWs’ immediate repatriation arises, Fameronag said.

The OFWs, he added, are constantly being advised to take the necessary precautions against missile and terrorist attacks, he added.

The Palace expressed relief that the taking of Basra in Iraq by US-led coalition forces has further reduced threats to the safety of OFWs in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Israel, which face missile threats from Iraq.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said this risk assessment of greatly reduced threats to the safety of OFWs in these particular Gulf states was reported to the President by the MEPT that is now in Kuwait to monitor the war in Iraq.

During the first day of the war, Bunye said, MEPT head special envoy Roy Cimatu told the President that Iraq fired seven Scud missiles aimed at Kuwait, but only two penetrated US defenses. The two Scud missiles, Cimatu said, landed and exploded outside populated areas of Kuwait.

On the second day of the war, Cimatu reported, three Scud missiles were fired at Kuwait, but were all destroyed in midair by US Patriot missiles.

On the third day, Iraq was unable to fire any missiles at Kuwait, Cimatu said.

"The analysis of the MEPT is that after coalition forces have been able to push back Iraqi forces out of Basra, which is the nearest (Iraqi) city to Kuwait and the Iraqi missile batteries were neutralized, there is less missile attack threat that might hurt our OFWs in Kuwait," Bunye said.

"As soon as coalition forces move towards Baghdad, the missile threat to Kuwait would be greatly lessened," Bunye added. "So that is good news as far as our OFWs are concerned."

The President said she is praying and hoping for the continued safety of the OFWs in the Middle East as the war in Iraq raged without any report of any OFW casualties.

She credited this absence of OFW casualties to the contingency plans laid out by the government last September that are now being implemented by the MEPT. – With Katherine Adraneda and Mayen Jaymalin