It’s official: RP troops to stay in Iraq

Malacañang has decided not to pull out Filipino troops and health workers in Iraq after special envoy to the Middle East Roy Cimatu assured the Cabinet that the "situation is well at hand" in the war-torn country.

Deputy Presidential Spokesman Ricardo Saludo said Cimatu told the Cabinet that contingency plans are in place to ensure that Filipinos in Iraq will be safe if the situation deteriorates.

"They are secure where they are," Saludo said, quoting Cimatu. "There is no reason at this time (to pull out troops and OFWs). The situation on the ground is secure and we have contingency plans in case it deteriorates."

Saludo said that Filipino workers are safe inside US military camps in Iraq and that there is no need to evacuate them at this time. Cimatu has visited several of the estimated 4,293 military camps where Filipinos are employed, he added.

Saludo said most Filipinos in Iraq are working as food service crew, janitors, hairdressers and nurses.

There is also no reason to announce a total ban on the deployment of Filipino workers in Iraq, he added.

Cimatu assured that Filipinos wishing to return home will be assisted by the Philippine embassy in Baghdad.

The situation in Iraq is being assessed by Task Force Iraq headed by Philippine embassy Charge d’Affaires Ricardo Endaya.

Meanwhile, 46 victims of illegal recruitment have been repatriated from Iraq by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). Petronila Garcia, executive director of the DFA’s Office of Migrant Workers Affairs, said the 30 men and 16 women worked as kitchen staff and cooks in military camps in Mosul, Iraq.

"They thought that they will work in Turkey," she said. "They were misled as to the location of their work sites, not knowing that they were going to work in a war zone."

The workers complained of long hours and no days off, she added. Garcia said the 46 Filipinos resigned from their jobs last April 14 and left Mosul for Istanbul, Turkey with the help of the Philippine embassy in Baghdad. From Turkey, they flew to Bahrain for a connecting flight to the Philippines, she added.

They arrived at noon yesterday aboard a Gulf Air flight.

The DFA will investigate the agency that recruited them.

It has been easy for some contractors to bring Filipino workers to Iraq from neighboring countries like Turkey and Kuwait because no visa is required to enter the US-occupied country.