DFA identifies Pinay casualty in Iraq fire

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday identified the Filipino worker who perished in a fire that razed a hotel in Iraq on Thursday.

The Philippine embassy in Baghdad identified the fatality as Maricar Cente, an employee of Asiacell Mobile Company based in Sulaimania, Kurdistan Region Governorate in Iraq.

Cente was at the Hotel SOMA in Sulaimania City when a fire broke out at a nearby furniture shop and spread to the hotel.

Two other Filipino workers identified as Joshua Ermitano and Richie Salceda survived and are now recuperating at a hospital.

DFA spokesman Eduardo Malaya said arrangements for the repatriation of Cente’s remains will be made after her family has been notified.

Malaya said Cente and the two other Filipino workers who survived the fire are entitled to benefits as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) even though they were in Iraq despite the deployment ban of the Philippine government.

“The embassy is being assisted by a Filipino volunteer based in the nearby city of Erbil, and is coordinating with their employers for the repatriation of remains and entitlement to benefits,” Malaya said.

The DFA reiterated the ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Iraq due to continuing security concerns.

Filipinos who would like to seek employment abroad are urged to consider alternative countries where their safety will not be compromised.

Iraq had appealed to the Philippines to lift the deployment ban, citing the need for foreign workers for its post-war rehabilitation program.

The government retained its ban on travel to Iraq for purposes of employment, but the DFA estimated that 6,000 Filipinos still work there. The travel ban also includes Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Lebanon.