Pro-US stance in Middle East tension could put OFWs at risk — labor groups
MANILA, Philippines — More labor groups on Wednesday warned that the Philippine government siding with the United States in the Middle East could put Filipinos there in danger.
Iran launched missiles earlier Wednesday at a base in Iraq used by US forces although no American casualties have been report.
The government has ordered mandatory evacuation for Filipinos in the region.
US President Donald Trump ordered an attack on January 2 that resulted in the killing of one of Iran's most decorated military officials. Even worse, the air strike happened on Iraqi territory. Iran has vowed revenge and thr Iraqi parliament has called for American forces to leave.
The Palace has said that President Rodrigo Duterte would side with the US if violence erupts and Filipinos get hurt, a position that labor group Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino called "premature, reckless and unilateral." It said Iran might view the statement as a threat.
Duterte has since said that the government will not allow the US to launch rockets and missiles from the Philippines and will not send troops to help America out.
Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), another workers' alliance, told Philstar.com earlier that military aggression "violates an independent nation’s sovereignty, and the peoples right to self determination."
For their part, fisherfolk federation Pamalakaya in a statement said, "Talo ang mamamayang Pilipino at ng mundo sa napipintong gera ng US at Iran, si Trump at mga kakutsaba niya lang ang makikinabang rito."
(The Filipino people are the losers in the potential war between the US and Iran. Only Trump and his allies will gain from this.)
Backing US harms OFWs
According to global OFW alliance Migrante International, "The Duterte regime’s tagging of the Iranian side as the ‘enemies’ and his default position of siding with the US terrorist aggressor points out to his apathy towards the welfare of OFWs in the region."
It said this might paint the AFP as a hostile force in the Middle East instead of just being in the region to help with the repatriation of Filipino migrant workers.
It said that supporting America by default puts OFW lives at risk and "has only turned Filipinos in Iraq and Iran into collateral pawns in favor of US aggression against the Iranian people."
According to the World Bank in 2008, Filipinos made up the fourth-largest group of foreigners in Saudi Arabia, which is a close ally of the United States and, according to the New York Times, whose "wealth and vast oil and commercial infrastructure could be attractive targets for Iranian attacks."
More recent statistics tracked by the Philippine Statistics Authority also showed that 24% of OFWs in the entire world work in Saudi Arabia.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, 15% of OFWs were employed in the United Arab Emirates, while 5.7% worked in Kuwait and 5.2% were in Qatar.
"Such imprudent pronouncement shall place our overseas contract workers in peril and burden their families with increased anxiety,” said BMP president Luke Espiritu.
"If Filipinos in the Middle East were harmed in the war, it is the wrongdoing of the United States which instigated the war in the first place," KMU asserted.
Migrante: Cimatu has spotty history
Migrante also slammed the decision to appoint Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu as the country's special envoy to the Middle East.
"May we remind the Duterte administration that it was none other than OWWA which confirmed back in 2003 that no evacuation took place at all during the early stages of the US-Iraq war," they said in their statement.
"The former Arroyo regime allocated $293,500 to Cimatu’s massive evacuation operations in the Middle East but as it turned out, the funds were spent to deploy 51 Filipino soldiers and to purchase military equipment to aid the US military in its terrorist invasion of Iraq."
Pamalakaya chairperson Fernando Hicap also said that Cimatu was already failing in his commitments back home to begin with, particularly in the Manila Bay reclamation project and environmental protection in the country. The federation of fisherfolk has long been rallying against reclamation projects along Manila Bay, saying they will not only displace countless fisherfolk but also affect marine habitats.
“Malaki ang trabaho ni Cimatu sa bansa, pero dadalhin pa siya sa Middle East. Malaki na ang nagbago sa rehiyon at hindi lang Iraq ang apektado. Sa kalaunan, mga opisyales din ng Department of Foreign Affairs ang uutusan niya at magtatrabaho. Panggulo lang siya run,” Hicap said.
(Cimatu has a lot to do in the Philippines but he is being sent to the Middle East. The region has changed a lot and it isn't just Iraq that has been affected. In the long run, he will just have officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs do the work. He will not be of much help there.)
Tax hike close to home
BMP also cast fear over the influx in oil prices that tensions abroad would inevitably cause.
“Malacanang has always been the first to admit that we are vulnerable to surges in the global oil market. Now that oil prices are rising and our oil reserves are depleting, Malacanang must do its share to shield the public from further aggravation,” Espiritu said.
“Its a simple as issuing an Executive Order like the president did in November 2018 to curb runaway inflation,” the labor leader added.
In a separate statement, former Anakpawis partylist leader Ariel Casilao said, “The beneficiaries of US war of aggression on Iran is their oligarchs who profits from arms deals and oil monopoly who are already commencing with their speculation bringing about world price hikes of petroleum products."
RELATED: Inflation accelerates to 2.5% in December
Inflation in December 2019 already accelerated to 2.5 percent. This, amid higher taxes for fuel products owing to the latest tranche of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act, which taxes gas products to raise funds for infrastructure projects and others. Many labor groups bemoaned these circumstances as they drove the prices of basic goods higher.
A study released by the Philippine Institute of Development Studies in January last year that claimed that while the TRAIN Law did spur economic activity, this growth also came at the cost of increased poverty.
In a text message sent to Philstar.com on Tuesday, KMU secretary general Jerome Adonis said, "Sasamantalahin din ng mga ganid na oil company para itaas ang presyo na ang katumbas ay pagtaas ng presyo ng mga bilihin."
(Unscrupulous oil companies can use this to raise gas prices, which will bring increase the prices of goods.)
"Kawawa naman si Juan Dela Cruz," he added.
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