More Pinoys off to Cuba to build al-Qaeda jails

Hundreds of Filipino workers continue to leave for Cuba to join other Filipinos already at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay to construct jails for captured Taliban and al-Qaeda members from Afghanistan.

US navy officials have cordoned off a huge open space in Guantanamo naval base as site of the detention center for Taliban and al-Qaeda "battlefield detainees," which has been dubbed as "Camp X-Ray" because the jail cells are transparent from the outside.

Sources in the Department of Labor and Employment said the necessary documents for the deployment of 150 more Filipino construction workers are being processed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

They are reportedly getting an average of $1,000 monthly pay, with free accommodation, food and full benefits in case of any work-related accident.

"The US government reportedly prefers OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) to do the job because they are efficient workers," a source said.

Sources said the first batch of 250 Filipino construction workers and engineers left the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for Guantanamo naval base Monday.

"The job order for the construction job was actually for 400 OFWs but the 250 were the first to be processed so they had to leave earlier than the others," the source said.

The additional 150 workers are reportedly set to leave for Cuba soon. They will also build additional quarters for US troops at Guantanamo Bay.

Labor department officials said the deployment of more OFWs to Guantanamo is expected to boost dollar remittances to the Philippines, which had dramatically dropped last year.

Labor department re-cords showed remittances from OFWs dropped by 20 percent to $5.2 billion in the first 11 months of 2001 from $6.5 billion during the same period in 2000.

Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said the remarkable drop in remittances occurred after last year’s Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the US because most OFWs decided to hoard dollars.

OFWs in the US are the biggest source of the country’s yearly remittances, she added. – Mayen Jaymalin