6,000 Pinoy workers await deployment to Iraq — POEA

More than 6,000 Filipinos are set to work in Iraq as soon the government lifts the ban on the deployment of workers to the war-torn country, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said yesterday.

"There are about 6,100 unfilled job orders for Iraq as of this time," POEA chief Rosalinda Baldoz said, noting that the Philippines received the job orders long before the government imposed the current ban.

Baldoz said she will meet with special envoy retired Gen. Roy Cimatu, who heads the Middle East Crisis Management Committee, to discuss whether the ban will be lifted or not.

"We are still waiting for the recommendations of General Cimatu and we expect to meet with him within the week," she said.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) first banned the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Iraq when a Filipino driver was killed in an ambush last April.

The ban was lifted last July 1 but President Arroyo ordered its immediate reimposition after Iraqi insurgents kidnapped truck driver Angelo de la Cruz and threatened to behead him unless the Philippines withdrew its humanitarian contingent from Iraq.

The 6,000 job vacancies translate to some $102.48 million in wages the workers would have sent home, Baledoz added.

Local recruitment agencies earlier claimed the Philippines is losing at least $1.4 million in monthly income for Filipino workers because of the deployment ban on Iraq.

They added that foreign employers are now recruiting workers from India and Nepal to fill up positions previously intended for Filipinos.

To prevent Filipino workers from missing more employment opportunities, local recruiters said they plan to file a petition asking the Department of Foreign Affairs and DOLE to immediately lift the deployment ban.

But Labor Undersecretary Danilo Cruz said DOLE will wait for Cimatu’s recommendation to decide whether they will lift the ban soon.

"We will not base our decision on possible income or remittance of OFWs because more than the earnings, DOLE is concerned with the security and safety of Filipino workers," he said.

President Arroyo, in her annual state of the nation address last July 26, vowed to protect the interests of the country’s estimated eight million overseas workers, 1.5 million of whom are in the Middle East.

She promised to generate up to 10 million jobs over the next six years to keep Filipinos at home, even as she acknowledged that their remittances were a huge boost to the economy. — With AFP