OFW killed in Iraq ambush defied deployment ban

A Filipino worker killed in an ambush in Iraq and two others who were wounded defied a government ban on employment in the country, Philippine officials said yesterday.

"The prudence of this ban is tragically borne out by this most recent act of violence on three Filipinos," Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said in a statement.

Federico Samson, a communications rigger for contractor Lucent Technologies, was killed Wednesday along with two Iraqi guards when their convoy was struck by an improvised explosive device in the northern oil center of Kirkuk shortly after leaving an airbase on their way to Baghdad, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

Two other Filipinos — Pedro Galila and Roderick Tayo — were wounded and flown by the United States Army to Baghdad, it said. The two have been declared out of danger.

"Federico needlessly lost his life in this terrible incident," Romulo said, adding that Samson had been in Iraq four months.

Samson, Galila and Tayo were among 10 Filipinos in the convoy transporting Lucent Technologies employees from Kirkuk to Baghdad. There were no other details on the rest of the Filipinos in the convoy.

Eric Endaya, chargé d’affaires to Iraq, appealed for patience from the family of the slain worker in recovering and repatriating his remains, citing the difficulties and danger involved in traveling between Kirkuk and Baghdad.

Romulo directed Endaya to investigate how Samson was able to enter Iraq despite the deployment ban, according to DFA spokesman Gilberto Asuque.

Endaya arrived at Baghdad yesterday afternoon from Amman, Jordan — where the diplomatic mission in Iraq was temporarily transferred due to the civil strife in Iraq — to meet with Lucent Technologies officials in Camp Victory, a US military camp in Baghdad.

Romulo directed Endaya to ensure his own safety in Baghdad, urging him to limit his movements to the US military camp while arranging for the return of Samson’s remains from Kirkuk to Iraq’s capital before they are shipped to the Philippines.

The Philippines banned the deployment of workers to Iraq after insurgents abducted Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz in July 2004.

To save his life, Manila was forced to grant the kidnappers’ demand for the early withdrawal of its small peacekeeping contingent from Iraq — a decision strongly criticized by Washington and other allies, but applauded at home.

A second Filipino, accountant Robert Tarongoy, was also abducted by Iraqi militants. He was freed in June after almost eight months in captivity.

About 6,000 Filipinos are employed in US military camps across Iraq, mostly as cooks and maintenance personnel. Many workers slip into Iraq through a neighboring country like Jordan, prompting Manila to request countries bordering Iraq not to allow Filipinos past their borders into Iraqi territory.

The money sent home by more than seven million Filipinos working abroad helps prop up the country’s frail economy. It amounted to about $8.5 billion last year, accounting for about 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

Romulo reiterated his appeal to Filipinos working in Iraq to remain inside the camps or avail of the voluntary repatriation offered by the government.

"The temporary ban on deployment to Iraq remains. There is grave danger in leaving the security of your campsites. Bombings and ambushes favor no one," he said.

Samson is the third Filipino to be killed in Iraq this year. Last April, two Filipino workers assigned to Camp Victory were killed in separate incidents.

Marcelo Salazar Jr., 46, died in an accident on April 14 while driving a US military vehicle along MSR Tampa, a road connecting Baghdad to southern Iraq, which is used exclusively by US and coalition forces.

Three days later, Rey Torres, 32, who worked as a guard and driver, was gunned down in downtown Baghdad.

At Malacañang, officials again appealed to Filipinos still working in Iraq to consider returning home.

"We are prepared to assist anyone wishing to avail of the voluntary repatriation program," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said. "We will assist them to return home if ever they want to return home as soon as possible."

He added that President Arroyo and other government officials extended their condolences to Samson’s family and urged Filipinos in Iraq "to always exercise caution and keep from harm’s way."

Bunye also said the government condemns terrorism in all its forms and "we are resolved to fight it."

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), on the other hand, called on Filipinos to refrain from working in Iraq at this time.

Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said based on information gathered by DOLE, Samson was legally employed in the United Arab Emirates but crossed the border into Iraq and sought employment with Lucent Technologies when his contract expired last March.

Samson and other "undocumented OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) are not entitled to welfare benefits provided by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to documented workers and their families," Sto. Tomas said.

She added that Samson’s family can claim insurance and other monetary benefits due them from his employer.

Sto. Tomas said DOLE is working on the immediate repatriation of Samson’s remains despite the fact that he was an undocumented worker. She said Samson’s death "only showed that there is wisdom" in the government’s decision to keep the deployment ban in place.

Meanwhile, Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. called on labor officials to start penalizing agencies that continue to sneak Filipinos into Iraq despite the prevailing deployment ban "and risk the safety and lives of Filipinos in the process."

Villar, who is vice chairman of the Senate committee on foreign relations, said the admission that it could not guarantee the safety and protection of Filipinos in Iraq should be "enough reason for us to stop allowing OFWs to go there and strictly implement the deployment ban" on the war-torn country.

"Until now, the charges against recruitment or travel agencies that violated the ban are still left pending with labor authorities," he said. "We should be serious about penalizing these violators and send a strong message to them that we will not tolerate future violations from their end."— Pia Lee-Brago, Aurea Calica, Mayen Jaymalin, Marvin Sy