Travel ban to Iraq stays

MANILA, Philippines - The travel and deployment ban to Iraq stays but Filipinos working in military facilities in the Middle East country may finish their contracts, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

The high-level inter-agency committee mandated to assess the security situation in Iraq said Filipinos employed by the US government or their subcontractors would be allowed to exhaust their contracts if their safety is assured and they are guaranteed repatriation at the end of their engagement.

There are some 2,000 Filipinos in US military facilities in Iraq.

The inter-agency task force is composed of representatives from the Department of Labor and Employment, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Office of the Executive Secretary.

In July, the government dispatched Special Envoy Roy Cimatu to Iraq to determine the security situation in Iraq as the US pulls its military troops out of the country at the end of the month.

Even after the Philippines issued a travel and deployment ban to Iraq, the government failed to stop the influx of Filipino workers to US military camps there. 

The DFA said there were around 6,000 Filipinos working in Iraq.

US military authorities in Iraq directed its private contractors and subcontractors to identify within 20 days all foreign nationals working in Iraq illegally and to develop a plan for their repatriation. 

The Philippine government imposed the travel and deployment ban in July 2004 after truck driver Angelo de la Cruz was abducted by Iraqi insurgents.

Filipino workers in Iraq have asked the government to lift the travel and deployment ban to Iraq. The government kept the ban effective because of the volatile security situation.