Migrant Watch
U.S. War on Iraq to Displace 1.4-M Filipinos

Some 1.4 million overseas contract workers (OCWs) – and not 147 as claimed by Foreign Secretary Blas Ople – will need to be evacuated once U.S. President George Bush launches an invasion on Iraq before the year ends.

 By Bulatlat.com

Some 1.4 million overseas contract workers (OCWs) – not 147 as claimed by Foreign Secretary Blas Ople – will need to be evacuated once U.S. President George Bush launches an invasion on Iraq before the year ends.

Leo G. Legaspi, chair of Migrante-International, said over the weekend that Ople’s figure is too inconsequential in a new war that should warrant a major proactive response by the country’s foreign and immigration officials.

“There are more than 1.4 million Filipinos in the Middle East who will be caught in the cross-fire and displaced in various ways when the U.S. invasion forces strike against Iraq,” Legaspi said.

“It is extremely misleading for Secretary Ople to assure us things will be okey simply because government authorities are ready to evacuate 147 Filipinos in Iraq,” the chair of the country’s largest overseas migrant group said. “A U.S.-led war of aggression against Saddam Hussein will fan the flames of violence already evident in the region and as such, the number of casualties among Filipinos will not be limited to those in Iraq alone. The deaths and injuries suffered by three Filipino women in Israel and Pakistan vividly show the real threats against Filipinos by the escalating conflicts in the region.”

Latest reports show that U.S. armed forces are preparing for another invasion of Iraq which, together with anti-Saddam opposition forces, is aimed at toppling the Iraqi leader. The attack– marked by air strikes, land invasion and covert operations – is expected to take place before the year ends although other reports said that the all-out offensive will likely take place in 2003.

But the war could lead to major catastrophes and far bigger casualties as Bush last June threatened to unleash nuclear missiles on Iraq if  “conventional weapons” do not work. The missile attack is included in Pentagon’s “Nuclear  Posture Review.”

A Middle East war scenario drawn up by Migrante staff before Bush ordered air strikes against Afghanistan in October last year, showed that likely second targets would be Iraq and Libya who have been included in the U.S. president’s list of “rogue states” for sponsoring or aiding “terrorism.” As such, they said, any attack on Iraq will affect neighboring countries and would endanger the lives of millions of overseas workers including Filipinos.

In immediate danger

In immediate danger are OCWs in Iraq’s southern neighbor, Kuwait, numbering 35,000. Another 5,000 OCWs are working in Jordan north of Iraq.

Hundreds of thousands more OCWs in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will also be at risk. It is in these countries where the United States maintains some of its biggest military facilities in the region, Migrante said.

In the 1991 Gulf War, Iraqi forces attacked Hafar Al-Batin, a town in northern Saudi Arabia, Legaspi said. The Migrante chair was himself a former OCW in that country.

Israel will not be a fence-sitter when a major war breaks out, Migrante added. Soon after the Sept. 11 attacks on New New York and Washington, Israeli forces laid siege on the town of Janin in the West Bank as a preemptive move. The Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fully cooperates with Bush in his “war of aggression,” the group also said, as a result of which migrant workers are also displaced.

“All this scenario is distressing because in the past, the foreign affairs department has proven incapable of repatriating or evacuating our kababayans (compatriots) successfully,” Legaspi said. “The case of Filipino deportees from Malaysia shows this resoundingly. Until now, the ongoing harassment and inhumane conditions suffered by Filipinos under deportation has yet to draw the attention of foreign affairs officials.”

Tens of thousands of OCWs were also sent home during the first Gulf War. Many have yet to receive fair compensation for the dislocation they and their families suffered.

Aside from denouncing Bush’s plan of attack on Iraq, Legaspi also criticized President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for her “complete subservience” to the U.S. president’s war against terrorism.

Round up in Israel

Meanwhile, leaders of the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) assailed Israeli Prime Minister Sharon’s directive to round up and deport 50,000 migrant workers including Filipinos, Palestinians, Jordanians, Thais, Romanians and Turks.

The migrant workers are targeted in the one-year operation followed by another 100,000 “illegal” migrant workers by 2005. Most of the workers are in construction, agriculture and other occupations, the Hong Kong-based APMM reported.

The crackdown is to be implemented under Israel’s “labor reform” program.

APMM called on the Philippine government and those of other countries to protect the rights of their nationals being targeted by Sharon’s crackdown. Bulatlat.com

We want to know what you think of this article.