Sixteen years ago, Tarhata Ibrahim Lumpingan gave up any hope for surviving and was just waiting for bullets or missiles to kill her in then war-torn Kuwait. Fortunately, she lived. However, sixteen years after her ordeal, she is yet to get the claims due her after being trapped in Kuwait.

Caught in the crossfire To escape from poverty and the conflict in her hometown in Layug, Pagalungan, Maguindanao, Lumpingan worked as a domestic helper in Rowda, Kuwait in April 1990. Four months later, she never thought she was about to have the most terrible experience of her life. On Aug. 2, 1990, Iraq bombed Kuwait that signaled its invasion. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), including Lumpingan, were stranded in Kuwait during the Gulf War. Lumpingan lamented that the plane that should have transported them out of the war-torn country never came. She also said that the Philippine embassy there was closed and that they did not hear of any plan for OFWs left in Kuwait.

UNPAID CLAIMS: It has been 16 years since Tarhata Ibrahim Lumpingan got trapped in war-torn Kuwait, but she has yet to receive the claims due her PHOTO BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN

Lumpingan said that they saw from her employer’s house the bombs that destroyed infrastructure and killed people.

But her employers did not take her to Saudi Arabia where they sought refuge. Along with 45 Filipinos and thousands of other foreign nationals caught in the crossfire, Lumpingan hid in a pedestrian tunnel leading to the Mecca.

Inside the tunnel, her fellow Filipinos had in advance prepared food in case the war intensified. But the food was not enough for the three weeks they spent there. They soon ran out of water. They sometimes used wet towels to clean their bodies of smoke and dust from the bombings.

Because of the deafening bombs, they covered their ears with cottons. It was always dark inside the tunnel and they were not exposed to any sunlight.

With only a few sets of clothing, Lumpingan went with other Filipinos who left the tunnel. They walked through the ruined streets, taking the opposite direction from the bombs, finding means to survive. Other Filipinos who have married Kuwaiti nationals sold their properties to buy food. They transferred from one Filipino’s house to another, wherever it seemed safer. Solitaire, a card game, became her favorite past-time.

After the war ended in March 1991, members of the royal families hired the stranded OFWs to clean their houses, which were almost buried in ashes. Each was given 50 dinars a day. “Parang awa na lang nila sa amin dahil hindi kami umalis doon,” she said. (They did it out of pity since we did not leave.)

They cleaned not more than two houses a day. This was what they were doing to survive from February to July 1991.

“Halos hindi na ako makahinga sa alikabok, yung mga bahay hanggang tuhod ang alikabok,” she said. (I had difficulties breathing because of the thick dust. The houses had knee-high dust.)

She also said that the royal families were the ones who bought their tickets, while the embassy officials only listed their names.

After-effects

Lumpingan returned home in July 1991. Only upon arriving in the Philippines did her ordeal sink in. She said she cried over the possibility of dying in Kuwait. “Salamat at buhay pa ako.” (I am thankful that I am still alive.)

Since she arrived, she has been feeling dizziness, apparently due to inhaling the smoke and dust from bomb explosions.

Upon the recommendation of Kuwaiti officials, Lumpingan and fellow OFWs from Kuwait went to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to file individual claims, a month after their arrival.

But because of poverty, Lumpingan has been to Kuwait three times since the war there. She only decided to stop working in 2000 after being diagnosed of having tumors in her chest. She said her doctor told her that the tumors were caused by accumulated phlegm, though Lumpingan suspected it was caused by inhaling bomb smoke and dust. She felt the pain extending to her arms until she had them operated.

Until now, she could hardly watch war scenes on television especially the coverage on the recent Israel attacks on Lebanon. “Parang ayoko ngang tingnan,” she said. (I could not watch.)

Aside from the war trauma, she also remembered how she was treated by her employer.

“Tira-tira lang ang pinapakain sa akin,” she recalled. “Kahit kumakain inuutusan ako. Parang sinasabi nila sa akin na binibili na nila ang buhay ng katulong.” (I was only fed left-overs. Even if was eating, they ordered me around. They made me feel that they had bought my life as a maid already.)

She was also told she would only receive 35 dinars, and not 40 dinars as stipulated in her contract.

But she was not paid for the four months she worked before the war broke out. She was not able to get her salary because she had no copy of her contract.

Unpaid claims

Sixteen years have passed but Lumpingan and many of the about 100,000 other OFWs believed to have been affected by the war have not been compensated for the emotional distress and financial losses, said Connie Bragas-Regalado, chairperson of Migrante International. The group has been helping Lumpingan and other OFWs to get their claims.

Based on the DFA reports, as of 30 September 2003, “the Department processed a total of 60,941 claims and were paid by the Philippine Claims and Compensation Committee (PCCC)” amounting US$153,100,000.00 for said claims from the United Nations-approved reparations.

Created in 1991, the PCCC is the operating arm of the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), the United Nations council that approves and processes the claims of the 1991 Gulf War victims around the world. The money for the claims comes from a special fund that receives 25 percent of the proceeds from sales of Iraqi oil.

Since 1991, the UNCC has received more than 2.6 million claims seeking a total of $368 billion in compensation. Nearly 100 foreign governments, including the Philippines, have submitted claims for their nationals, corporations and themselves.

The council gives out money in US dollars to workers affected by the war based on categories A, B, C, D and E. Category “A” are claims of individuals for departures from Kuwait or Iraq; category “B” for claims for death or serious personal injury; category “C” are claims of individuals for damages up to US$100,000; category “D” are claims of individuals for damages above US$100,000; and category “E” are claims of corporations, other private legal entities and public sector enterprises. The total payments made by the UN council as of April 2005 to the Philippines totaled US$943,463.92.

The UNCC reported in July 2006 that with the total payment to nearly $12 million, “all claims of individuals have been paid in full for death or personal injury, for departures from Kuwait or Iraq and for property damages.”

“E pano ako, wala pa akong nakukuha?” lamented Lumpingan who said she was told to get $2,500 up to $4,000. (What about me? I have not received anything.)

She also complained that one of her fellow former OFWs was able to get partial payment. “Samantala sabay-sabay kaming naglalakad ng claims noon,” she said. (We all processed our claims at the same time.)

She said she was told by DFA personnel “baka sa susunod kang batch” when following up her claim. Lumpingan last followed it up in 2004. (Perhaps in the next batch.)

When she gets her money, Lumpingan planned to get back the land she was forced to mortgage to her uncle to apply for Kuwait. Only this time, she would have to pay for it ten times the original mortgaged amount of P3,000 ($59.41 at an exchange rate of $1=P50.49).

Meanwhile, the UNCC has set Sept. 30 as the final deadline in locating and paying Gulf War claimants who had been affected by the 1990 Iraq-Kuwait war and with approved claims from the UNCC. The UN council’s regular filing period was from January 1, 1992, to January 1, 1996. Bulatlat