|
MIGRANTS
‘Terrorized’
Lives
First of two parts
As the world entered
2005, hostaged Filipino migrant Roberto Tarongoy entered his 62nd
day of captivity. The Macapagal-Arroyo government, while verbaclly
expressing anxiety over Tarongoy’s fate, continues to support the U.S. war
on terror and send OFWs in war-ravaged areas to provide support services
for the U.S. armed forces. Tarongoy’s case highlights this new role that
OFWs play: auxiliary service for the U.S. wars of aggression in addition
to supplying globalization’s cheap, docile and skilled labor.
BY AUBREY SC MAKILAN
Bulatlat
As the world entered
2005, hostaged Filipino migrant Roberto Tarongoy entered his 62nd
day of captivity. The Macapagal-Arroyo government, while verbally
expressing anxiety over Tarongoy’s fate, continues to support the U.S. war
on terror and send OFWs in war-ravaged areas to provide support services
for the U.S. armed forces. Tarongoy’s case highlights this new role that
OFWs play: auxiliary service for the U.S. wars of aggression in addition
to supplying globalization’s cheap, docile and skilled labor.
Tarongoy, an
accountant in the Saudi Arabian firm Trading and Contracting Co. (SATCo.)
is the third Filipino to be held hostage by militants in the Middle East,
the second in war-torn Iraq. He was
kidnapped by masked gunmen in Mansour, Baghdad on Nov. 1.
The first was Angelo
dela Cruz who was driving an oil tanker from his Saudi Arabia-based
company to the U.S. military camps in Falluja when abducted by the Iraqi
Islamic Army. He was in captivity for almost three weeks, threatened with
beheading if the government would not pull out the Philippine
“humanitarian contingent” of 51 troops in Iraq.
While public sympathy
for Dela Cruz and protests by militant groups forced President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo to pull out the troops and save Dela Cruz from beheading,
Tarongoy’s fate remains unknown.
Tarongoy and Dela
Cruz were among the OFWs who, wanting to save their families from
starvation and send their children to school, have found themselves in the
grip of “terror.”
Labor conscription
The government’s
labor export program (LEP), which has facilitated the conscription of
Filipino workers for the U.S. war, has brought overseas Filipino workers
into the doors of danger, especially in war-torn countries.
Macapagal-Arroyo’s
labor export policy is anchored on its all-out support for US President
George W. Bush’s “war on terror.” Aside from agreeing to use the country
as U.S.’ “second front,” Macapagal-Arroyo also sent humanitarian
contingent and OFWs off to Iraq for post-war “reconstruction.” All these
were in exchange with a $4 billion economic aid package and a $100 million
military aid for being part of the “Coalition of the Willing.”
But unlike the U.S.
and British companies which have monopolized Iraq’s “reconstruction,” the
Philippines has not been awarded with any juicy contract. Instead, OFWs
have been recruited to render auxiliary services needed by the U.S. armed
forces in their wars of aggression.
‘Terrorized’
Promised with as much
as $800 a month salary – a princely sum compared to local wage rates –
OFWs lined up to apply for work as warehousemen, electricians, cooks,
engineers and nurses at U.S. military camps. Aside from working overtime
without pay and with no days off, the OFWs, by working in military-related
projects, become legitimate targets of Iraqi guerrillas.
The first casualty in
2004 was 52-year old truck driver Rodrigo Reyes, who was killed in an
ambush in Abdali, Iraq on April 28. Then there were
warehouseman Raymond Natividad and 46-year-old engineer Raul Carlos Flores
who also died due to Iraqi resistance operations.
Seven others were
injured in separate attacks – Ronald Dayao, Leopoldo Soliman, Emetrio
Payna and Jaime Banaria who were hit with mortar shrapnels, and Danreb
Tolentino, Gil Nepomuceno and Fortunato Estoesta who were injured in Mosul.
Another, Danilo Pasia, underwent surgery after sustaining bullet wounds on
his right arm in an ambush in Mosul on Aug. 22.
Meanwhile,
caregiver Leonila Villarez was hurt in a
suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, Israel on Nov. 1.
Aside from Tarongoy
and Dela Cruz, another hostage victim was United Nations worker Angelito
Nayan who was taken by Afghan rebels in
Kabul
on Oct. 28.
Despite all these
incidents, many OFWs decided to stay on. They say, “Di bale nang
mamatay sa ibang bansa basta may pera kaysa mamatay sa gutom ang pamilya
namin sa Pilipinas” (We would rather die in another country rather
than allow our families to die of hunger in the
Philippines).
In fact, thousands
sneaked into Iraq even after the Philippine government banned the entry of
OFWs in the war-torn country. Of the 1.5 million OFWs in the Middle East,
about 4,000 remain in Iraq, 80 percent of whom are employed by Prime
Projects International (PPI), a Dubai-based subcontractor of Halliburton’s
KBR Engineering & Construction.
Meanwhile, one of
every four Filipinos applying for job in Iraq is a woman.
Other terrors
Meanwhile, some OFWs
also found themselves undergoing other terrorizing experiences, such as
being afflicted with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that
broke out early this year. The remains of migrants who died of SARS had to
be cremated before sending being sent home to prevent the transfer of the
virus.
The SARS outbreak
also led to the temporary ban of OFWs to destinations like Hong Kong
which affected almost 150,000 migrant workers who were left with no means
of livelihood since the government has not ready alternative for them.
Then before 2004
ended, the deadly tsunami that caused the death of 150,000 people in
several South Asian countries also took away the lives of at least 18 OFWs.
Five are still missing as of press time. Bulatlat
BACK TO TOP ■
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION ■
COMMENT
© 2004 Bulatlat
■ Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified. |
