This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VII, No. 10, April 15-21, 2007
MIGRANT WATCH
During times of
conflict, it is the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who suffer. Two
OFWs who worked in Iraq proved that deployment bans are useless.
BY AUBREY SC
MAKILAN The
Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has partially lifted the
ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Nigeria and
Lebanon, after the hostage crisis and bombing incidents, respectively, in these
countries. And now, a
new alarm was raised over the continued
holding of the 15 British sailors in Iran. Although there are only about 200
Filipinos in Iran, the fear is for the estimated 1.5 to 1.8 million overseas
Filipino workers in the Middle East if a region-wide tension escalates. During times of conflict,
it is the OFWs who suffer. Two OFWs, who worked in
Iraq, proved that deployment bans are useless.
PART I - Rommel Sanchez: No Money and a Broken
Family Rommel
Sanchez, 34, had always been a contractual worker in factories and fast food
chains before he decided to work abroad. In 1994, he
worked as a fast food crew in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) until he was
promoted to chief supervisor in 1998. At that time, he was earning P9,000
($187.87, based on an exchange rate of P47.905 per US dollar) until his salary
was increased to P23,000 ($480.12). He only
wanted to earn enough for his family but something unfortunate was about to
happen. The next day, the Nepali opening manager said that the money supposedly
earned the previous day, during Sanchez’s duty, was gone. If not for the missing
money that amounted to about 25,000 Riyals (or about P500,000 or $10,437.32), he
said he could have been promoted to the position of restaurant manager.
Sanchez said
he was framed up by the Nepali manager and another Filipino. Jailed Sanchez was
temporarily detained on Aug. 21, 1998 in a small Saudi jail. He said he would be
released from a bartolina (solitary confinement) from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
every day only to be tortured. The torture, he said, would resume at 1 p.m.
until 5 p.m. In a week of
torture, he said he could only rest during lunch time, but could not eat because
of pain. Food was offered only at lunch time. At about 50 degrees Celsius,
Sanchez said, he passed out when police poured lukewarm water on him after he
was released from a bartolina. “Doon
nanginig ang katawan ko, bumigay ako”
(With that my body trembled and I passed out), he recalled. When he
gained consciousness at the hospital, his employer and a police were asking him
to sign a waiver. Because the document was written in Arabic, Sanchez refused to
sign it, thinking that it would only pin him down on the theft case filed
against him. But he was forced to sign it when his employer promised that he
could already go home to the Philippines after signing it. To his
surprise, Sanchez was brought to a bigger jail after three days. After talking
to other detained Filipinos, he learned that it was a scheme in KSA. “Embassy
natin dekorasyon na lang ‘yun sa ibang bansa” (Our embassies are mere
decorations in other countries),said Sanchez. “Abuso pa nga ang embahada
natin” (They even abuse their power). Sanchez said
his mother, who was in Jeddah at that time, attempted to ask the help of the
Philippine Consulate in Jeddah but to no response. “Ang
embahada natin, tagabigay lang ng
passport, travel documents. Kaya mga kababayan natin nakukulong. Lalo ang mga
Pilipinang tumatakas” (Our embassies are mere dispensers of passports and
travel documents. That’s why so many of our countrymen go to jail, especially
Filipinas fleeing their employers), he lamented, citing the cases of raped
Filipinas who were being detained instead of their rapists. After six
months went by without any progress on his case, someone advised Sanchez to
convert to Islam to facilitate a faster release. After the conversion, he was
immediately sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment and 350 lashes. While
completing his sentence, he would wash inmates’ clothes or draw nude images for
them. From doing these, he would be paid with cigarettes which he would sell to
buy phone cards and send letters to his family here. After
completing his sentence, he was brought to Malas Jail. He spent one and a half
months there waiting for his deportation. “Kasumpa-sumpa doon, ang
hirap grabe” (It was so despicable
and difficult), he retorted. “Kahit iparating mo siguro sa gobyerno ‘to wala
rin. Walang kuwenta. Embahada natin ipagpapabukas-bukas ka. Pamasahe pa lang
sibak na, e, ang lalayo pa naman ng embahada natin (doon)” (Nothing would
probably come out of it even if you bring this matter to the government. It’s of
no use. Our embassies would keep procrastinating on your plight. The very fare
going to the embassies is already a great burden, as they our embassies there
are very far from our places of residence and work). He was able to return to
his family in 1999. He worked as a merchandiser of a food product, still as a
contractual worker. After two years of no permanent job, he tried his luck again
in a foreign land. Cross
bordering In 2001,
Sanchez worked in Kuwait as a service crew paid with P18,000 ($375.74).
After three
years, he grabbed the offer of his employer,
Al Homaizi Food Stop Company, to work in Iraq. Though
the workplace is dangerous, workers were promised twice their wages in Kuwait.
But Sanchez said they were told that the company has no liability if something
happened to them. They did not have hazard pay as well, he said. “Pag may
namatay, may media blackout”(There’smediablackout whenever someone
dies). And even if
at that time a deployment ban was imposed by the Philippine government, and OFWs’
passports have “cannot travel to Iraq” remarks, Sanchez said this was not really
implemented. “Di totoo ‘yun.
Publicity lang ‘yun” (That was never for real. That was only for
publicity), he said, citing the cases of many Filipinos crossing from Kuwait to
Iraq to work in military camps there. He added that Filipinos from Saudi Arabia,
Qatar and Jordan also crossed to Iraq. Workers being deployed in
military camps in Iraq are brought there aboard coasters in a convoy with
American soldier escorts. The convoy carries the camps’ supply. They would spend overnights
in “green zones” or relatively safer areas when their way is being cleared by an
advance military team. At times when the convoys are being bombed, they would
only be asked to lay down. When a vehicle is hit,
Sanchez said the soldiers would only get the bodies and blow up the vehicle so
that it could no longer be used by their enemy. Sanchez’s team spent a
night in Scania, a green zone. They would only sleep on cartons, with only
jackets as their blankets. He estimated they were about a hundred Filipinos in
their batch alone that crossed to Iraq. Camp Taji Sanchez was deployed by his
employer in their post in Camp Taji. Al-Taji airfield was originally an Iraqi
Republican Guard base during the Saddam era. It was once a center for the
manufacture of chemical weapons. Taji was also the largest tank maintenance
facility in Iraq. The base came under United
States control following the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, also known as "Operation
Iraqi Freedom." Of some 106 bases used by the United States in Iraq, Camp Taji
is considered one of 14 "enduring" bases. Sanchez and other Filipinos
working in the same company were staying only in a tent, sleep on a folding bed,
and use a portable toilet. But the American soldiers stay in improvised cargo
vans. He could not sleep for the
first few days. At night when they could hear and feel the bombings, and the
alarm detected a mortar, they would run to the bunker with their bottled water.
They would spend an hour, or even the whole night, inside the bunker. During
these times, food shops and mess hall, Internet and phone booths are closed. The closest bombing he has
experienced was less than 500 meters from their tent. “Napabalikwas ako, tayo
talaga ako, bitbit ko agad tubig ko”
(I was roused and I jumped for safety bringing my water), he recalled, adding
that compact food or power bars serve as their meal inside the bunker. Filipinos are present
anywhere in the camp: in the mess hall, computer shops, food stalls, utility
service. He denied seeing Amb. Roy Cimatu or Philippine officials in Iraq at the
time of the invasion. Cimatu was the government
official in charge of evacuating the OFWs in Iraq during the invasion in 2003.
The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) released $293,500 to Cimatu
supposedly for a massive evacuation from Iraq and another P5 million
($104,373.24) for the 51-man humanitarian contingent sent to the war-torn
country. But Migrante International chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado said that
there has been “no passable auditing report (from) Cimatu” about this project. Instead, he said he only
learned of Cimatu’s presence when he was still in Kuwait. “Nakita ko si
Cimatu, wala lang, nagpamigay ng leaflets, mag-imbak na daw kami ng
pagkain, wag lalabas” (I saw Cimatu simply distributing leaflets, telling us
to store food and not to go out). For their own protection,
workers inside the military camps are issued with access badges with security
bar codes by the U.S. government. With this badge, they can
freely move in unrestricted areas inside the camp without a soldier escort.
Sanchez said the badge is as important as their life. There are incidents, he
said, that the US soldiers would fire on suspected suicide bombers, mostly
Arab-looking men and children, if those suspects continue to move despite
soldiers’ order to stop walking. Sanchez would work from 8
a.m. to 5 p.m. in their burger post. Afterwards, they would spend the rest of
the day in the recreation hall since no one could go out from the camp. Aside
from sports, recreation also includes a free cinema viewing with free popcorns. When no bus is available to
transport them from one place to another inside the camp, Sanchez and friends
would walk from their tent to the mess hall – a distance similar to that from
Alabang, Muntinlupa City to San Pedro, Laguna or a 20-minute trip by jeepney or
car. “Pagpunta namin gutom na
gutom na kami, pagbalik namin sa tent, gutom na ulit kami”
(By the time we get to the mess hall we would be very hungry, by the time we get
back to the tent we would be hungry again), he said, adding that they also walk
about three kilometers from their tent to their burger stall. Everything in the mess hall
is free of charge. They could eat as much fruits they could take, milk or energy
drink. They could also buy other
needs in a grocery inside the camp. Sanchez’s company gives them an allowance of
$10 a week. While in their post in Taji,
Sanchez again noticed another misdeed by his co-employees. He said that a
Lebanese would reprint receipts of customers. Thinking he was on the right side,
he complained to the supervisor only to learn there was a “Mafia” in their
group. He was sent back to Kuwait and given a 15-hour duty without overtime pay. Because of a traumatic
experience in Saudi also involving money, he resigned from the company and went
back to the Philippines in 2004. Social cost At home, sad news was
waiting for him. His wife had left him, bringing along their two children.
“’Yun y’ung
consequence ng pag-abroad, pagbalik mo
broken family na” (That’s the consequence of working abroad, when you
come back your family’s broken), he said. He also learned that he was
left with no money. When he was about to pay the bills for his hospitalization,
only P2,000 ($41.75) was left in their bank account. Their house was erected on
his brother’s land. His wife bought a small lot but it was located near his
mother-in-law’s lot in Rizal. Recently, Sanchez tried his
luck in Qatar as a supervisor in a restaurant there. He was promised a $400
basic pay for eight hours of work and another $200 for four hours of overtime
work. Initially, he does not want
to return to Iraq anymore primarily because of the danger confronting them at
the military camp. “Kung dodoblehin ulit (ang) sweldo, kung may
opportunity, babalik talaga ako ulit ‘dun kasi nandun ang pera, di mo kayang
kitain dito yun” (If they would double our salaries again, if there’s an
opportunity, I would really go back there because the money’s there, you can’t
earn that kind of money here), he explained. Bulatlat © 2007 Bulatlat
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Tales of Woe and Desperation in Iraq
Bulatlat