WITH U.S. HANDOVER, RP LIFTS BAN ON OFW DEPLOYMENT IN IRAQ
MANILA, June 30, 2004 (STAR) By Marvin Sy - The government has lifted the ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Iraq, even as President Arroyo expressed hope yesterday that the handover of sovereignty to Iraq would lessen violence.Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Malacañang has lifted the ban on the deployment of OFWs in Iraq, though he said there is no specific date set "for a limited redeployment."
Special envoy to the Middle East Gen. Roy Cimatu, who also heads Team Iraq, recommended the lifting of the OFW deployment ban imposed by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) after the death of Filipino truck driver Rodrigo Reyes in an ambush in Balad.
Bunye said the redeployment of OFWs to Iraq will be limited to areas certified safe by the concerned authorities.
"We know that there are some areas where hostilities have taken place," he said. "Definitely, these will be out of the deployment list" and off-limits to OFWs — including Mosul, Fallujah, Aramadi, Tikrit, Faji, Najaf and Nasiriyah.
He also said that there is no way to guarantee the safety of OFWs in Iraq, advising Iraq-bound OFWs to "coordinate with the Iraq team, the DOLE people (and) our foreign affairs officials to make sure that the areas they will be going to will be relatively safe."
There are 4,000 OFWs employed in Iraq, representing over 90 percent of the total number of foreign workers there.
The US-led occupation transferred sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government two days ahead of schedule on Monday, partly to outmaneuver militants who have stepped up attacks ahead of the previously planned June 30 timetable.
Mrs. Arroyo stressed that Manila would maintain its security and other commitments Iraq.
"The Philippine government welcomes the restoration of sovereignty to the Iraqi people," Mrs. Arroyo said. "The Philippine government will continue to support peace, security and humanitarian programs for the benefit of the Iraqi people, in adherence to the mandate of the United Nations."
"We share the international community’s optimism that the smooth handover of political power would somehow douse armed conflict, and gain the peace needed for democratic consolidation and rebuilding," the President said in a statement.
Sen. Manuel Villar, who chairs the Senate foreign relations committee, welcomed the handover of sovereignty to Iraq, saying, "Iraq will be run by its own people. Its leaders will now strive hard and work for peaceful and credible elections next year, which would hopefully bring about political stability and spur economic development."
Villar also said the handover meant that "the remaining members of the Philippine humanitarian contingent should come home after serving beyond the six-month term."
The Philippines has a 51-member military and police contingent in Iraq. The interim Iraqi government has said it would need the help of foreign troops for some time to ensure security.
Bunye added that "as of now, the policy of the Philippines as far as the humanitarian contingent stands" and the contingent will remain in Iraq and continue providing assistance to the Iraqi people.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed Iraq "back into the family of independent and sovereign nations" on Monday and called on all Iraqis to assist the new interim government in establishing security. The UN Security Council welcomed the handover of power and the end of the US and British occupation and reaffirmed "the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Iraq."
Annan’s top adviser on Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, said the former occupying powers and the new government must now demonstrate to the Iraqi people that the 150,000 foreign troops in the country are there to support the government in maintaining security — and that they will be leaving.
"We hope that this is going to be a true beginning and those who are opposing occupation will now consider that opposing occupation is not necessary any more and that both sides — the government and these people — will try and find a common ground to build Iraq," Brahimi told several reporters at UN headquarters.
Annan, who just arrived in Dubai at the start of a three-week trip to the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe, said in a statement issued at UN headquarters that the UN will "do everything possible, as circumstances permit, to help the Iraqi people" in the difficult process of returning to normalcy.
"He calls upon all Iraqis to come together in a spirit of national unity and reconciliation, through a process of open dialogue and consensus-building, to lay down secure foundations for a new Iraq," said the statement from UN associate spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
The Security Council called on all Iraqis to fully and "peaceably" implement the political timetable it endorsed earlier this month which includes elections no later than Jan. 31, 2005.
"The members of the council condemn, in the strongest terms, the continued violence in Iraq, which should not be allowed to disrupt Iraq’s political and economic transition," the council said in a statement read by the current president, Philippine Ambassador Lauro Baja.
The surprise early handover of power in Iraq Monday brought warm wishes of good luck from around the world for the violence-weary country’s new government.
It also sparked plenty of questions, particularly in the Muslim world, where many wondered what the transfer of sovereignty would really mean, particularly with coalition forces remaining in Iraq indefinitely. — with reports from Marichu Villanueva, Jose Rodel Clapano, AFP
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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