Written by : JOHN LEONARD MONTERONA MIGRANTE-MIDDLE EAST REGIONAL DIRECTOR
| A worker's helmet lies on the ground at the Zawiya oil refinery near Tripoli, Libya, on August 19 after Libyan rebels pushing to cut off Tripoli took complete control of the key oil refinery that is the only source of fuel for the capital. AFP PHOTO |
IT is an honor to receive a request from a well-regarded, a leading and the oldest-running news organization in the Philippines, The Manila Times, to share my initial assessment of the Philippine government evacuation and repatriation efforts on-the-ground as part of its mandated duty of providing assistance to distressed and trapped overseas Filipino workers in strife-torn countries.
As much as possible, I want to be objective in sharing my views on this very relevant social issue to avoid suspicion of being biased against the government as the organization, Migrante International, which I belong and presently serves as its regional coordinator in the Middle East, is critical of the government’s intensified labor export program (LEP). We have been critical not only of the present Aquino administration but also of the past—from Marcos to the Arroyo regime because all have only intensified the peddling of cheap Filipino human labor even without protection abroad and degrading Filipino labor into a mere commodity for export.
Instead of developing the local economy by following most of the Asian countries’ economic model of development by genuinely implementing the real agrarian reform program and nationalization of basic industries moving toward a well-planned highly industrialized country, like our Asian neighbors, past administrations and the present Aquino government have blindly adhered to the neo-liberal policies of globalization, such as liberalization, privatization, deregulation, and denationalization that are burying poor Filipinos into grinding poverty and joblessness.
Wave of social upheavals
In the present geo-political affairs, for the past eight months now, the attention of the international community is in the Middle East and North African (MENA) nations that have been beset by political upheavals in varying degrees and scales. Already besieged and were afflicted by the so called Arab Spring were several countries in MENA.
In the last quarter of 2010, the Arab Spring first took place in Tunisia after its embattled president Ben Ali was toppled from his post when disgruntled Tunisians staged massive protests demanding his resignation over charges of corruption and pressed hard for economic and political reforms in the government.
Almost simultaneous to the Tunisian upheaval, thousands of Egyptians massed up in Cairo’s main streets that swiftly spread across other nearby cities such of Alexandria, the Nile Delta cities of Mansura and Tanta and in the southern cities of Aswan and Assiut. Egyptian activists, mostly from the ranks of the disgruntled youth, called for an uprising in their own country, to protest against poverty, unemployment, government corruption and the rule of then president Hosni Mubarak, who had been in power for three decades.
In the beginning of 2011, the international community was apparently stunned when peoples of Algeria, Libya, Yemen, and Bahrain followed suit demanding political and economic reforms, too, from their respective governments.
Even Saudi Arabia was not spared from protest actions in the eastern region part of the kingdom, when a small fraction of Shiite reformists called for instituting economic and political reforms in its purely monarchical government set-up. But the Saudi government was too quick to suppress the protesters and was forced to issue policy directives, assuring its nationals, of the royal ruler’s willingness to institute reforms in the economic and political fronts. These promised reforms include providing jobs to 500,000 Saudis, social and welfare programs and the conduct of elections to choose who will run Saudi Arabia’s local governing bodies.
It must be noted that the Saudi government also played an important role in suppressing the peoples’ discontent and mass actions in its neighboring Kingdom of Bahrain. The Saudi government sent a military contingent to help the Sunni-led Bahrain government crush the protesters.
The most recent country afflicted by the Arab Spring is Syria, where the protest movement has been on-going for several months now. In the past few days, heavy fighting between protesters and government forces ensued in the cities of Latakia, Homs, Dera’a and in the northern city of Ein et-Al.
Filipino migrant workers affected by the ‘Wave’
Since there are overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) deployed in countries plagued by Arab upheavals, it goes without saying that they too were affected. Many had to leave their jobs and were forced to be repatriated. Others opted to stay facing life-and-death risks in a war-torn situation for fear of being jobless if they go back home. Let us consider these rough estimated figures, country-by-country:
Egypt. Prior to the upheavals, there were around 8,000 to 10,000 OFWs working in Egypt. Most of them worked as caregivers and teachers based in Cairo, Egypt’s capital city, and others were in Alexandria, second largest city lying directly on Egypt’s Mediterranean cost. When the Philippine government raised the alert level to No.4, which means mandatory repatriation of Filipinos in Egypt, a little less than 2,000 of them were repatriated equating to 20 percent-25 percent of the total number of Filipinos then working in Egypt.
Libya. The around 22,000 to 24,000 OFWs in Libya are scattered in various cities. Many have been deployed to work in infrastructure and construction projects, while others are in oil and gas refineries. Nurses and related medical professions share an ample number of OFWs working in Libya, mostly in government hospitals. The Libyan unrest broke out first in Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, on February 17. Weeks later, the protests reached Tripoli, Libya’s capital, and swiftly spread to other cities.
When the PH government through the Department of Foreign Affairs raised the alert level to 4 and 5, around 17,000 OFWs were compulsorily repatriated by batches. As per our estimates, there are still around 1,600 to 2,000 OFWs in Libya. Most of them are nurses and medical technicians working in government hospitals.
Yemen. A rough estimate of 1,200 to 1,800 OFWs were in Yemen prior to the occurrence of upheavals. Most of them worked in infrastructure and construction project while a few works in gas and oil refineries under government projects. When the DFA raised alert level to No.4, around 140 OFWs were repatriated. So there are some 1600 Filipino workers still there.
Bahrain. Many OFWs in Bahrain are domestic workers; others work in infrastructure and construction projects. Around 15,000 to 18,000 OFWs were working in Bahrain prior to the social unrest. We have monitored and estimate that around more than a hundred opted to be repatriated after the PH govt. raised the alert level to No.3, which means voluntary repatriation. Like in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, a deployment ban of Filipino workers have been temporarily imposed at the height of upheavals in these countries. The PH government deployment ban is still in effect in Libya and Yemen, while in Egypt and Bahrain the ban is already lifted.
First test and lessons learned
We supposed that the PH government under the leadership of the Aquino administration had already learned lessons from the “first test” —the Egyptian and Libyan upheavals, lessons in regard to improving evacuation and repatriation efforts for the sake of thousands OFWs affected by the Arab Spring.
We could well remember that the Aquino administration was strongly criticized by the public, and the trapped OFWs and their families, because of its “wait-and-see” stance when the Libya unrests broke out. Caught unprepared and stunned, it took weeks for the Aquino government to respond amid the clamor of various OFW organizations, including Migrante-Middle East, to ready the government contingency plans so that in the event that the OFWs need to be repatriated, the government could easily execute the evacuation and repatriation plan.
The diplomatic post in Libya failed to do the necessary work of assessing, from time to time, the situation in the strife-torn country. This brings us to question of the ability and capability of the assigned PH diplomats to assess political events in their areas of jurisdiction.
The Rapid Response Team (RRT) recently created by Malacañang is a welcome move. Once deployed, it is tasked mainly to assess peace and order situation in strife-torn countries and issue proper advisories to the OFW community and OFW organizations.
Getting a cue from other governments already rushing up efforts to immediately evacuate and repatriate their own nationals as the peace and order situation in Libya worsens, then newly appointed DFA sec. Albert Del Rosario was forced to proceed to Libya himself and lead two composite teams of DFA and DoLE personnel in the actual evacuation of trapped OFWs.
I personally lauded Sec. Del Rosario’s leadership and who himself bravely cruised the Libyan desert to locate trapped OFWs and lead them to the designated rallying point for eventual repatriation.
On the Syria unrest, however, we are seeing a repeat of government’s “wait-and-see” stance at the height of the Libya upheavals early this year. Evacuation effort is too slow despite pleas from OFWs trapped in Syrian cities where there is heavy fighting. It seems that the Aquino government and its officials did not learn from Libya experience.
We note that three months ago since the Syria conflict erupted, Migrante and other OFWs organizations were already “barking” up to the PH diplomatic post to arrange the repatriation of around 60 distressed OFWs then seeking temporary refugee at the PH embassy’s Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC). Their numbers have increased to around 100 as per the reports we are receiving. And yet the distressed OFWs have been there for 3 to 6 months and still awaiting their repatriation.
I’ve been sending, on behalf of the families of distressed and stranded OFWs who sought our assistance, requests for repatriation of the distressed OFWs in Syria to the Philippine ambassador to Syria. But it is unfortunate that we and the families of the distressed OFWs are not even getting any acknowledgement and reply from the Ambassador and his embassy’s “Assistance to the Nationals (ATN)” staff.
If the PH diplomatic post could not arrange the repatriation of distressed OFWs already under its care, how about those OFWs now trapped in other places such as in Latakia, Homs, and Dera’a where fighting has occurred? These are hundred kilometers away from Damascus where the PH embassy is located.
Regardless of the status of the OFWs, either documented or undocumented, they should be given assistance as the PH diplomatic post is duty-bound to arrange for the evacuation and eventual repatriation of citizens trapped in strife-torn countries or by similar conditions of atrocities.
If the PH post had prepared for the worst scenario to happen, then it should have done early preparations such as mapping the locations of OFWs with the help of the local agencies and the Syrian authorities and identify rallying points in every place.
In our rough estimate, there are around 18,000 to 20,000 OFWs, including undocumented ones, in Syria.
We are not saying that the PH government is not doing its duty to assist distressed and trapped OFWs in strife-torn countries in MENA. It is just that its efforts are lacking and still wanting.
Could we imagine if the social upheavals intensify in Saudi Arabia hosting an estimated eight to 10 million migrant workers, of which 1.2 million are OFWs?
Certainly, no one would ever like this to happen.
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