Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye warned Filipino truck drivers against persisting in entering Iraq through the backdoor as the situation in that wartorn country has deteriorated in the past weeks.
Bunye said truck drivers are the most vulnerable targets to the spiral of attacks and violence in Iraq based on the assessment of the Middle East by
the preparedness team led by special envoy Roy Cimatu.
"Hindi gaanong malaki ang peligro doon sa ating mga kababayan na naglilingkod sa loob ng mga bases. Ang peligro ay doon sa mga drivers na kasama ng mga convoys," he said in an interview.
The Palace issued the appeal to prevent another abduction similar to the Angelo de la Cruz case last
July that prompted the early pullout of the small Filipino humanitarian team to save his life.
"Huwag munang magsadya ngayon dahil maselan ang sitwasyon. Baka kapag naulit itong Angelo de la Cruz
abduction case, baka ang resulta ay hindi maging successful, baka iba ang resulta at iyan ay magiging
malaking dagok hindi lamang sa ating mga OFWs kung hindi sa kanilang mga mahal sa pamilya," Bunye said.
The President has placed all Filipinos in Iraq in heightened alert after Cimatu warned about a high
probability of abduction of Filipino workers.
More than 4,000 Filipino workers in Iraq, mostly employed in US military camps, were directed to limit
their movements within their bases in the light of the deteriorating situation there.
Besides keeping the ban on the deployment of more workers there, the Chief Executive has ordered
officials to prepare contingency plan to evacuate the workers if the security situation worsened.
Bunye noted that Manila would seal arrangements with the government of Turkey to prevent Filipino drivers
from accepting jobs that would take them to Iraq. He noted that the Palace earlier entered similar agreements with Kuwait
and Saudi Arabia to prevent another Angelo de La Cruz abduction.
Cimatu earlier said the sharp rise in bombings and kidnappings in Iraq over the past weeks was apparently
intended to influence the elections in Australia next month and the United States in November.
He said he would recommend evacuation of Filipinos once there is a "semblance of a civil war" in Iraq.
Despite the appeals from job seekers looking for higher wages abroad, the President banned Filipinos
from seeking employment in Iraq following the July kidnapping of truck driver Angelo de la Cruz.
She sent home the small humanitarian contingent from Iraq as demanded by the kidnappers to save the life of De La Cruz. The early withdrawal of the Philippine troops, however, strained the country’s relations with the United States and other anti-terror allies.
