Manila: A policy preventing Filipinos from working in Iraq will stay until a mission sent by the government to gauge the country's security status determines otherwise, an official said.
Labour Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said Filipinos continued to slip into Iraq despite a restriction imposed by the government in 2004.
The Philippine government banned Filipinos from taking up jobs in the Middle East in an attempt to prevent overseas Filipino workers from being kidnapped or falling victim to bomb attacks.
Baldoz said thousands of Filipinos had defied the restriction by working for firms contracted by American companies, to perform services at US military camps in Iraq.
She said the number of Filipinos working in Iraq was around 15,000, most of whom entered the country via other parts of the Middle East.
Recruitment agencies and business groups have called on the government to remove the ban on Filipinos working in Iraq, saying it translates into a loss of livelihood opportunities for Filipinos.
On Thursday, the government dispatched Ambassador Roy Cimatu, a special envoy to the Middle East, to assess if the restriction could be lifted, especially in the light of the US's ongoing withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
Carmelita Dimzon, administrator of the Philippines' Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) confirmed that military authorities at the US Central Command began to send home thousands of Filipino workers last week.
Dimzon said Filipino workers were being sent back to their home country at the expense of their American contractors.
"No sanctions will be imposed on these workers," media reports quoted Dimzon as saying.
On July 20, the US military authorities in Iraq directed private contractors and subcontractors to identify within 20 days all foreign nationals working there in violation of the laws of US, Iraq, or their respective home country. They were also to develop a plan for their repatriation.
Thousands of Filipino workers are employed by the US military as truck drivers, craftsmen and labourers, and to man dining rooms and laundries.
The Philippine government imposed the travel and deployment ban to Iraq in July, 2004 after Filipino truck driver Angelo dela Cruz was kidnapped.
