More OFWs repatriate as extremist bombings rip Iraq

Chargé d’Affaires Elmer G. Cato of the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad bids goodbye to the third batch of overseas Filipino workers who are returning to Manila under the mandatory repatriation program of the Department of Foreign Affairs. The four, who are employees of a high-end restaurant in Baghdad, asked for assistance in returning to the Philippines after a car bomb exploded outside the hotel they were staying in three months ago. PH EMBASSY PHOTO/DONNIE FETALINO

BAGHDAD —The Philippine Embassy repatriated eight more overseas Filipino workers who, after a couple of close calls, requested help in returning home due to worries for their safety and security here in Iraq.

The Embassy said the four restaurant workers who were repatriated August 12 brings to 11 the number of Filipinos in Baghdad it has assisted in the past several weeks. Another four were repatriated to Manila last week.

Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Elmer G. Cato said the eight represents the second and third batches of 19 employees of a high-end retaurant in Baghdad who asked to be repatriated. The first three employees arrived in Manila last month while the remaining eight will be repatriated before the end of the month.

Close call

Cato said the workers asked to be covered by the mandatory repatriation program being offered by the Philippine Government after they nearly became casualties in a suicide car bomb explosion outside the hotel they were staying in on May 5.

The incident was followed three weeks later by the coordinated suicide car bombings of two five-star hotels in the capital, including one that employed 21 Filipinos.

The attacks prompted the Embassy to reiterate its call for Filipinos in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq to seriously consider returning to the Philippines as well as its offer to facilitate their repatriation. A total of 50 Filipinos have now been repatriated since the program was launched last year.

Manila placed most of Iraq under Alert Level 4 (Mandatory Repatriation) after the Islamic State captured the city of Mosul in June last year. Except for the Kurdistan region in the north, which is under Alert Level 2, most of Iraq remains under Alert Level 4 due to the volatile security environment in the country.

Deployment ban

Manila has also imposed a ban on the deployment of new workers to Iraq because of the prevailing security situation.

The Embassy  is regularly issuing advisories urging Filipinos in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq to exercise extreme caution and to limit their movements due to bombings and other violent incidents in the past weeks.

Filipinos working in Iraq are also being urged to register with the Embassy so that they could easily be contacted in case of emergency.

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