DESPITE the ban on travel to Iraq, there are some 300 Filipinos working as armed personnel of a private military contractor (PMC) that secures US State department and military personnel, offices and facilities in that war-torn Middle East country.
PMC is the current euphemism for a mercenary outfit.
Documents obtained by Malaya showed that the Filipinos in Iraq were recruited by Virginia, USA-based Triple Canopy, which counts among its services “ensuring the safety and protection of vital US personnel and facilities in some of the world’s most dangerous environments.”
One of those of have just returned from Iraq, a retired Army bomb disposal expert, said the local representative of Triple Canopy is Mark Villacruzes, an American of Filipino descent.
The monthly salary is $1,000, to be remitted to a designated beneficiary in the Philippines. The Filipino worker in Iraq gets $150 monthly allowance and free board and lodging.
“Appropriate weaponry and fighting equipment during the performance of duties” are supplied to the Filipino workers.
Twenty-one Filipinos who were in Iraq in 2004, before the government ban on deployment, tried to sue Triple Canopy and Villacruzes for breach of contract.
One of the complainants said they decided not to push through with the case. He declined to answer when asked if they were paid by Triple Canopy for the damages they asked.
In their complaint, they said, “Although we were essentially assigned to provide security to American embassy personnel in Basra, Iraq, who were stationed in a camp, the camp itself became the object of constant enemy fire, more specially mortar attacks and the risks to life and limb were real and imminent.”
They also said, “As we continued to stay in our station, we realized that we were actually engaged or were actually involved in the war in trying to repulse the attacks in the camp.”
“In the course of performing our duties, we realized that the equipment provided us were inadequate. For example: we were not provided with armor vest, steel helmet and night vision goggles which were essential in the performance of our duties,” they said.
“But despite the lack of equipment, we performed our duties with due diligence, vigilance and unwavering dedication such that all of us were given service citation by the US Embassy in Basra,” they added.
An Iraq veteran who left in March 2004, before a ban was imposed following the kidnapping of truck driver Angelo de la Cruz, said he was easily accepted because of his background as bomb disposal expert in the Philippine Army. He said military combat experience is required.
He said they did not have to pay anything and they left three days after their applications were received.
He said they did not pass though the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency, the office that regulates deployment of Filipino workers overseas. They traveled as tourists and at every airport where they landed, they were taken care of by people they presumed were working for their recruiter.
At the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, they were delayed for about an hour while somebody took care of their papers. They first went to Bangkok by Air France, then to Amman, Jordan, then to Baghdad. They were assigned to different places.
The source said at the end of their contract in September 2004, they asked for higher pay. When this was rejected, they decided to come home.
The complainants said when they were sent home, “after giving us our plane tickets, we were left to fend for ourselves with nobody looking out for our welfare, a situation which was very different from the one which we experienced on our trip from the Philippines to Iraq.”
The source said he wants to go back to Iraq if the ban is lifted.
Earlier, sources said another American PMC, Blackwater USA, was recruiting “security specialists” for Iraq.
Romy Redelicia (earlier mistakenly identified as Remy Redeliza), Blackwater’s local representative, said they have not deployed local hires to Iraq.
He said the recruits are now working in Afghanistan.
I read this report of yours in Malaya’s banner story this afternoon. I immediately posted my comment under another topic… Unreal…
http://www.ellentordesillas.com/?p=287
Can’t find my earlier post… hope this one goes through!
http://www.ellentordesillas.com/?p=287
Ellen,
I sent a copy of your article to Informationclearing House and Al Basrah.
Over here, Filipino domestic helpers of foreigners (Japanese are barred from hiring them) earn more than the mercenaries being recruited by the Blackwater.
1,000 dollars a month? Ang mura naman! Magkano ang taga ng local recruiter diyan?
One thing I am sure these recruiters will do is to force these Filipinos to pay some exorbitant fees to get a replacement that is usually done even in the recruitment of the Japayukis, etc. to Japan. Iyong namang tangangot, magsasangla ng lupa thinking and hoping that with his 1000-dollar a month, he will be able to settle his account even when in a month or two upon arrival in Iraq he dies without being able to do anything, not even to insure a life of comfort and bliss for his family for a lifetime.
Kawawang mga nilalang! Sa gutom, sulong lang ng sulong!
Ellen, if you need the video clips of the pugut-ulo in Iraq, just holler. They should be shown to these mercenaries to frighten them out of their wits.
ystakei,
Hindi lingid sa kaalaman ng mga pinoy na nasa Iraq ang dangers na hinaharap nila. Subalit ipinagwawalang bahala nila iyon para lang kumita ng pera, may maitustos sa kanilang mga pamilya. Ayaw ko silang husgahan, ayaw ko rin silang sisihin. Dapat ang sisihin ay ang kasalukuyang gobyerno ng Pilipinas na pinamumunuan ng pekeng presidente. Kung maraming job opportunities sa bansa hindi aalis ang mga OFWs. Ang 1,000 dollars ay katumbas ng halos 50 thousand pesos. Imagine!!!, malaking ginhawa ang dulot ng halagang iyon sa bawat pamilya.
Dito sa Pilipinas hindi mo kikitain iyon. ang masakit pa, dito sa ating bansa ay pinapatay ang mga taong lumalaban para sa demokrasya. Kapag napatay na, walang tatanggapin kahit konti sa gobyerno. E di mas mabuti pa doon sa Iraq, kung mapatay ka, may pabuya para sa pamilya. Sa Pilipinas, gutom ka na, delikado pa ang buhay. Napakasakit isipin pero ito ang totoo.
All i can do is to pray that our kababayans who are in Iraq be spared from the murderous Iraqis.
Goldenlion:
As the old saying goes, “Walang maaalipin kung walang magpapaalipin.” I live by this adage as a matter of fact, and reason why I can stand with dignity and pride.
Nakakalungkot ang nangyayari sa mga pilipino na umaayon sa kalokohan ng pamahalaan nila na ginagawa silang mga alipin, at mag-isip na sila ay walang magagawa kundi magpaalipin. It’s corruption.
I have been in fact in the anti-Japayuki movement since I can remember, even long before it became a widely talked about issue in Japan or in the Philippines. At least, Marcos did not support that kind of deployment over here even when the Yakuza started recruiting those bar girls at Mabini and Roxas Blvd. to work in bars and clubs in Japan from as early as the early 70’s.
The first Japayuki in fact that I met was an ex-prostitute from Amihan, a club in the Philippines, in 1973 when she got married to a friend of mine. It was more for the visa, as a matter of fact, but fortunately, the marriage lasted because I did my best to make the marriage work for my friend’s sake. The rest proved chaotic especially when they started exporting teen-agers as young as 12 years old to work in prostitution dens in Japan, and everybody trying to exploit them, including NGOs of questionable credentials, and using the Japayuki issue to finance their less popular hidden agenda.
Worse was when the Japanese government granted a special quota of 40,000 entertainers a year to work in Japan as performers but the recruiters forcing them to work as hostesses cum prostitutes with or without the consent of the Philippines’ DoLE that prompted Japan to request the Philippine government to phase out the program in the late 90’s that Estrada responded to resulting in the decrease of the number of Japayukis in 1998-2000 until the Bugaws of the Philippines started filling up bars, clubs and even prostitution dens in Japan with young boys and girls aged 18 below they haplessly corrupted.
Now, as for the murderous Iraqis, they are justified in that. You would kill the invaders yourself if your country is invaded without your consent, I guess. I bet that you would even feel slighted and angry if you are called a murderer in your own country when you are defending it against the enemy.
I would join the protest in Japan if our government will push our young ones to their doom myself, you know. Fortunately, there is no need for us to go to Iraq and have ourselves be killed.
Travel to Iraq is banned in our country. Those who insist are not given any protection by the government nor the government holding responsibility for them. Thus, no sane Japanese will ever try to go there unless he is ready to commit suicide, perhaps, fight with the Iraqis against the foreign invaders trying to get ahold of Iraqi oil, etc.! :-p
Ystakei: you said it very well, my heart goes to all OFWs. I just hope you will stop calling them tangangot. and i just hope also you can help us get rid of the illegal occupant in the malacanang palace even if you are in the land of milk and honey!!!
Goldenlion,
I agree with you that our compatriots are desperate and would cling to any job so that they may feed their families I truly believe they are admirable for their devotion, their sense of responsibility and sacrifice so that their families may live (senses of which sadly, Gloria and her minions are terribly bereft)…
However, Yuko’s proposition that Filipinos MUST NOT allow this government to turn them into slaves is equally true. But I do understand that it ain’t easy for a significant number of our people to understand the depth of the problem, it is borne out of poverty which has made them numb.
We can only sympathize with our desperate compatriots while alerting them to the grave dangers they face if they accept to be exported as mercenaries.
We absolutely must hold this government accountable for the continuing state of poverty, demoralization and desperation of the people.
Gloria boasts of an economic alleviation in the lives of people but she lies and continues to lie – people must stop believing her and give her the unceremonial boot – she stands in the way of the nation’s opportunity towards change. This time, the purpose must be coupled with exacting retribution! There’s NOT another way to go about it…
Hillblogger, thank you. Whew!!! I don’t know how gloria stomach her lies……the unending lying, cheating and doctoring every figures of her fake administration. To hell with this little woman. since she launched her candidacy for vice president i no longer believe in her. all her campaign strategies did not catch my attention. Until now, i don’t believe her. But i wonder how she manages her puppies that they remain loyal and protective of her. Even the judges are being blind by her. Sooner, there will be uprising from the masses and this nation will suffer a lot by losing people while gloria and her cohorts are looting the country’s money.
Goldenlion:
Sorry, but I cannot find the right word to describe these people who allow themselves to be slaved by the crook oversquatting at the palace by the murky river but “tangangot!” Medyo magaan pa nga iyan. Tatay ko sasabihin niya, “Tarantado talaga!” 😛
Now, we can’t lick the crooks in the Philippines if we join ’em you know by nodding to all their gimmicks because it cannot be helped as they say!
Kailangan talaga marunong mag-sacrifice. Kung gutom, di gutom! Hanggang sa mapalayas ang mga ungas. Hindi puede ang urong-sulong!
Got a message from John Kerry. Want to share it with you guys:
Dear Friend,
No American leader can remain silent on Iraq.
The outcome of what is now a civil war in Iraq cannot be determined by American military force. It has to be solved by Iraqis brought together to hammer out their differences. Period. It is time for Iraqis to stand up for Iraq.
Our soldiers are fighting and dying in the third war in Iraq — not the war for mythical weapons of mass destruction or the war President Bush said had to be fought against armies of foreign jihadists, but an escalating civil war between Sunni and Shia.
Meanwhile, dissent and debate are being stifled here at home. It’s time to act — and this week, perhaps as early as tomorrow, every U.S. Senator will have that chance.
In the next 24 hours, it is likely that the Senate will vote on my amendment which calls for the withdrawal of American combat troops from Iraq by the end of this year. For months, you and I have been pressing for this step.
We’ve made it clear that we needed to set deadlines in Iraq — and with the formation of an Iraqi unity government and the killing of Al-Zarqawi, this is a moment of truth in Iraq.
Now a critical vote is at hand. Our brave soldiers have done their work. It’s time to put the future of Iraq in the hands of the Iraqi people.
HYPERLINK “http://www.johnkerry.com/action/call/iraq/?sc=e.20060612″Urge
your Senators to support withdrawal of combat troops by the end of 2006
I don’t know how many Senators will stand with me on this vote. But, I do know this: pushing the Iraqi government to coordinate with us on withdrawal of U.S. combat troops and pressing for the convening of a Dayton-like summit to reach a comprehensive political agreement for Iraq is the right thing to do. And we can’t stop working for that outcome until we make it a reality.
Every Senator that chooses to stand with us will add momentum to our call for an end to the misguided and self-defeating policies of the Bush administration.
HYPERLINK “http://www.johnkerry.com/action/call/iraq/?sc=e.20060612″Urge
your Senators to support withdrawal of combat troops by the end of 2006
Changing America’s course in Iraq is one of the toughest political challenges you and I have ever taken on. But, we won’t relent until we get the job done — and we have to make the most of every opportunity to make ourselves heard.
I will be making myself heard on the floor of the United States Senate — loudly and clearly. You can make our call for a dramatic change in direction even louder and clearer. Please don’t hesitate before acting.
Sincerely,
John Kerry
Malcolm X said something which is very true anywhere, any day and for anybody:
“If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us, and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country.”
— Speech, Nov. 1963, New York City.
The people that are being pushed around in the Philippines by Gloria and her minions and kept in poverty against their will should defend themselves.
Pat Sto. Tomas, I guess left out “our” mercenaries from her definition of labor (employment) in Geneva. But that’s a differnet story.
Si princess talaga, never mind if the Americans make cannon-fodder out of our countrymen, all she cares about are the dollar remittances these poor “mercs” will be sending home. Ikaw kaya ibala ko sa kanyon?
Schumey, why do you call her princess? I thought she is the Enchanted Queen…
Enchanted by money, power, privileges, ambitions, etc…
It is kinda unbelievable that such a liliputan sized person could possess such gargantuan lust for everything and a gigantic penchant for everything eeeeeeenoooormous. Just look at her fatso man, er husband I mean…Boy! Gloria and he must have a real whale of a ball together, huh!
You bet, it’s time for Filipinos to re-learn to defend themselves the way they did against Spain and during WWII.
Last year, I helped make a documentary on the Makapili and the guerrillas in WWII, and I saw a glimpse of bravery of those men who fought for the Philippines regardless of which side they were in: the Makapili who sided with the Japanese because of their hope and desire for freedom from foreign rule that the Co-Prosperity Sphere promised, and the guerrillas who defended on the words of MacArthur to return!
Both the Makapilis and the guerrillas went through great trials and tribulations that they were able to surpass by sheer will to survive. The Makapilis suffered more because in the end the Japanese Imperial Army could not feed them with a lot many of those soldiers reduced in the end to cannibalism that the Filipinos witnessed with disdain. The guerrillas were luckier because when the US bombers came, they came with weapons and food. When there was none, they lived on what they could afford to have, even make weapons from what they could find available there.
The problem now though, Anna, is how many of those left in the Philippines have the real guts to do something about the kind of oppression they are being subjected to by their fellow Filipinos?
It was easy in fact for Quezon for example to say then that he preferred a government run by Filipinos like hell than one under a foreign rule, for they actually were not free then, but to be slaved by a fellow Filipino who has never been duly elected by the people is something that he himself would not tolerate, I suppose.
I wonder now what could have happened if Trillanes, et al, waited a while and did their mutiny at this time. It could have been bloody indeed! On the other hand, I hate to see blood!
Anna,
As Yuko pointed out some blogs ago, the leprechaun wants to be called Princess Laila, that’s why I stuck to it. Malice aside, I myself cannot picture them in their moment of passion. Perhaps a basketball and a golfball would be perfect.
Yuko,
Your comment reminded me of a great friendship that my Mom used to talk about when I was younger. They had managed to hide an American soldier during the war. A Japanese officer found him one night but did nothing. What happened next was a frienship that would end in tragedy. During the battle for Manila, the officer told the American that their secret had been discovered and he will soon be taken and executed. They then struck a pact not to allow this to happen. So before he could be taken by the retreating Japanese, they shot each other. I will never forget this for it opened my eyes to what a true friendship really means. One misconception of Filipinos is that they considered the Japanese cruel, but my Dad pointed out that it was the Formosan and Korean conscripts who did most of the atrocities
Sorry Ellen kung off topic ang post ko.
There’s no such thing as off-topic, Schumey.
E-mail from Alicia
Winters:
Don’t you believe that John Kerry. He is no different from Gloria when it comes to lying and cheating. So with John Murtha. Both Americans acquired their War Medals by cheating just as Gloria got the Presidency by cheating. Both men, their only claim to fame is to chastise President Bush.
Alicia Winters
Thanks, Schumey, for the comments on the Formosans and the Koreans, who must have thought of doing those atrocities to get back at the Japanese who had annexed Formosa (now Taiwan) and Korea to Japan prior to WWII that must have been inadmissible to the Europeans and Americans who wanted to continue subjugating the Asians although I know a lot many Formosans, especially the natives who are not Chinese, now wish Formosa had remained a territory of Japan!
On the other hand, the defeat of Japan was not in vain. It proved beneficial to us in this country, and reason for the strong sentiment presently to have all the US military bases here removed, and protest against the revision of the Japanese Constitution regarding the remilitarization of Japan.
I bet Winters is a Republican. Democrats and Republicans I suppose are the same…their country, right or wrong!
People of various races each have their own virtues and defects.
War brings out the most atrocious in even the more honorable men and women. The Japanese, the Germans, the French, the British, the Russians, the Americans (well, many Americans do try very hard not to be atrocious beginning with the very honorable General Collin Powell), etc. have all learned from wars – they say NEVER AGAIN as they try to keep what they have learned in mind!
That’s why it’s good to re-read history time and again as a way of reminding generations not to commit the same mistakes.
But as it happens, there are people who refuse to learn like Bush. Ever the under-educated (never mind his college degree, there’s a difference between Education and “education”), Bush seems not to have learned anything at all from history. Same thing goes for Blair whose education and intelligence (he’s supposed to be more educated and more intelligent than Bush) unfortunately, were warped by political ambitions.
Gloria is much like Bush and Blair and although she might have been bookish (but being bookish is not synonimous to Learning or being Educated), she’s NOT a LEARNED woman in the real sense of the word LEARNED.
She may have memorized everything about the Marcos dictatorial years and decided that she would do a far more sinister job than he did… She’s very foxy in that respect but she hasn’t learned that she may abuse people once, maybe twice, even a third time but if she does it all the time, the person she abuses will either punch her in the face or will likely pull a knife and stick it in her.
Tsk, tsk, tsk…This woman has got a lot of things to learn.
Speaking of General Colin Powell, a professional and career military man who believed that the invasion of Iraq was ill prepared, grossly being mismanaged, badly timed, it is amazing that many military people I’ve met here of all nationalities, American officers included, were anti Iraq invasion at the outset for the same reasons as Powell’s, and believe that Bush and his civilian lieutenants in the White House are still grossly mismanaging the current US occupation of Iraq…
It is really quite amazing that proponents of wars are people who are not of the “war profession”. To a majority of the professional military, a nation should PREPARE for war if it wants peace but war should be the last recourse when everything else has failed.
As Julius Caesar said, “Si vis pacem para bellum!”
For more information on French contribution in the Middle East after World War 1 …
SAN REMO CONFERENCE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Remo_conference
BATTLE OF MAYSALUN
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Maysalun
French General Henri Gouraud once said … “WE ARE BACK SALADDIN”
but Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said “Si garcium pala vasin mo millun votus”.. he he he eh di panalo. 🙂
Hehehehe! Funny Octavian….
Zarqawi, a Jordanian, was killed in Iraq 10 days ago, bu
Zarqawi, a Jordanian, was killed in Iraq 10 days ago, but the resistance against US/UK invasion lives on. Here’s proof of it:
U.S. Troops Search for Missing GIs in Iraq
By KIM GAMEL
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – U.S. troops searched Sunday for two missing soldiers in the volatile Sunni triangle south of Baghdad as witnesses claimed the Americans were led away by masked gunmen after the attack that left one of their comrades dead.
Ground forces, helicopters and airplanes fanned out shortly after Friday’s attack and U.S. military spokesman U.S. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said Saturday that four raids had been carried out.
He said a dive team also was to search for the men, whose checkpoint was near a Euphrates River canal not far from Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad – in the so-called triangle of death, named for the frequent ambushes against U.S. soldiers and Iraqi troops in the area.
Ahmed Khalaf Falah, a farmer who said he witnessed the attack Friday, said three Humvees were manning a checkpoint when they came under fire from many directions. Two of the vehicles went after the assailants, but the third was ambushed before it could move, he told The Associated Press.
Seven masked gunmen, including one with what he described as a heavy machine gun, killed the driver of the third vehicle, then took the two other U.S. soldiers captive, the witness said. The account could not be verified.
The U.S. military said Sunday it was continuing the search but had no new information to provide.
“Coalition and Iraqi forces will continue to search everywhere possible, uncovering every stone, until our soldiers are found, and we will continue to use every resource available in our search,” it said.
The New York Times also reported in its Sunday editions that Iraqi residents in the area said they saw two U.S. soldiers taken prisoner by a group of masked guerrillas. It said the two surviving soldiers were led to two cars and driven away.
Falah also said tensions were high in the area as U.S. soldiers raided some houses and arrested men. He also said the Americans were setting up checkpoints on all roads leading to the area of the attack and helicopters were hovering at low altitudes.
He did not give more details and no new raids were announced by the military early Sunday.
The military said Saturday that soldiers at a nearby checkpoint heard small-arms fire and explosions during the attack that occurred at 7:15 p.m. on Friday, and a quick-reaction force reached the scene within 15 minutes. The force found one soldier dead but no sign of the two others.
“We are currently using every means at our disposal on the ground, in the air and in the water to find them,” said Caldwell, the spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad.
He said blocking positions were established throughout the area within an hour of the attack to keep suspects from fleeing.
He also noted the military was still searching for Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin, who went missing on April 9, 2004.
“We continue to search using every means available and will not stop looking until we find the missing soldiers,” he said.
Maupin was captured when insurgents ambushed his fuel convoy with the 724th Transportation Co. west of Baghdad. A week later, Arab television network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape showing Maupin sitting on the floor surrounded by five masked men holding automatic rifles.
That June, Al-Jazeera aired another tape purporting to show a U.S. soldier being shot. But the dark, grainy tape showed only the back of the victim’s head and did not show the actual shooting. The Army ruled it was inconclusive whether the soldier was Maupin.
A 20-year-old private first class at the time of his capture, Maupin has been promoted twice since then.
Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report from Baghdad.
06/18/06 07:05 © Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved.