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Filipinos' Gulf War claims
unresolved
By Marites Sison
MANILA - As the US-led war against Iraq looms
and plans are drawn up for the evacuation of Filipinos
working in the Middle East, those who suffered from the
effects of the 1991 Gulf War and have not been
compensated to this day fear the worst: that they will
be forgotten.
"The payment of claims will be
further delayed when the new war breaks out. And then,
of course, there will be a new set of victims," said Roy
Anunciacion, campaign officer of Migrante International,
a non-government group that has been helping Gulf War
claimants.
The United Nations established a
compensation commission in 1995 to handle the
compensation claims from 100 different countries,
including the Philippines, whose workers had to abandon
jobs and livelihoods after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and
the subsequent liberation of Kuwait by the United
States.
About 50,000 Filipino workers, mostly
domestic workers and hospital staff, were displaced by
that conflict. Filipinos are among the biggest number of
foreign workers in the Middle East, which is home to 1.5
million of them spread across the Middle East.
Up to now, however, more than 2,000 workers who
have filed war-reparation claims before the Philippine
Claims and Compensation Committee, a body set up by the
country's Foreign Affairs Department to process the
disbursement of the UN funds, have yet to receive their
checks, Anunciacion said.
This figure does not
include those who are not aware that they are entitled
to such individual claims, which range from
US$2,500-$100,000, or who were late in filing their
claims because of lack of information.
An
estimated 15,000 Filipino workers displaced by the war
are believed to fall under this category. Thus far, the
United Nations has agreed to review the cases of those
who filed past the January 1, 1995, deadline, but
officials conceded that the funds are already running
low.
But the attention to unfinished war claims
also brings out a larger issue here, especially as some
expect an upcoming war to be longer and possibly
triggering a conflagration in the entire Middle East.
Analysts have questioned the wisdom of President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's decision to throw her support
behind US President George W Bush and expose Filipino
workers to high risk, when the dislocation and danger
caused by a war can already be seen from the 1991
conflict.
"We continue to treat the issue
primarily in terms of our commitment to the American-led
war on terrorism, forgetting that a million Filipino
workers face danger once the war explodes in the Middle
East," wrote Randolf David, political analyst and
columnist with the English-language daily Philippine
Daily Inquirer.
"Whatever motives the United
States may have for wanting to invade Iraq - and we have
heard all kinds of conflicting explanations - our own
are simple and straightforward. We have people working
in the region, and it is our duty to look after them,"
he argued. "We are not at war with Iraq."
Added
Anunciacion: "This is going to have a more serious and
wider impact on our overseas Filipino workers. We are
not just talking about [the war spreading] along the
borders of Iraq. Many Arabs are upset."
Arroyo
flew to Kuwait this week to assure Filipino workers that
her government is prepared to evacuate them if and when
the need arises. While Arroyo's concern for the workers
was lauded by some quarters, many believe the better
option would have been for her to declare a neutral
position on the planned attack against Iraq.
"You cannot fax an assurance, you cannot e-mail
a helping hand in an hour of grief, or anxiety. There is
a difference between sending a message of hope to the
overseas Filipino workers to be read by envoys, and
being there to deliver it yourself. Ms Macapagal did
well to choose the latter," said Inquirer columnist
Conrado de Quiros.
"But that's about all the
good you can say about it. Ms Macapagal's message itself
gives out a false hope, and should prove exceptionally
cruel if war should break out in Iraq. How can she
guarantee that no Filipino will not get hurt in that war
or lose his job by it?" he asked.
Meantime, the
distribution of the compensation from the 1991 Gulf War
continues to be marred by allegations of corruption,
misuse and mismanagement.
In 1999,
migrant-workers groups accused some officials at the
Foreign Affairs Department of "profiteering" at the
expense of Filipino migrant workers whose checks were
unduly delayed. The department denied the allegations,
saying the verification of documents was causing the
slow processing of claims.
When the Arroyo
government was installed in 2001, migrant workers
petitioned her to address the unresolved issue. In a
meeting at the presidential palace, representatives from
the Filipinos' Gulf War Claimants Club presented Arroyo
with documents backing their allegations.
"We
have been victims of corrupt practices of certain
officials manning the Philippine Claims and Compensation
Committee," the group had said in a letter addressed to
Arroyo.
The group claimed that some officials
had deposited the funds into their own dollar
time-deposit accounts, hence the delay in the release of
checks to claimants.
Some claimants have also
been given "non-compensated status" because others
supposedly claimed their checks. "A lot of the cases
even go as far back as 1993 to 1995, when claimants'
papers were unattended by foreign affairs officials,"
the group said.
Arroyo had promised to act on
the complaints about compensation claims. But up to now,
said Anunciacion, there has been little progress, with
preparations are focused now on the war against Iraq.
(Inter Press Service)
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