My compound hired four Filipinos to work in various program-related positions relating to the reconstruction. They left Iraq about a month ago to take a short rest break in their home country. Now, they are no longer able to return to Iraq.
When they left my compound in July, they knew they were taking a risk. When the Philippine government withdrew its soldiers from Iraq, it did so to save the life of a Filipino truck driver. The Philippine government agreed to leave Iraq forever and subsequently issued an order for all Filipinos working in Iraq to come home and prohibited anyone else from going to Iraq. Nevertheless, many Filipino defied the ban because they could make a lot of money working in Iraq.
Some Filipinos had fooled the Philippine government by traveling indirectly from the Philippines to Iraq through places such as Thailand. In an effort to catch people using this tactic, the Philippine government has asked countries in the Middle East to deny exit visa stamps to Filipinos traveling onto Iraq. This is how my coworkers were caught.
Posted by alohafromtim
at 10:40 PM EDT