3 of 19 OFWs in Baghdad Repatriated
By Pia Lee-Brago, The Philippine Star
Posted at 07/19/2015 11:38 AM
The first batch of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who asked to be brought home after their families expressed fears for their safety due to the security situation in Iraq were repatriated to the Philippines.
The Philippine embassy in Baghdad said that three of 19 Filipino employees of an upscale Baghdad restaurant were scheduled to arrive yesterday in Manila.
The other OFWs will be repatriated before the end of the month.
Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Elmer Cato said other Filipinos working in the Iraqi capital sought the assistance of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in their repatriation.
Cato said the workers, who are among the estimated 1,500 Filipinos in Iraq, had asked to be covered by the mandatory repatriation program of the government after they nearly became casualties in two suicide car bomb explosions in Baghdad two months ago.
Most of those who asked to be repatriated are waiters of a restaurant who were billeted at a hotel in Baghdad’s downtown Karrada district, where a suicide bomber detonated his car on May 5.
The vehicle exploded minutes after several OFWs staying in an adjoining building left for work. – With Ding Cervantes