According to a recent memo to ALL CONTRACTORS IN IRAQ from COL Nolan of the Centcom Contracting Command, ALL contractors in Iraq have 20 days to repatriate (send home) third country nationals who’s countries prohibit travel to Iraq. This includes among others, the Philippines and Nepal.
OMG!! This will affect virtually every service KBR provides the DoD in Iraq. I would guess there are 1000′s of Filipino workers who work in the Dining Facilities (DFAC’s), in the Laundries, drive trucks and shuttle buses, craftspeople and laborers. I would suspect there are direct hire Filipinos as well as Filipinos who work for KBR subcontractors such as PPI and Serka who were evidently smuggled in most likely from countries like Jordan or Turkey.
I hope the DCMA will write Corrective Action Requests (CARs) if services suffer. KBR as well as every other contractor in Iraq had to know about the Iraq travel restrictions of the Filipinos. It only made sense the the Filipinos were being smuggled in therefore violating Philippine and Iraqi law.
This will take definitely put a kink in the illicit sex trafficking and human trafficking trade in Iraq…..for a little while anyway. And I do hope these contractors don’t just dump these workers on the border somewhere and leave them like they have been leaving them stranded in Iraq.
On a positive note, in the midst of a huge Reduction In Force in Iraq, it may make room for more Americans to stay and work on DoD contracts.
I don’t want to be unappreciative of what appears to be very strong action on the part of the DoD, but I do have to ask….”What took you so long?”
Ms Sparky
Updated July 26, 2010:
Philippine passport stamped "Not Valid For Travel To Iraq"
I just got this document this morning. This document reaffirms the Philippine governments original ban of 2004. Click HERE
Also, David Isenberg published You have 20 Days To Get Out Of Town at the Huffington Post this morning!
Updated July 27, 2010:
Nepali Government May Lift Ban On Nepali Migrant Workers To Iraq
This photo of a Philippine passport was sent to me this morning.
Updated August 15, 2010: The Nepalese Government has in fact rescinded the restriction on their citizens working/traveling to Iraq. Click HERE for that letter.
Other Related Posts From Ms Sparky
- Hearing: Are Government Contractors Exploiting Workers Overseas? or Does the end justify the means? (updated 11-2-2011)
- Iraq to fly home despairing Sri Lankan workers
- Philippine Government makes concessions for illegal workers in Iraq
- US military investigates contractor work force (with docs-updated)
- Iraq tells former Blackwater employees, “You have seven days!”
Just to balance it a bit, I worked with many Filipinos that snuck in on purpose. But they were skilled folks that loved life.
On a side note, the Kuwaiti gov. was slowly moving from asian maids to Ethiopians, since the Philippine gov. was trying to block their workers from Kuwait due to the poor treatment by the locals.
So remember, one warm bodied TCN will just get replaced with the next country that doesn’t care where their citizens work and how they get treated.
–NOT KBR–
I don’t necessarily disagree with you. But….laws are laws and our USG contractors are obligated to abide by ALL of them. Not just the ones that are convenient.
The numbers of people headed for the exits are going to be stunning… I would estimate a company like PPI alone must have more than 3000 Filipinos in the country. At minimum of $900 each for plane tickets the price tag for this exudus will be huge. I can imagine that there will be a lot of ex-pats driving Crap trucks in the coming month in order to not fail completely.
If they were really serious they would make the mandate for afghanistan too. They are just doing it now because they already have a drawdown going. Its just political for show.
I think you may be on to something there. I have been asking all along, why all of a sudden is the DoD enforcing these laws.
Does anyone know if they are also restricted, via passports, from working in Afghan? If so, I’m sure this will trickle on to that country as well seeing this is a directive from CENTCOM. Ms Sparky, maybe another article for the press so you can get your Pulitzer for investigative journalism. I think another point which needs to be made is KBR has been doing 100% passport checks for a couple of years now. It has been up-channeled several times that it was a farce due to the fact we all knew these people were in country illegally. KBR Management sat on it like the postal issue. There’s tons of communication from our Contract officers, safety, QA, security telling them this was illegal but again, it was ignored.
Remember David Phinney writing the article about First Kuwaiti’s abuses of TCNs? That led to Philippines putting in all of their citizen’s passports “Not valid for Iraq”
For Philippine citizens, it pays a lot better than being a Kuwaiti slave under the Kuwait Slave State run Visa 20 and Visa 18 system by a multiple of 10 – 20 times. The women don’t have to commit suicide to try to get home to their families after their passport is withheld from them or they have been locked in an apartment. They don’t have to try escaping on ropes from the lazy expats or Kuwaiti’s apartment which 90% of the time ends in their death or injury. No, they are restricted to a man-camp and are not isolated from each other as happens with the maids in Kuwait. Sure, they may have a rocket or 2, a mortar or 2, but they are not going to get raped by a Kuwaiti or his son. Or in the several recent cases, beaten by a lazy Kuwaiti woman and with the help of her husband, killed and staged her death as a road accident.
This is more criminal activity who accomplices are:
Iraq Government for failing to keep Philippine citizens out to begin with. Probably bribed off as is common for Arabic Government Officials. $$$$ talk.
Department of Justice – Now Eric Holder, for failing to prosecute contractors for taking Philippine citizens to Iraq.
Department of the Army:
You name the 4 stars in charge up to and including Petraus. But you cannot entirely blame them, they take their orders from the State Department.
DCMA and DCAA for failing to enforce the requirement that TCNs have their passports and auditing that on a regular basis. Had they done there jobs, they would have seen the violation and brought to the attention of the DOJ. But they didn’t, or maybe cannot tell a Philippine citizen from a citizen of Nepal. Or, the electric blanket was on KBR and DCMA were just too comfortable again.
Remember Paul Bremer’s book, it made clear that an Ambassador is like a 5-Star and over-rules a 4-Star. King Bremer.
So that would leave the cozy relation between KBR and DCMA and DCAA being sanctioned by the Department of State and the Ambassadors and looking the other way on KBR who brought in TCN’s from the Philippines.
Those Secretary of States giving the orders to the DoS and the Iraq U.S. Embassy Ambassador would be:
Donald Rumsfeld
Condoleezza Rice
and now Hillary Clinton (So, the buck stops with Hillary on this one) How long has she known. Someone should ask her.
You see, when I was in DCMA, and saw 12 persons to a trailer under the British company Global Security, (Ghurka’s from Nepal) and reported it to DCMA’s commander Colonel John McQuain, I heard the Department of State’s Harold Price show no concern that the Ghurkas were traveling from Baghdad International Airport in soft-cars because DCMA did not give them any armored cars after the Blackwater incident that killed 4. The DCMA order went out, no more soft cars in the Red Zone. The State Department didn’t care about Global Security because the were Nepalese and just because their numbers had gone from 150 personnel to 1500, that, coupled with the Blackwater incident still didn’t cause the State Department to issue a Letter of Technical Direction LOTD, to KBR to support the Ghurkas who were coming in on Hercules Aircraft in groups of 125 at a time, and they were left to convoy on their own in soft-cars because they were routinely denied passage on the Rhino’s – The KBR armored buses. That is when I realized that the State Department was in bed with KBR and although DCMA was to provide life-support and vehicles to 1700 embassies and organizations, they could just as easily be racist in their actions. This is an effort that is to get done for the lowest possible cost and the Regulations invented when the Army and KBR get caught in some big scandals, rarely, if ever gets enforced.
So, what is being said by Ms Sparky is not a surprise at all. The bottom line is the Philippines is a failed economy and the citizens will go anywhere to get work and good luck to the Acquino to clean up their corruption in the country. The corruption of the United States extends far into the White House and the Department of Justice. It was up to them to have stamped this problem out in 2005 – but they closed their eyes and told DCMA to do the same.
To the best of my knowledge the reason the Philippine government banned their citizens from coming to Iraq was because in July of 2004 the insurgents, most likely al Zarqawi captures some Filipino drivers. The Philippines negotiated his release by agreeing to pull their troops (all 50) out of Iraq. In order to keep their citizens from being beheaded on al Jazeera news they banned all their citizens from coming to Iraq to work.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,125924,00.html
To leave a Filipino stranded and unprotected in Iraq would most likely be a death sentence.
Wow, filipinos will now have to get ready to go home. I do have a question if anyone can give me some insight? If this is happening now in Iraq, would’t it make since for this to occur in Afghanistan to?
Mr. Barnes, do you know the answer to the aforementioned blog? Also, seeing there are reports advising the company this was not legal can anyone be held culpable or will companies be waivered from prosecution or penalties. I’m sure auditors have documentation on file from people who told higher-ups it was illegal in the first place. The usual response was “until the Gov says something we are not doing anything wrong.” I’m sure if these workers aren’t allowed in Afghan this policy should be in effect there as well. Your thoughts, Sir.
Aforementioned is a pretty big word when you are pointing to any of the above 6 comments.
As far as I know, the Philippine Citizens do not have “Not Valid in Afghanistan”
And even if it did, Karzi is so corrupt and 30% of the Government workers are on drugs according to Army drug testing of their soldiers, it is easy to conceptualize that the Afghanistan Government are too wasted on drugs to effectively screen the borders. That is why we have the Predator up there hunting. Damn – when are we going to start using that on the Mexican border ?
So, hurry and shift those Philippine citizens from Iraq to Afghanistan. Maybe DCMA can issue a LOTD to the KBR to facilitate the transportation of all of the Philippine citizens. Repatriate or shift to Afghanistan.
How would I know what will be waivered or not? Look at the track record of the DOJ and their pattern of cover-up and motions to dismiss. Did I say “Eric Holder resign” already?
The TCN rule about passports was put in by DCMA in 2005 after words I never thought I would see in use in the 21st Century were used in a United States Government memo concerning KBR. Indentured Servitude, slavery, Human Trafficking, withholding of passports, slave.
That must have made PPI and KBR proud to have had that float around about their conduct as a company.
I agree with James and Ms.SParky.. They should mandate this rule or law, whatever you want to call it, in Afghanistan also.
Did a little research and found the following:
“Despite the ban enforced by the Department of Labor and Employment since July 2007, Filipino professionals and skilled workers continue to slip into Afghanistan through the front door—Ninoy Aquino International Airport—via Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where Afghan entry visas are given to them by their recruiters. In spite of the Philippine government’s deployment ban to Afghanistan in 2007 due to prevailing hostilities there, over 5,000 undocumented Filipino workers are now working in the war-torn country and the number of illegal deployed Filipinos there is still growing. Local recruiters reported that Filipino workers continue to sneak into Afghanistan, opting to defy the government-imposed deployment ban to work in American military facilities. The US has increased it troops in Afghanistan to 94,000 recently and expects to add more troops by the year’s end before pulling them out in July 2011. Many of the Filipinos are working as country managers/directors, project team leaders, lead engineers, project managers, and department heads in Afghanistan and receiving monthly salaries ranging from $1,200 to $3,000. The workers are recruited mostly in the Pampanga and Olongapo areas where many are familiar with operations of Subic Naval Base and Clark Air force Base. About two-thirds of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) on Afghanistan work in bases, camps and other military facilities maintained by US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military forces . There are more than 5,000 Filipinos working on large American bases in Bagram and Kandahar, which are major operating bases for the US and NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan. Some are stationed at forward operating bases in many parts of the country.”
Now how can CENTCOM say they can’t work in Iraq but yet turn their head for Afghan? Talk about what’s good for the goose! Take the lead Ms. Sparky and get us answers. This could free up a couple of jobs for expats, though as the previous blogger stated, they will find another third world country to poach from.
This has been going on since the first contractor appeared in Iraq and the US Military
has been apart of it so it has been well known by them since day one. Hell they flew
MILAIR in and out of Iraq and were manifest on the flights. So yes they have been
documented and accounted for by the US Military. KBR is far from being the only
Contractor using Illegal works in Iraq to name a few of them in the past,
Parsons on the PIJV Project in Kirkuk
AMECO who is owned by Fluor has close to 60% of there work force in Iraq who are
Pilipino
And not to mention the Pilipino who are active US Military People who are not US
Citizens who are in IRAQ. So does this mean that the US Government is going to run
there own out of IRAQ or are they exempt from all rules and regulation.
2004 the ban was instituted. You are correct Ms. Sparky
http://philbrgysocietyinnigeria.wordpress.com/tag/iraq-ban/
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo banned the deployment of Filipino workers to Iraq in 2004 after a Filipino truck driver was kidnapped and threatened with beheading.
David Phinney just brought to light the practices of First Kuwaiti.
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14173
“By March 2006, First Kuwaiti’s operation began looking even sketchier to Owens as he boarded a nondescript white jet on his way back to Baghdad following some R&R in Kuwait city. He remembers being surrounded by about 50 First Kuwaiti laborers freshly hired from the Philippines and India. Everyone was holding boarding passes to Dubai – not to Baghdad.”
The deception had the appearance of smuggling workers into Iraq, but Owens didn’t know at the time that the Philippines, India, and other countries had banned or restricted their citizens from working in Iraq because of safety concerns and fading support for the war. After 2004, many passports were stamped “Not valid for Iraq.”
One former First Kuwaiti supervisor acknowledges that the company holds passports of many workers in Iraq – a violation of US contracting.
“If you don’t have your passport or an embassy to go to, what you do to get out of a bad situation?” he asks. “How can they go to the US State Department for help if First Kuwaiti is building their embassy?”
———————————————–
So, DCMA hasn’t fixed this trafficking problem of Filipinos in Iraq since the days of Maj. Gen. Darryl A. Scott, director of the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), and Navy Capt. Michael P. Tryon, commander of DCMA International.
If they were really serious they would make the mandate for afghanistan too.I totally agree with this it needs to happen here also. I work for DI on Kandahar and there is hundreds working for are company and also on base thousands for other companys. This really needs to be looked in to. I know are operations there on base has three guys from Nepal and almost every admin there is from the Philippines. I also think we have a few people from Kyrgyzstan who are not there legal but I am not 100 percent but hear it being talked about. Maybe are DCMA there for DI needs to look in to this from there nice big office on base. If they take away these guys from Nepal and other countries it would be mission failure but doing the right thing is the most important thing.
Mission Failure
The overused word that is an excuse for “we will lose our profit margin”
The U.S. Government (State Department Hillary Clinton and Obama) could easily say our employment is too high in the United States and all employees in Afghanistan will be Americans and all Company’s working in Afghanistan will be U.S. Registered company’s. The soldiers would be more comfortable having Americans around.
So, there is a novel idea.
Rick,
There is a Law and mandate already in place; it’s called the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. All companies are bound by the Act especially if they are working with the DoD or DOS. Nepal and the PI have bans on working in Afghan. Anyone employing these said personnel are in violation and subject to massive fines. Clarification on Nepal: Afghan government has barred them from coming into the country. I am unsure of their National law but with the PI, they workers pay off their respective customs officials because their Afghan Visa is clearly identified in their passport. Just ask around. I think CENTCOM opened a can of worms it better be able to deal with. How can you enforce something in one country so brazenly but leave another country (Afghan) alone. Mr. Barnes probably has some ideas as it goes to the DOJ for prosecution or enforcement.
DCMA is the last check and balance for enforcement of Government contracts. Who was it that said DCMA was only there (Iraq or Afghanistan) to enforce the LOGCAP contract. An attitude like that got 4 Ghurka guards from Global killed and 12 injured severely.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article395869.ece
Harold Price, DoS liaison to DCMA denied allowing the Ghurka’s T-Walls around their cramped living quarters and that would have saved 4 lives. Kevin Koch, DCMA Contracting Officer had great regrets about not being able to place them and felt entirely responsible. He wasn’t the commander and he wasn’t calling the shots. He knew getting the T-Walls in place for Global, the U.S. Embassy’s best guard force (in my opinion – at least they speak English!) would have saved some lives and horrendous injuries. But 12 to a trailer, where acceptable for the Americans was 2, maybe 4 at the worst, and 89 bunkbeds in a GP Medium tent showed the racist attitude toward the TCNs by the Department of State – why would they care about Filipinos now? How else could anyone explain why the power of DCMA wasn’t bearing down on other DoD Contractors for the last 6 years. Well Rumsfield? Hillary? I am sure someone will explain it some day. King Bremer did for me when he over-ruled a 4-star by calling President Bush – the Ambassador is the 5-Star. Overlooking DoD Contracting Laws falls squarely on President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton and Bush left-over Secretary of Defense Gates. Eric Holder is pushing agendas for Obama. He is covering up for several DoD Contractors breaking the law and violating probation terms and the Army are dependable not enforcing contract regulations by their own trafficking scandals in Kuwait. Who is telling Holder to take his eye off of Iraq contracting fraud – Obama or Gates? The DOJ are chasing down phantom wins in Arizona. Here is how you take care of the Arizona border control.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOZoYIoyjuM&feature=related
USMI,
There in no ban for Nepalese workers to work in
Afghanistan by Nepal. Just to clear up, Iraq is being banned by Nepal but not Afghanistan. I am working in Afghanistan and I have a valid permit from Nepal government to work.
Kishore, there is no ban by the Nepalses Gov but their is an MOI directive from Afghan stating they can not be brought in anymore. There hasn’t been any problems with the ones already in country but no new ones can be brought in; they are not being issued MOFA numbers.
We were trying to get our Nepal workers jobs in Afghan but we were advised they won’t allow them to go over. If you know something that would help get them to Afghan, we have about 50 workers looking for a new place and a lot of people would be very appreciative.
USMI,
In that case you are right. The Afghan authority is tightening on new visa for Nepalese citizens and sorry I do not know the reason.
So you guys seem to think of us as some sort of second class citizen that takes white peoples jobs …
Let me tell you that Asians are just as skilled and compotent as any western contractor.
Who gives you the right to ban us from earning a lively hood to support our famillies, is this exclusive to the White Southern (Red Neck) contractors …
We have as much right as you to enter into foreign lands, and I think you will find we are more respectfull to the host country too..
WAKE UP this is 2010, the years of Asians being your maid’s and servants is almost over !!!!
LMAO Really?
Read the memorandum closely.. it clearly says that this is because of the policy of your government, not the US Government. Nobody from the US is banning you from earning a livelihood.
Obviously you “DO NOT” have as much right to enter into foreign lands. The fact is that the US also had a ban against travel to Iraq until July of 2003 but it was lifted in order to allow US Citizens to travel to and work in Iraq. I could point out the obvious that you could go and invade your own country to work in.
Hey Ruben, Your government bans you from working in Iraq AND Afghanistan. As for you being a second class citzen that would be something for you to dwell on…not us. I hope this is up-channeled to the highest levels that we have all these workers in Afghan working and they shouldn’t be via your PI Gov…no the U.S
Your President of your country said you cannot be there in Iraq when they ordered that you don’t go work in a war zone and stamped it in your passport.
Talk to your new President and see if they lift the restriction.
So, it would be illegal by the Federal Acquisition Regulations to have a citizen from the Philippines there and the DoD contractor risks being suspended and losing their contract to hire you. No offense. The problem is with your President.
I am an American and I want the chance to work and travel in Cuba, but my Government doesn’t allow this, even though the Cubans don’t mind us visiting them.
So Ruben, take that anger and trash talk that I know you probably have from working with a few worthless co-workers that are Americans making a higher wage. Some of us know our jobs, and saw the good-ole-boy system way too often.
You see this site is here to show how the system has flaws, but it also shows that it can be fixed.
Well, itsgood to enforce this rule. They need to really enforce this in Afghanistan now due to the fact that these Filipinos are running to Afghanistan I hear. Hopefully someone does something quick before they overflood in Afghanistan.
SEN. Edgardo Angara yesterday called on the Bureau of Immigration and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to “beef up the screening procedures” for outbound Filipino overseas workers to prevent them from entering Afghanistan and other war-torn countries.
He made this appeal as he expressed concern for the safety of over 7,000 Filipinos who entered Afghanistan illegally to work in military camps there.
“This despite a 2007 travel ban for Filipinos to Afghanistan,” Angara said.
Most OFWs in Afghanistan work as logistics, catering and maintenance personnel for the barracks and camps of the US and other foreign bases in Bagram and Kandahar.
“It is especially alarming with the recent incident of suicide bombing attack at a USAID compound in Northern Afghanistan, where a Filipino was wounded. It could have been worse, and we don’t want that happening to our OFWs. We should take all measures to ensure their welfare and safety,” Angara said.
http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/national/13255-travel-ban-to-afghanistan-stays.html
Personally I love the Filipinos. Their English language skills are usually better than the rest of the TCNs out there (even the Ivans in most cases) and they are very loyal. Education is another factor, a lot of them are very well educated sometimes more than “management” out there. The Indians and Nepalese are right behind them in “2nd place” in terms of language skills, but equal in terms of education.
I have enjoyed working with all nationalities out there…hope to see them in Afghanistan too. They have earned every right to improve their quality of living by working out there, just like us Americans.
I don’t disagree. But….FARS/DFARS are Federal law. The Philippine government has made the sanctions against Iraq and Afghanistan not the US. But, what is happening right now is US contractors are violating Iraqi and Afghan immigrations laws and Philippine laws. That is a violation of Federal law.
actually thre is no memo or agreement between the US and the Phillipines on this. The phillipine governement has mandated that iraq and afghanistan are off limits for thier citizens and if those citizens go they can be lible for repercussion when they return home. But there is no requirement for the the US or US companies to avoid hiring or deploying these individuals. Anymore than a Cuban company would be bare from hiring a US citizen, the liability is all on the individual. But because the phillipine government bars them from going these places it cuts them off from asking the governement for help if they get screwed by the company or recruiters making theme even more suceptible to being victims of unfair labor practices and trafficking. Everyone in Iraq knows the average government and military official will do nothing for the TCN’s regardless of how bad the conditions are. Even the expats suffer thier share of crap, so is anyone really surprised?
James, do your homework; it’s a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act which specifically states “To violate the FCPA, the person making or authorizing the payment must have corrupt intent, and the payment must be intended to include the recipient to misuse his official position to direct business or provide a benefit wrongfully to the payer or any other person. The FPCA does not require that a corrupt act actually to succeed in its purpose. The FPCA prohibits any corrupt payment intended to influence any act or decision of a Foreign Official in his official capacity to induce the Foreign Official to do or omit to do any act in violation of his lawful duty, to obtain any improper advantage or to induce a Foreign Official to use his influence improperly to affect or influence any act or decision.” Further, “It is the responsibility of every Exposed Person to be familiar with the FPCA and applicable Host Country anti-bribery laws, to comply with such laws and to report immediately any suspicion of violations by another of another foreign countries’ laws.
It goes on to say any company with knowledge of corrupt payments, bribery, misdeeds by employees have an obligation to report the matter. Okay, in layman’s terms…the only way Filipinos are allowed to leave their country, with an Afghan Visa, (clearly marked on their Passport) without being turned into the PI authorities is, to “bribe” said official. If your new to the process, I can understand you don’t know this is going on. At a larger level, the companies that hire Filipinos and Nepalese better know the law or they shouldn’t be in the business of GOV contracting business. Take a poll, in Afghan anyways, of Filipinos and see how they got over here and ask them “you’re not supposed to be working here” and they’ll give you a wink and a smile and tell you they have a way to make it work. This is true…payoffs. And DOD/DOS contracted companies are not doing their due diligence and can be severely fined . Do you want to lose your job because your company lost a contract because they condoned acts they knew to be illegal, James? That’s what it really comes down to, as I love Filipinos and Nepalese myself but I’m not ready to lose my job because a company can not follow the law.
USMI,
Do your homework. The majority of contractors are coming through Bagram or Khandahar. US military installations. They do not require Visas because of that, and most do not get one. Corrupt officials refer to government officals, who in this train of thought is violating what law? Last time I checked one nations law does not have jurisdiction in anothers.
Most of the Visa that are bing issued are being gotten by PPI or APS through “brokers” to the Afghan Gvt. How valid they are is anybodys guess with all the corruption, again the Afghan gvt does not have any agreements in place with the phillipine gvt to abide by thier laws when it comes to their citizens so no intent to fraud can be found and fraud can only be charged.
There are also the customs group in Dubai, another country that would stop travel if the nationality in question was barred by some international or recipricol agreement.
Trust me if there was any kernel to latch onto here the Qui Tam lawyers would have already filed for the largest windfall lawsuit of all time. Companies play the risk game with lots of bean counters and lawyers evaluating every possible angle before they go forward, if they couldn’t get by with employing Phillipinos they would just increase thier contingent of indians, pakistanis etc. They don’t care, it is a numbers game. You’ll know when regualtions or laws actually go into effect because then the company will just shift the work force make up.
Good information James. However, my point is not so much on the Foreign Gov as it is with the U.S. Contractors. You have to agree, there undoubtedly is some lingo in the SOW, Contract or other that would prohibit the company (doing business with the U.S. Gov) from violating any law in regards to labor.
USMI,
I do agree, but there is no law in relation to this subject to be broken. That is why there is nothing to hold the contract companies to, if some sort of agreement was entered into with the state department or if Afghanistan were to make such a directive then the requirement to abide by FAR stipulating obeyance of host county laws and regulations on import/export be adhered to could be invoked. That’s the rule the contract requires, until then there is no violation. There is not even a USG military or otherwise memorandum dictating nationalities allowed to deploy in support of operations.
So, there is nothing illegal, as far as ethical, well it’s not like this would even come close to competing with some of the unethical activities the powers that be have engaged in without a twinge of conscience.
Is there anything in the new Filipino passports that states not valid in Afghanistan? I know there is for Iraq, and that that is the only country they are not allowed to go to per the Filipino gov’t. Can someone find something IN WRITING stating that they are not allowed to go to Afghanistan specifically?
In a nutshell this is what the POEA says…I can’t post the hard copy but essentially it states:
“The POEA Governing Board Resolution No. 08 Series of 2007 which was issued on December 17, 2007 imposes total ban on the processing and deployment of Filipino workers not only for Afghanistan but also for Nigeria, Iraq and Lebanon. The issuance of the ban was consistent with the provision of Section 5 of Republic Act No. 8042, or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act, which “authorizes the government… when the public welfare so requires, to at any point impose a ban on the deployment of migrant workers.”
This is the link so you can see it in black and white couple this with U.S Labor laws and the contractors can be in big trouble
http://www.poea.gov.ph/GBR/gbr.html
Most companies can not make any excuse for the Filipinos as it has been widely publicized and they have a prominent stamp in their passports but very few of the people I have spoken to here in Iraq knew anything about the Nepalese. The Iraqi government will issue them visas where they will NOT for the Filipinos. I have personally been on Gryphon flights from Kuwait to Iraq that were almost 1/3 Filipinos coming in and getting around the immigration authorities at the International Airport. Make no mistake though they are cracking down on things on all entry points and I have seen Americans get deported back to point of origin at the airport for no entry visa.
Anyone remember this e-mail put out by KBR back in Nov 2007? I’m sure someone has the original sent to All Hands…
“As a result of the recent communication sent out that KBR will be instituting a new Foreign National Compensation Structure and that KBR will be recruiting from several new areas around the world, there have been several questions brought to Human Resources about directly hiring some of the current Subcontracted Workforce (SCWs).
This message is to clarify the process and regulations regarding this subject:
For SCWs to be considered for employment with KBR they must follow the same procedure that all others must follow and apply on line.
For SCWs to be recruited by KBR they will need to separate from their current employer and return to their home country before being considered for employment.
The recruiting in other (non Balkans) Countries will not begin for quite some time [well after the first of the year].
Human Resources will not by-name requisition individuals who are currently working for any company who is providing service to KBR in Theater.
Human Resources is not collecting resumes of SCW employees to be considered for employment with KBR.
Personnel from the following counties are not eligible for employment with KBR in Iraq:
Algeria
Bahrain
Comoros
Djibouti
Egypt
India
Iraq
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Libya
Mauritania
Morocco
Oman
Palestine
Philippines (to include Afghanistan)
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Somalia
Sudan
Syria
Tunisia
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
KBR is a multi-cultural and very diverse corporation. When more information is available on Foreign National Recruiting it will be disseminated.
Thank you,
HR Management
So it’s safe to say KBR knew they were not allowed to hire people from the aforementioned countries or hire SCWs as direct hires without going through the correct process. Didn’t someone say the person who raped the girl in Nov, was a direct hire Indian or PPI employee?
Wow!, I just read the article and all the comments made on the subject of the TCNS and just realized this is not just a problem in Iraq, but a HUGE problem in Afghanistan. There’s hundreds of both nationalities running around there. Now if you classify prostitution as a TIPS vioaltion, that’s going on as well. How does the government turn their head and ignore it after they put out the Iraq memo? If the companies or the Gov isn’t going to do anything about it, maybe a notification to the Dubai/Qatar/Kuwait custom officials would do something.
Prostitution is very much a TIPS violation.
We are asking the same question. I’m sure there is some sort of pressure being put on the Philippine and Nepalese governments to rescind this ban!
I just updated this post with a link to a David Isenberg article at the Huffington Post and a link to the Philippine document that confirms the travel ban Iraq and Afghanistan. See the original post.
Was anyone at or do you remember, the Army IG “trafficking in persons” briefing at Al Faw Palace when Toby from PPI said that he did not need to follow US law and that PPI had an exclusive agreement with the Philippines to bring Filipino nationals to Iraq even after the Philippines banned travel to Iraq?
When was that briefing?? I am currently listening to the Commission on Wartime Contracting hearing and they are pretty disgusted with the “Big 3″ LOGCAP contractors and the way they are “NOT” forcing their subs and labor contractors to abide by the Trafficking in Persons laws!!
I hope to put a post together on this hearing. It’s a good one!!
There are going to roast them on the tube so everyone can see they are concerned but they are not. I am sure it will be an interesting post.
Monday attended the meeting while I was in Washington. You are right Deb, KBR’s rep, Cheryl Ritendale tried alot of walking around direct questions about fixed contract pricing until finally she was asked to begin with yes or no first…then she could do her tap dance routine..The commission was really not impressed with her!!!! Reminded me of the saying, if you can’t dazzle them with brillance, baffle them with bullshit..Seems like they saw right through it
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0710/072610rb1.htm
Hey Sparky check this out and see if you can use this for a story??? NOTE KBR is not mentioned.
Hey “K”….I watched most of the CWC hearing and KBR was mentioned many times as they stumbled through their testimony. Commissioner Shays and Thibault won’t let ANYONE get away with anything. If one of them runs for President, I’m voting for them! I will sit and watch the whole thing in it’s entirety tonight.
Hey Keven i will also check it out on the pentagon channel as well.
The briefing was March 10, 2006. It included high level representatives from KBR and PPI… Procedural working group related to Title 18 USC and the return of passports that had been confiscated.
Read the “resolution” but there is 1 problem. It does not BAN anyone from going anywhere, it clearly states the following:::
Now, therefore, the POEA Governing Board, in a meeting duly convened, resolves as it is hereby resolved to recommend to the secretary of labor and employment the following:
1. Maintain the total ban on the processing and deployment of Filipino workers bound for Iraq and Lebanon; and
2. Impost a total ban on the processing and deployment of Filipino workers bound for Afghanistan and Nigeria.
The operative keyword being “RECOMMEND”.
They RECOMMENDED to the sec./labor to maintain the ban, which they did and are suggesting the implementation of a new ban for people going to Afghanistan and Nigeria. Has there been anything from the Sec./Labor showing that they actually proceeded to amend the old ban with Afghanistan & Nigeria?
Apparently the Napalese workers in Iraq appealed to their Government by way of a letter writing campaign and their government responded by lifting the travel/work restrictions for their citizens http://mssparky.com/documents/Nepalese_restriction_lifted.pdf
But the Philippine Government stands firm on the restriction. The demobilization plan calls for 60-90 days to get those thousands and thousands of Filipinos out of the country and replaced by legal workers.
The Nepalese workers did the right thing, and they had an outcome that made the workers happy.
Ruben could learn a thing from them.
Rumor has it that the Philippine government is allowing their nationals to remain in Iraq until their respective USG contract has concluded. Has anyone else heard this? I won’t believe it until I see it officially announced.
I’m would guess it’s just rumour and a lot of wishful thinking…the question is when is the USG going to address Afghanistan??
I work for DI for 4years now , DI is a contractor of DOS, here in Afghanistan, now they Centcom also posted removal of all TCN or PI, I dont think it will be a solution, but I understand law is a law, what ever will be will be, but anyway this only happen for all of us (filipinos), unlucky our govt imposed ban its not fault of US gov;t its our gov;t who cannot give us decent job in our own country.they called NEW heros ( Bagong Bayani) but they don’t care about us, if we lose our job how can we feed our family? Mr. Pnoy, please think deeply,this is not all about being we are in dangerous place, what about in our country is there will be no danger out there you see how many people got killed everyday in PI. if you send us all in PI we rather be also Hostage taker just to see and hear us here, 6000 workers are at the stake, please lift the ban and let us work here, as you said on your speech your are my Boss so please show it, we want to work with the US, just to show our support,in their effort to eradicate terrorism for better tomorrow. remember US give us AID to feed your people please show them support in return because they love us working with them. Please think???????????
This comment was left on another post and I wanted to make sure it got posted here too.