GMA extends anew mandate of Cimatu’s preparedness committee

PRESIDENT Arroyo ordered extended for the nth time the life of the Presidential Middle East Preparedness Committee (PMEPC) in light of the volatile situation in the world, especially in the Middle East region.

Arroyo, in issuing Executive Order No. 752 last Sept. 19, said a P3 million budget to be sourced from the Presidential Social Fund would be allocated to the PMEPC to ensure its continued operation. Any additional funding would be provided by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) when needed.

The term of the PMEPC was supposed to end last Sept. 30, after President Arroyo decided to extend its life last May due to the volatile political situation in Lebanon.

The PMEPC is headed by special envoy to the Middle East Roy Cimatu.

The PMEPC was created after the kidnapping of Filipino truck driver Angelo dela Cruz by Iraqi militants who demanded that the Philippine contingent taking part in the US-sponsored war against Saddam Hussein be pulled out in exchange for letting dela Cruz keep his head. The incident also caused the ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Iraq.

The mandate of the PMEPC first expired on June 30, 2007 but was extended three times by Arroyo through executive orders. The latest extension came on the heels of Arroyo’s directive to the Foreign Affairs and Labor departments to draw up a contingency plan for Filipinos working and living abroad because of the looming global financial crisis.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza, in an interview by Pilipinas! Pilipinas! over Radyo ng Bayan, said that while they believe that those working and living in the Middle East are more likely to be spared, government is not taking any chances and wants a contingency plan that would cover all Filipinos abroad, both workers and expatriates.

Dureza also said efforts to uphold the rights and ensure the protection of Filipinos abroad is in the agenda of the coming Second Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD2) that would open at the PICC on Oct. 27. He urged militant and cause-oriented groups like Migrante to join the first two days of the forum slated for civil society groups instead of taking their advocacy to the streets.

He said he believes these groups could provide valuable inputs on the protection and rights of Filipinos abroad which they could share with the forum participants.

"(Kung) ang sadya nila is to propagandize, it will not help in a positive manner dahil maraming experience ang Migrante na baka makapagbigay ng magandang input sa civil society part ng Migration and Development Forum, pero kung pahiga-higa sila diyan sa kalsada, well that’s their right to do so, but they’re not contributing at all," Dureza said.