Two Million Reasons for President Arroyo to Pull Out of Iraq
July 30, 2004
Encouraged by the Bush administration, the hottest water-cooler position these days is the scolding of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo’s decision to recall her nation’s small military contingent in Iraq. The move, called cowardly, supposedly sends terrorists “the wrong signal.” For most Filipino compatriots of hostage Angelo de la Cruz, however, from the standpoint of their national interest, it was a sensible, even courageous move.
There was more at stake in Arroyo’s decision to pull out of Iraq than saving the life of an unfortunate hostage or avoiding the ire of the U.S. government — a key source of foreign aid for the Philippines. The hostage crisis imperiled a crucial survival mechanism for the impoverished nation: the gainful employment of millions of overseas Filipino workers in the Middle East.
Some 2 million Filipinos work in the region, with nearly a million in Saudi Arabia alone. These large contingents of workers have become a critical prop of the Philippine economy. They would otherwise be the millions at home unable to find work in their own country. They send home some $8 billion a year in remittances that were largely responsible for a 4.5-percent GNP growth in 2002 and that provide otherwise income-strapped families with spending power, keeping the economy afloat.
A number of Filipinos have been among the unintended victims of suicide bombings in Israel and among the intended victims of recent attacks on foreigners working for American firms in Saudi Arabia. For Arroyo to have insisted on remaining in the so-called coalition of the willing, despite the terrorists’ threats, would have exposed all Filipinos in the region to a dramatically higher level of danger.
If those Filipino workers saw themselves as terrorist targets, it could mean a mass return of millions, and disaster for the Philippine economy. The Philippine government is simply not prepared to absorb a sudden influx of jobless returnees.
Any large-scale repatriation would also mean trouble for many Arab countries — including some of America’s allies — that have come to depend on imported Filipino labor or expertise for a multitude of tasks, from domestic work to construction and management. As a British-educated Saudi blogger wrote on his website, “Now if there’s one expat group that we couldn’t do without long term, it’s the Filipinos.” There can be no doubt that Arroyo’s decision was quietly encouraged by many an Arab host government.
Arroyo’s decision was also politically self-serving. Overseas Filipino workers — an estimated 8 million labor in 150 countries — risk their lives and endure long absences from their families. They’re considered modern-day heroes. In 1995, President Fidel Ramos’ popularity plunged when he failed to save the life of Flor Contemplacion, a domestic worker who was hanged by the government of Singapore on a questionable murder conviction.
De la Cruz’s kidnapping brought back memories of that execution, and the political danger was not lost on Arroyo.
Manila’s media are nearly unanimous in praising Arroyo’s decision. From the start, her unnecessary deployment of a military contingent to Iraq was widely criticized, both as a sign of subservience to the United States and as a ploy to corner American support for her re-election. Her decision to quit Bush’s “coalition of the willing” is seen as a rectification of that error and a hopeful sign of independence from Washington.
Several commentators have even taken on The New York Times for making a spurious distinction between the Philippines’ decision, labeled “deplorable” by the newspaper, and Spain’s pullout from Iraq after the Madrid bombing, deemed “understandable.” For most Filipino opinion makers — and from the standpoint of the Philippines’ national interest — pulling out of Iraq was not a “wrong signal” to terrorists. The wrong signal was to send a troop contingent to begin with.
As for Washington’s implied threat of leaving the Philippines at the mercy of its homegrown terrorists, it’s empty and face-saving. The Philippines remains the most important staging area for any U.S. operations against al Qaeda’s affiliates in Southeast Asia, as predominantly Muslim Indonesia and Malaysia are less than ideal hosts. In fact, several U.S. military exercises are set to take place in Southern Philippines. Like it or not, Washington is stuck with Manila, and the latter knows it.
Rene P. Ciria-Cruz is an editor at Pacific News Service.
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