Friday, May 30, 2003
ASIA FILE
Jockeying for the Iraq crumbs
Barun Roy Published : May 30, 2003
Every able-bodied Filipino now has one ambition: landing a job in Iraq. Even the driver of Roberto Romulo, an adviser to Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and now chairman of the Philippine Public-Private Sector Partnership for the Reconstruction and Development of Iraq, wants one. Driving his boss to Manila's international airport recently, he asked his master: "How should one go about it, sir?"
Romulo was on his way to Kuwait to scout for opportunities in Iraq and he told newsmen of his driver's inquiry as an example of how hyped the Filipinos had become about the prospects.
With him was a delegation of high-powered business and government leaders from areas like information technology, finance, accounting, infrastructure and logistics.
His mission was quickly followed by a 175-man, self-invited group of military engineers, policemen, doctors, and social workers, prepared to stay in Iraq for at least six months.
The government says it's only a humanitarian mission - "not part of the occupying forces" - but everybody knows the intention is to gatecrash into the Iraq reconstruction effort.
It's one way to ensure you won't be left out. Not that the Philippines will be. It supported the US war on Iraq, is naturally friendly towards Americans, has a large pool of skilled and English-speaking workers, and, above all, has an established track record of working for American companies in west Asia.
Only this time, the pie is huge - some $ 100 billion could be spent on Iraq projects in the next five years - and Manila is eager to exploit its natural advantages to the fullest to grab as much of this as it can.
The expectation in Manila is that about 1,00,000 reconstruction jobs will become available to Filipinos in the next three years. According to Philippine labour secretary Patricia Santo Tomas, certain segments of the Iraqi economy will require quick and immediate assistance, and not everybody can supply enough trained personnel at short notice.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration claims it has a million workers on its rolls, all classified by skills and ready with passports to go. "Getting there early is very important," Romulo said before his Kuwait visit.
About 7 million Filipinos work overseas, some 1.5 million in west Asia, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain and Israel. Before Gulf War II, there were 35,000 skilled Filipinos in Iraq, working on public works and energy-related projects.
And Patricia Tomas might not have been exaggerating when she told a New York Times reporter in a recent interview: "I'm confident that if they are looking for skilled workers, they'll come to us."
In Kuwait, Romulo's team met with representatives of some of the 14 US companies that have been awarded primary reconstruction contracts. These included Kellogg, Brown and Root, Halliburton, Bechtel, Black and Veatch, Cargill and Stevedoring Services of America.
The 14 firms are expected to outsource up to 70 per cent of their manpower needs from the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" group of nations. There are 50 such nations and the competition is going to be keen, which explains why the Philippines is so energetic about its bid.
The campaign is double-pronged. While Romulo's task force has set up a representative office in Kuwait City to pursue opportunities on a daily basis, president Arroyo flew to Washington to talk with US President George W Bush and executives of the 14 companies.
Arroyo lost some of her popularity at home when she supported the Iraq war and now wants payback from the US to help regain it. Jobs in Iraq could easily swing public opinion in her favour at a time when the national unemployment rate is creeping up.
At the same time, in a homework move, the Central Bank of the Philippines has said it will rediscount all borrowings by domestic construction companies incurred for reconstruction work in Iraq.
The Philippine Export-Import Credit Agency has set up a special guarantee facility for Iraq-related activities.
How much of the crumbs will eventually fall Manila's way? It's difficult to predict. Not all the contracts, for jobs or for business, will emanate directly from the prime US contractors but through subcontractors in Japan and South Korea, who may not be all too keen on Filipinos. Besides, some of the US companies had bad experiences with Filipino workers in the past and may not exactly feel like falling overboard.
One job that the Philippines is particularly eyeing is that of operating the sprawling Basra port. Talk in business circles indicates that the British, who have primary responsibility for Basra, would like to involve the Filipino company International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI). ICTSI executive vice president Edgardo Abesamis is a member of the Philippine task force and one of its top executives, Jose Ibazeta, has been named as the Philippine ambassador to Iraq.
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