The Filipino contractor killed in a rocket attack on the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq on Wednesday appears to be an undocumented overseas worker.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr said in a press conference on Friday that the Department of Foreign Affairs has been encountering difficulties tracing the consultant’s immediate relatives because “some of his documents are not current."

Conejos said the DFA already has the identity of the lone Filipino fatality in Iraq but could not divulge his name until his next of kin are properly notified.

GMA News Saksi on Friday identified the OFW as Niceforo Idulsa who was supposedly planning to return home in the next few months.

“We know the name of the employer of the Filipino in Iraq, but we don’t know exactly what type of work he was doing. Whether he is documented or undocumented, I cannot say right now," Conejos said.

“We are having a hard time tracing the next of kin in the Philippines. We were able to access his records here but when we tried to contact the numbers indicated, (there was) no answer, and the address is not there," he explained.

There were previous reports that foreign companies have been illegally recruiting Filipino workers to Iraq, enticing them with high salary rates.

Wire agency reports earlier indicated that the Filipino killed in Wednesday’s rocket attack was a contractor of the US government.

The report even quoted a statement from the US embassy in Iraq, saying Wednesday's attack left it "with a profound sense of sadness and regret" over the loss of Filipinos who "were integral members of our embassy community."

Initial reports said all four contractors killed in the attack were Filipinos. It was later clarified that only one was a Filipino, two were from Nepal and the other one came from India.

Conejos said the Philippine embassy in Iraq has reported that Filipino fatality had been brought to a mortuary in Baghdad. “We are just awaiting the proper documentation for the body to be brought from Baghdad to Kuwait, and from there, moved back to the Philippines," he told newsmen.

“To start the documentation process, there has to be a certificate of acceptance before the airline will accept the body for shipment from Kuwait to Manila, but we’re told that the US military is prepared to use military transport from Baghdad to Kuwait, and from Kuwait, commercial airline (to Manila)," he explained. “We have to make sure somebody will receive the body."

Presently, Conejos said there are still 6, 000 Filipinos in Iraq. “Our assumption is that most of them were already in place when the ban was imposed in 2004."

“Some of the Filipinos in Iraq work with big logistics companies in Kuwait. There is always a convoy (and the) drivers are Filipinos," he cited.

Conejos reiterated that the ban on deployment of Filipinos to Iraq remains. The offer for voluntary repatriation stands. “Anybody in Iraq who wants to come out, we will take them out," Conejos said.

According to him, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has instructed charge d’affaires Willy Cuyugan in Baghdad to submit a plan of action and entice more Filipinos in Iraq to avail of the repatriation offer.

“We must stress that it is dangerous to go to Iraq and that the ban there remains," Conejos emphasized. “We need the cooperation of OFWs for their own safety. We can’t guarantee your safety inside Iraq."

Conejos said the Philippine embassy in Iraq has found it difficult to execute an action plan for the Filipinos in the war-torn Iraq principally because the embassy itself has been in exile in Amman, Jordan. “It is difficult to executive an action plan when you are not allowed to enter. If the US cannot go there, how much more us?" he pointed out.

“We actually complained to the US but they said they are not direct employers of Filipino drivers. They said talk to the Kuwaiti companies. We can only do so much, We cannot prevent this manually and physically," he said.

Meantime, GMANews.TV received an email from a Filipino worker in Iraq, saying that the Filipinos there were very much aware of the dangers they face. However, the worker, who did not want to be identified, said were facing the risks to be able to raise their family in the Philippines.

“Nakakalungkot din pong isipin na kung kailan may nangyayaring ganito,
saka lang po kami naaalala ng gobyerno (It is sad to note that only when incidents like this happen that the government thinks about us," the worker said, referring to the rocket attack that claimed the life of a Filipino.

The worker said he works as administrative assistant for Prime Project International based in Dubai. The company employs more than 5,000 Filipinos, he said.

“Halos lahat po ng base dito sa Iraq ay may makikita kang Pilipino, at sa ibang kumpanya marami ring Filipino. Siguro aabot kami dito ng 20,000 Filipino citizens all over Iraq (Almost all bases here in Iraq employs a Filipino, as well as in many other companies. Perhaps, there could be around 20,000 Filipino citizens all over Iraq.), the e-mail sender said.

The worker said the government’s ban on the deployment to Iraq has been making their life more difficult. Most of the Filipinos there, he said, do not want to return to the Philippines because they could not earn back home what the money they make in Iraq and send to their families in the Philippines.

The worker suggested that the government negotiate with the companies employing Filipinos and with the US government on arrangements that would ensure the Filipinos get benefits due them such as wages comparable to what the US government pays to foreign workers, vacation leave, shorter working hours than the existing 12-hour duty and once-a-week day-off, and a contract strictly stipulating the terms and conditions of them employment.

The worker said he receives $650 per month, which translates to less than 25 percent of what the US government pays other foreign workers.

He said the Filipinos have been exploited by foreign companies knowing the Philippine government is not intervening for them.

The worker suggested that a Philippine government representative personally take a first-hand look at the situation of the Filipinos at Camp Liberty. - GMANews.TV