The team is headed by Foreign Affairs Executive Director for Migrant Workers Affairs Ricardo Endaya. The team will meet the Filipinos working at the Kandahar and Bagram Airforce bases on Friday to discuss their status once their contracts expire.

Endaya and his team will also meet with U.S. military officials as well as representatives from the United Nations and non- government organization officials to get more information on the new U.S. policy on the hiring of foreign workers and to seek better security for the Filipinos there.

At least 6,000 Filipino workers in Afghanistan are in danger of being sent back to the Philippines by the end of this year after the U.S. Central Command, in memorandum to contractors, warned that employing third country nationals, whose domestic laws prohibit their citizens from traveling and working in Afghanistan, is considered illegal. Contractors who will violate this order will no longer be allowed to participate in U.S. biddings to take part in projects in Afghanistan.

The Filipinos have appealed to President Aquino to allow them to stay in Afghanistan by lifting the travel ban.

Before the 2007 deployment ban, around 1,000 Filipinos have been working and residing there, including those who work in the attached agencies of the U.N.. The number has swelled to 4,000 over the years.

These Filipinos, hired by contractors of American firms operating in Afghanistan, have managed to slip through the country via Dubai. The Philippines has no embassy in Afghanistan, making it difficult for Philippine authorities to monitor the entry and movement of Filipinos there.

The Philippines stopped sending workers to Afghanistan following the U.S.-led invasion of the Middle East state and the unstable security condition in the country. Apart from Afghanistan and Iraq, the Philippines also prohibits travel to Nigeria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Manila Bulletin