Manila (AsiaNews/SCMP) – For five months, Victor Ocampo, a Filipino man, had to work as a security guard at the US Embassy in Baghdad, to pay his daughter's college fees. Ocampo considered this job no less dangerous than being an explosives disposal expert, his previous work for which he earned far less than the salary of 1,000 US dollars per month received from his employer, the Triple Canopy Group agency.

"With life so hard these days, this is better than dying of hunger," he told his wife and three children before leaving. If he could, he would return to Iraq, just like many of the more than 60 former soldiers who went and came back with him.

In the past two years, many Filipinos have been recruited to serve as security guards and bodyguards despite a government-imposed ban, which came after Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz was abducted in July 2004. When the ban was imposed in August 2004, about 4,200 Filipinos, working mostly in American military camps, were allowed to stay on. Today, about 5,000 Filipinos are reportedly still working in Iraq, foreign affairs department spokesman Gilbert Asuque said.

Senator Biazon, a former chief of the Filipino armed forces who now chairs the Senate defence committee, denounced attempts by the United States to recruit other Filipinos for military purposes, probably through employment agencies. The Filipino port city of Subic signed a contract in May with US-based group Blackwater, which has already hired men from Fiji, India, and the Philippines, to train troops.

"The company intends to train a minimum of 1,000 people a month," said Biazon who has pledged to carry out an inquiry. He said the agreement would violate the Filipino constitution which forbids foreign troops on Philippine soil. But he "is afraid there would be many 'desperate' people would be attracted by the high salaries (from US$1,500 to US$5,000 a month and death benefits of up to $2 million).

The offer attracts especially former soldiers, who are preferred by employers.

"There are many resignations," said Philippine National Police spokesman Samuel Pagdilao, "because many soldiers want to try their luck in other countries".

Veteran soldiers, who have fought in battles against Islamists in the southern Philippines, admit they would rather go to Iraq and perhaps die rich, rather than be killed penniless in Mindanao. Rosanto Labayog, an expert in the sector, said foreign security agencies prefer Filipino soldiers.

The Philippine government has declined to condemn the recruitments. The US embassy in Manila said it was not involved.