The Department of Foreign Affairs has called on Filipinos to cancel travel to Iraq and to “coordinate closely” with the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad in case of a mandatory evacuation—with a workers’ group urging the government to devise an evacuation plan for some 1.2-million OFWs in the Middle East.
“Filipinos in Iraq are strongly advised to coordinate closely with the Philippine Embassy and their employers in the event mandatory evacuation will be necessary,” the department said in a statement Friday sent through DFA Assistant Secretary Eduardo Meñez.
The DFA also called on all Filipinos to “cancel, until further notice, any travel to Iraq in view of the current situation in the country.”
The advisory came after the death of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, leader of Iran’s elite Quds force, due to an airstrike by the United States at the Baghdad International Airport.
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Meñez said the situation in Iraq was being closely monitored and the DFA was “prepared to send a rapid response team should it be deemed necessary.”
Meanwhile, the department asked all Filipinos in Iraq to immediately contact the embassy in case of an emergency at (+964) 781-606-6822, (+964) 751-616-7838, and (+964) 751-876-4665; via email at baghdad.pe@dfa.gov.ph; and/or via facebook page: Philippine Embassy in Iraq.
Due to heightened tensions in Iraq and the region, the US earlier urged all Americans to “depart Iraq immediately” and avoid its embassy in the country.
On Friday night, the United Nations called for restraint, with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying the world “cannot afford” another war in the Gulf.
“The Secretary-General has consistently advocated for de-escalation (of conflict) in the Gulf. He is deeply concerned with the recent escalation. This is a moment in which leaders must exercise maximum restraint. The world cannot afford another war in the Gulf,” Guterres’ deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said in a statement.
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At the same time, the Trade Union Congress of the Philipines is urging President Rodrigo Duterte to formulate a government evacuation plan for an estimated 1.2-million overseas Filipino workers working in the Middle East who might be affected amid possible escalation of violence.
“With these inauspicious fast turning of events, the fate of our OFWs in the Middle East now hangs uncertain. With the growing instability in that region, there is an urgent need for a Philippine government escape plan that takes every OFWs from harm’s way either by land, sea or air,” the TUCP said in a statement.
“We, therefore, call on the President to convene a multi-government agency panel that would device an early escape plan which would lead or supervise a possible relocation or repatriation of our OFWs before they are directly affected by the escalating armed conflict in the region,” TUCP president and TUCP Party-List Rep. Raymond Mendoza said.
Mendoza said the plan involves multiple types of government responses that require contributions from all government agencies.
Mendoza, who is also chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Overseas Foreign Workers, said the plan will also bring in advance notice to OFWs and allay anxiety among them and their families back at home.
“There is no harm in being prepared, identifying contingency measures and taking due diligence in anticipation of a worst-case scenario in the Middle East. Government advance planning will also alleviate worries and reduce anxieties felt by our OFWs and their families here at home,” Mendoza said.
According to the estimate of the Philippine Statistics Authority last year, there are around 1.2-million registered OFWs working in the Middle East countries such as in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, and Bahrain.
The TUCP is also looking at the possible unemployment, the impact of increases in the prices of oil to prices of goods and services in the country, and the effect of reduced remittance to the domestic economy in case the rising tension turn to actual armed confrontations in the region.
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“We are also looking at the other aspect of full-blown conflagrations and it impact on unemployment among OFWs, impact on local inflation, and lower remittances,” Mendoza said. With PNA
