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Friday, March 29, 2024

PH eyes forced repatriation

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The government would consider forced repatriation of some 7,600 Filipinos in Iran and Iraq should condition there endanger their lives, the Palace said Monday as the President urged Congress to allocate funds for a massive Middle East evacuation.

READ: Prepare for evacuation—Rody

“If the conflict poses a risk to their safety, then the government will do it,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said.

President Rodrigo Duterte this week ordered the military to prepare to evacuate some 7,600 Filipinos in Iran and Iraq amid increasing tensions in the Middle East after a US airstrike killed Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, last week.

The military was put on standby in case the repatriation of Filipinos from Iran using Philippine air and naval assets becomes necessary.

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The Armed Forces of the Philippines said the military is prepared to execute the President’s directives, calling it an “important and crucial task.”

“It is more than a transport sortie. It is a humanitarian mission dedicated to take from harms way our fellow Filipinos and bring them to safety,” AFP spokesman Edgard Arevalo said in a statement.

The tension between the United States and Iran is expected to drive oil prices up, and the country’s economic managers are preparing measures to cushion the impact, Panelo said.

READ: Market cautious on Mideast row

In a speech Monday, Duterte said he is expecting Iran to “retaliate soon” and act aggressively against the US after an American airstrike killed their top general.

“If that happens, then we have a trouble because most of our OFWs are stationed, majority of them are in Saudi Arabia. I am not as bright as the others, those with strategic minds might want to do it for us. Let’s start with a standby fund,” Duterte said following the signing of the 2020 budget.

Duterte, who previously ordered the military to prepare its resources for the evacuation of Filipinos, said the task would be “a gargantuan effort.”

He also appealed to Congress to set aside a day or two to discuss the effects of the US-Iran conflict, which he called an “evolving crisis.”

The President also raised the possibility of creating an oversight committee to ensure the funds on standby will not be used for corruption.

“I’m really nervous. Iran seems to be hell-bent on a retaliation, which I think will come. It’s a matter of time,” he said.

“We do not know what could be the end result of this crisis. It could lead to a protracted war. It could be a wide-scale strike. Whatever it is, we Filipinos are really in peril,” Duterte added.

The Philippine Statistics Authority says there are about 1.26 million Filipino workers in the Middle East, which includes Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

Defense Department spokesman Arsenio Andolong said the President has tasked the AFP to prepare its air and naval assets to evacuate Filipinos if war erupts in the Middle East.

READ: New attacks trigger fears of US-Iran proxy war

He said this order came after the Chief Executive called for an emergency meeting with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, newly-appointed AFP chief-of-staff, Lt. Gen. Felimon T. Santos, Jr., commanders of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, Philippine National Police chief, and their principal staff on Sunday afternoon.

The meeting, he said, was conducted to ensure the safety of Filipinos working in the Middle East especially those deployed in Iran and Iraq, whose well-being could be endangered in the event of open hostilities.

“The sole agenda was how to ensure the safety of our countrymen in the Middle East especially those in Iraq and Iran as the tension between the US and Iran rises. There are 1,600 and 6,000 Filipinos in Iran and Iraq, respectively,” Andolong said.

Santos said the AFP is ready with a plan to evacuate Filipinos if the need arises.

“Right now, we are ready to deploy anytime,,” Santos said at a press briefing in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs has advised Filipinos in Israel to refrain from going to the Golan Heights and areas near the borders of Gaza and Lebanon due to the heightening tension between the US and Iran.

In an advisory, the DFA through the Philippine Embassy in Israel declared in particular the snow resort in Mt. Hermon in the Golan Heights, which borders Syria, as a no-go zone for Filipinos there.

Mt. Hermon was the target of a rocket attack fired from Syria in January last year.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, meanwhile, said the government should look at relocating instead of repatriating thousands of Filipino workers in the Middle East.

In a statement, the TUCP said the “scarce job opportunities, domestic jobs-skills mismatch, and the labor market’s inadequate compensation and unattractive work benefits are the main reasons why most OFWs in the Middle East prefer to relocate than be repatriated back to the country in case of evacuation due to rising armed conflict in the region.

“Most of the OFWs groups stationed in Jordan and Qatar prefer to relocate to another country in the region than be repatriated back to home country in case there is a need for them to be evacuated,” TUCP Spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said. With Macon Ramos-Araneta, Vito Barcelo and PNA

READ: M.E. strikes spark call for evac

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