MANILA – The Philippine government has raised the security alert for all Filipinos in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon to Alert Level 4 as tension escalates on Wednesday following the death of Iranian military general Qassem Soleimani from a United States drone strike.
Department of Labor and Employment secretary Silvestre Bello said forced evacuations are to be implemented among Filipino workers in the three Middle East countries with Saudi Arabia serving as evacuation camp.
Alert level 4, which is the highest among the travel advisories of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), is issued when “there is large-scale internal conflict or full-blown external attack.”
“There is the urgency of meeting the Filipino community there in order for them to be briefed on what to do in case an exigency happens,” Bello said.
“If we ask them (Filipinos) to join us in the repatriation and hindi sila makikipacooperate, e wala na kaming magagawa. But there will be earnest efforts to repatriate them,” he added.
Bello also said that all Filipinos – documented or undocumented – will be assisted in the repatriation. There are over 2.1 million Filipinos in Middle East – 62,000 are undocumented or irregular migrants, the foreign official earlier said.
He added that there was information that there were around 600 Filipino workers or more near the United States bases in Iraq, which is being targeted by airstrikes by the Iran.
Documented Filipinos who will be repatriated will receive financial assistance from Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. Those undocumented will not get financial assistance, Bello said.
“I understand the sentiments of our overseas workers in Iraq and I will not blame them if they would opt to stay. But then the concern of our President and our government, for that matter, is their safety,” Bello said.
“Hindi natin masiguro na kapag sumabog ito, kahit na gaano kaganda ang buhay nila doon, hindi mo matitiyak ang kanilang kaligtasan. So, we would like to appeal to them na umuwi muna,” he added.
Malacañang said that Filipinos in Iraq will not be forced to go home as they can opt to be evacuated to a safe place instead, Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a television interview.
“Repatriation is out of the question when there is a shooting war. We have to place them in a safe place. Hindi naman sila kailangang umuwi habang nagkakaroon ng giyera doon o digmaan. Hindi mo naman maiuuwi iyun talaga,” he told CNN Philippines.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, meanwhile, said that the military will send “as soon as possible” two battalions of soldiers, two units of C-130 transport planes, one C-295 plane, and two ships to evacuate thousands of Filipino workers in the Middle East.
The Philippine Coast Guard, for their part, said that French-made patrol vessel BRP Gabriela Silang is ready to assist in the repatriation of Filipino workers in the said countries.
The declaration of Alert Level 4 came as Iran fired rockets at Iraq’s al Asad airbase, which hosts US forces, as part of retaliatory attack following the killing of Soleimani by US airstrikes.
There are at least 1,600 Filipinos in Iraq. More than half are working in Kurdistan region and the rest are in the Baghdad area. In Baghdad, many are employed by the US and other foreign facilities, while some work for regular commercial establishments.
Budget Assistant Secretary Rolando Toledo said the government has enough funds under the 2020 national budget for the repatriation of its people from the Middle East, saying President Duterte called for standby resources in light of the brewing war in the region.
Around P1.8 billion has been allocated in the budget for the repatriation of Filipino workers.
“Even without the pronouncement of the President, we already have the budget for the repatriation,” Toledo told reporters in Malacañang.
Of the allocated amount, P1.29 billion is under the Department of Foreign Affairs while P600 million is with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Toledo said. The Department of Budget and Management, however, has yet to release a copy of the signed spending plan for this year.(With ABS-CBN News/PN)
