Duterte forms group to ready plans for Filipino repatriation in Middle East

January 7, 2020

President Rodrigo Duterte has created a special working committee to prepare contingency measures for the evacuation of Filipinos in the Middle East amid the escalating tension there.

In a statement on Tuesday, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said this was reached during the 45th Cabinet meeting, which Duterte presided in Malacañang on Monday night.

He said the committee is composed of the secretaries of National Defense and of the Interior and Local Government, the National Security Adviser, as well as the Secretaries of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Labor and Employment and the Department of Transportation.

"The President is gravely concerned with the condition and safety of overseas Filipino workers in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq, Iran and nearby Arab countries, as a result of the escalating tension between Iran and the United States of America," Panelo said.

He said Duterte also tasked Secretary Roy Cimatu, his special snvoy to the Middle East prior to the latter's appointment at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), to fly to the Middle East immediately to establish coordination with the host countries and lay the groundwork for the evacuation.

Duterte also instructed Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers Abdullah Mamao to proceed to Iran and Iraq Tuesday to deliver his special messages to the Iranian and Iraqi governments on the safety of the Filipinos working in these countries, specifically conveying his urgent desire that no Filipinos be harmed in the course of the ongoing conflicts, he said.

He also ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines to prepare their air and naval assets for the evacuation of the Filipinos if an armed or military warfare between the US and Iran takes place, the official said.

Panelo said Duterte also directed the appropriate government instrumentalities to prepare for contingencies that will absorb displaced workers to government projects to prevent the economic dislocation of their families upon their return.

"He (Duterte) stressed that it is the paramount duty of the government to give protection to the Filipinos whenever their lives are in peril and wherever they are," he said.

"Foremost in the mind of the President is the safety of Filipinos in the Middle East and he assures the Filipino community and the nation that the Philippine Government is doing everything it can in making sure that our fellow citizens abroad are out of harm's way," added Panelo, also chief presidential legal counsel. Celerina Monte/DMS