Metro Manila, Philippines – There is no mass repatriation as yet as missile exchanges put Filipinos in the Middle East at risk, even as over 100 workers from the United Arab Emirates and Israel have sought help to return to the country, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said Monday, March 2.
“Bagamat walang mass repatriation pero kailangan mag-ingat ng mga kababayan natin,” Migrant Workers Sec. Hans Cacdac said in a Palace briefing, while reminding Filipinos to follow advisories of embassies and protocols of host countries.
[Translation: There is still no mass repatriation, but our countrymen should take extra caution.]
The crisis in the Middle East took a turn for the worse at the weekend after the United States and Israel jointly attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Tehran retaliated with missiles targeted at Israel and other Gulf countries hosting US bases.
Cacdac said at least 80 Filipinos in Dubai and another 52 in Israel have asked government assistance for repatriation. Both countries are under Alert Level 2, or increased monitoring ahead of a possible voluntary evacuation.
“Alert Level 2 is good enough to impose a deployment ban, especially for newly-hired workers. On the DMW side, we will take appropriate action to enforce or implement the alert levels,” Cacdac told reporters.
“We are working out, along with the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) and the host countries, ‘yong [the] manner in which we will start moving people through these exit points,” he said, citing difficulties in transportation by air.
PY Caunan, administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, also reported over 1,000 overseas Filipino workers were stranded in airports in and out of the country after their flights to the Middle East were canceled.
Some countries in the Middle East closed their airspace.
Caunan said the workers received temporary accommodation, food, and transportation assistance.
Responding to questions from media, the DFA released the list of latest alert levels in the Middle East and Africa, which was unchanged since Feb. 13:
Alert Level 3 (voluntary repatriation) – Iraq, Lebanon
Alert Level 2 (restriction phase) – Iran, Kurdistan, Israel, West Bank
Alert Level 1 (precautionary phase) – Jordan
No alert – Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait
- Alert Level 4 (mandatory evacuation) – Gaza, Syria, Yemen
- Alert Level 3 (voluntary repatriation) – Iraq, Lebanon
- Alert Level 2 (restriction phase) – Iran, Kurdistan, Israel, West Bank
- Alert Level 1 (precautionary phase) – Jordan
- No alert – Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. confirmed that Mary Anne de Vera, a Filipina worker in Israel, was killed from shrapnel as she assisted her elderly ward to a bomb shelter.
