Third Filipino evacuated from conflict-torn Iraq to arrive Saturday — DFA

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MANILA — A Filipina is the third worker to be evacuated by the Philippine government from Iraq where violence and civil strife erupted anew.

“She will be repatriated from Iraq and is due to arrive in Manila tomorrow (Saturday),” Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said Friday.

The Filipina will arrive on June 28 via Etihad Airlines flight EY 424 at 3:20 p.m., Jose said.

Citing the “rapidly deteriorating” security in the Middle East state, Iraq, except its northern region of Kurdistan, was placed by the Philippines under crisis alert level 4, which calls for the mandatory evacuation of Filipinos.

There are 900 workers in Iraq, with 152 working in Baghdad while the rest are based in Kurdistan. However, tensions began to spread as well in Kurdistan where most Filipino workers are based, the DFA said, prompting Manila to raise its security warning from level 1 to level 2 last Monday.

The first two Filipino evacuees from Baghdad arrived in Manila this week.

With the escalation of tensions in Iraq, the Philippine government called on the remaining Filipinos in conflict zones to leave and avail of the free repatriation being offered by the Philippine government.

Jose said their airfare to Manila will be shouldered by the government should their employers refuse to release them or pay for their travel expenses.