Defense chief to lead panel to evacuate OFWs in Mideast

“The Executive Secretary has directed the Secretary of National Defense to take the lead, as Chairperson, in ensuring the safety of the Filipinos and their return to the Philippines, if needed,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement. (File Photo: Department of National Defense – Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA — Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has been named chairperson of a special working panel that will oversee the evacuation and possible repatriation of Filipinos from the Middle East amid tensions between the US and Iran, Malacañang said on Thursday.

“The Executive Secretary has directed the Secretary of National Defense to take the lead, as Chairperson, in ensuring the safety of the Filipinos and their return to the Philippines, if needed,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. has been designated as the committee’s vice-chair.

Members of the committee include Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade.

President Rodrigo R. Duterte earlier asked Cimatu, a former Special Envoy to the Middle East, to meet with officials of the Gulf states and discuss the Philippines’ plan to evacuate Filipino migrant workers.

Panelo said the order for mandatory evacuation stays “unless the escalation reaches a point where the safety of countrymen are [sic] no longer in peril.”

“What I know is there is a place where they will have to be evacuated not repatriated kaagad (right away). Yun ang alam ko (That’s what I know). For those who would want. You cannot also force our overseas workers if they prefer to stay,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

He, meanwhile, reassured that the welfare of Filipinos, including their safety and security, remains the President’s “primordial concern.”

“The public is accordingly informed of the actions being undertaken by our state agents on the matter for their assurance and trust that the Philippine Government, with the President as its Head of State, is doing its best to have our fellow citizens in the Middle East safely ensconced and further spared from the tension and apprehension arising from the present conflict in the Middle East,” Panelo said.

Duterte earlier expressed concern for Filipinos living and working in the Middle East after the highest threat alert was raised in Baghdad amid the escalating tensions between the US and Iraq.

Alert Level 4, which calls for mandatory repatriation, is issued “when there is a large-scale internal conflict or full-blown external account,” according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Iran’s top military commander, Qassem Soleimani, was killed in a US airstrike carried out in Iraq last week, a move that prompted Iran to launch more than a dozen ballistic missiles against at least two military bases housing the US and coalition forces in Iraq.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday reportedly said no casualties have resulted from Iran’s missiles attack.

Funds readied

On Wednesday, the Department of Budget and Management said it has prepared around PHP1.8 billion in government funds for the repatriation of Filipino workers in the Middle East.

DBM Assistant Secretary Rolando Toledo said around PHP1.29 billion of the total PHP1.8 billion funds allocated for OFWs’ repatriation will be taken from the Department of Foreign Affairs’ (DFA) allocation.

The other PHP100 million will come from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration while the remaining PHP500 million is a “free fund,” he added.

On Monday, Duterte asked Congress to prepare a “standby fund” that could be utilized for the possible repatriation of Filipino workers in the Middle East.

None hurt

To date, no Filipino was hurt in the recent Iranian missile strike that targeted two military bases in Iraq housing American troops.

“So far, US said no Filipinos found to have been hurt. But search and damage assessment not complete,” Locsin said on his Twitter account, citing information from the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC.

Data provided by the DFA showed that there are some 4,000 Filipinos in Iraq.