DFA deploys rapid response team to help Pinoys in Sri Lanka

The official said a team from the Philippine Embassy in Bangladesh, which holds jurisdiction over Filipinos in Sri Lanka, will arrive in the country by June 2 followed by the arrival of DFA personnel from the home office, also within the week. (File photo: Mariana Proença/Unsplash)

MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is deploying a rapid response team to assist Filipinos seeking assistance and repatriation from Sri Lanka, a ranking official said Tuesday.

In a Laging Handa briefing, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola said at least 25 out of the 492 Filipinos in the crisis-hit state have requested to be repatriated, nine of them are children of Filipinos married to Sri Lankans.

The official said a team from the Philippine Embassy in Bangladesh, which holds jurisdiction over Filipinos in Sri Lanka, will arrive in the country by June 2 followed by the arrival of DFA personnel from the home office, also within the week.

To provide immediate relief, DFA will allocate at least USD300 financial assistance per Filipino national in need.

“Kung hindi pa rin po maibsan iyong problema, willing po ang DFA na mag-repatriate ng mga kababayan natin, kasi kung tuluy-tuloy po ang economic crisis na iyan — hindi naman natin talaga alam kung hanggang kalian — bukas po ang pamahalaan ng Pilipinas na iuwi na sila rito po (If they still need help and repatriation, we are ready to send them home because the economic crisis there is continuous, we don’t know when it will end),” she said.

“We stand ready to bring them home,” she added.

Arriola expects the first batch of repatriates to depart Sri Lanka “this coming weekend or early next week.”

“Basta desidido na po sila, importante lang talaga na decided sila. Then, we will get the first available commercial flight to bring them home considering po iyong sitwasyon nila doon sa Sri Lanka (As long as they are decided. It’s important that they are decided then we will get the first available commercial flight to bring them home considering their situation there),” she said.