PH embassy in Iran remains open; all diplomats to stay – DFA

By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora, Philippine News Agency

De Vega quoted Manalo as saying that the Philippine mission cannot pull out “even one” personnel as they are “all essential” staffers to allow continued operations at the small embassy. (PNA file photo by Joan Bondoc)

MANILA – All Filipino diplomats at the Philippine Embassy in Tehran will stay in Iran to continue monitoring and assisting Filipinos, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Saturday.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo Jose De Vega shared the update at the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City after earlier saying there were plans to include some non-essential personnel in the first batch of Filipinos who will evacuate amid the Israel-Iran conflict.

At present, there are a total of nine diplomats at the embassy, including Philippine Ambassador Robert Manalo.

De Vega quoted Manalo as saying that the Philippine mission cannot pull out “even one” personnel as they are “all essential” staffers to allow continued operations at the small embassy.

“They cannot even pull out even one. They will send home their wives, their dependents, (who) can always go home,” he said.

“Right now, they are staying in the embassy. Again this is what we signed up for,” he added.

The embassy is identifying ways to evacuate Filipinos out of Iran, including via land crossing to neighboring states like Turkmenistan.

The DFA said majority of around 1,200 Filipinos living and working in Iran are married to Iranian citizens while only over a dozen are workers.

Of the total, DFA Assistant Secretary Robert Ferrer said nine have requested to be repatriated.

“Lahat ng safe border exit from Iran kino-consider natin. Tehran is now almost like a ghost town. Maraming umalis na from Tehran and the Filipinos have left Tehran (We are considering all the possible safe border exit from Iran. Tehran is now almost like a ghost town and many have left, including Filipinos),” he said.

“Ang nandoon lang is the embassy (Those that are still there is those from the embassy), so they are still open,” he added, noting that the Philippine mission is among the few foreign service posts still operating in the Iranian capital.

As for the evacuation of the diplomats’ dependents, Ferrer said the DFA would wait for instructions and make an announcement once evacuation plans are firmed up.

“Plan pa lang siya but we will announce kapag may seguridad na ang plan (It is still a plan but we will announce once the plan is certain). None of the diplomats are going to be sent home. All staff are essential according to Ambassador Robert,” he said.

Voluntary evacuation

Alert level 3 or voluntary repatriation was earlier raised in both Israel and Iran.

Ferrer said the Philippine Embassies in Tel Aviv and Tehran have yet to recommend raising them to the highest level or mandatory repatriation.

“There’s a lot of misinformation going on and it’s in Manila, not Tel Aviv. If you ask most our Filipinos in Tel Aviv, they are calm, they don’t want to go home, they believe in the Israeli system to protect them, to take care of them,” he said.

To date, only at least 191 out of the more than 30,000 Filipinos in Israel have requested to be repatriated.

De Vega said the first 26 are scheduled to return to the Philippines by next week.