PH missions tell Filipinos in US, Middle East to exercise caution

“The Philippine Embassy advises members of the Filipino Community across the United States to exercise caution, ensure personal safety, and report observed suspicious activities to local authorities and public safety officials.” (Pexels Photo)

By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora, Philippine News Agency

MANILA – Filipinos in the United States, Qatar, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia are advised to stay alert and exercise continued caution amid the developing security situation in the region.

The advisories were issued by the Philippine Embassies in Washington DC, Doha, Baghdad, and Riyadh after the US struck Iran’s nuclear sites, prompting Tehran’s retaliation on an American air base in Qatar on Monday.

The Philippine Embassy in Doha, in an advisory issued on Tuesday morning, said no casualties were reported in the counterstrike but told Filipinos to “shelter in place.”

Filipinos in the US, meanwhile, were told to actively monitor the US Department of Homeland Security amid its heightened threat environment alert in the US following the strikes.

It noted the US agency’s warning about the likelihood of violent extremists “independently mobilizing to violence in response to the conflict would like increase” if the Iranian leadership issues a religious ruling calling for retaliatory violence against targets in the US.

“The Philippine Embassy advises members of the Filipino Community across the United States to exercise caution, ensure personal safety, and report observed suspicious activities to local authorities and public safety officials.”

“The Filipino Community is further encouraged to actively monitor websites of federal and local authorities, such as the DHS website,” the Philippine Embassy advisory added.

As this developed, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday morning announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

Tehran, meanwhile, said it would only bring an end to its strike if Israel stops its attacks.

“It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE (in approximately six hours from now, when Israel and Iran have wound down and completed their in progress, final missions!), for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED! Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World. During each CEASEFIRE, the other side will remain PEACEFUL and RESPECTFUL,” Trump wrote on social media.

Based on the latest data from the Department of Foreign Affairs, there is an estimated 2.1 million Filipinos in the Middle East with 222,563 in Qatar.