Binay wants contingency plans for OFWs reviewed

Vice President Jejomar Binay has expressed the need to review the government’s contingency plans for overseas Filipino workers amid increasing tensions in the Middle East and North Africa.

While he acknowledged that the civil conflict in Libya put forward lessons that the Philippine government should learn and act upon, Binay, also the presidential adviser on

Overseas Filipino Workers’ (OFW) affairs, said the government needs to re-evaluate how it sees the political situation in the Middle East, review contingency plans and consider adding more diplomatic and labor workforce.

“We would need to reconfigure or rethink our appreciation of the political situation in the Middle East, and to seriously review our contingency plans for our OFWs, subjecting them to periodic reassessments,” he told the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC) last Wednesday.

“We should also consider providing additional diplomatic and labor personnel, and ensuring greater accessibility and quick response, not only during conflict situations, but to address the day-to-day concerns of our countrymen,” Binay added.

The Vice President recently went to the Middle East to represent President Aquino to the national day of Kuwait. While in the region, he monitored developments in Libya and the repatriation efforts of the Philippine government.

“While admittedly, the Philippine government was initially unprepared to deal with the sudden breakout of civil conflict in Libya, we were able to solidify our repatriation efforts through effective coordination on the ground among our diplomatic and labor officials, led by (acting) Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, with the unqualified support of President Aquino,” he added.

Relatedly, Filipinos in Yemen were asked by the government to voluntarily depart the country in view of the increasing tensions there, but said mass evacuation is not yet necessary at this time.

Manila raised the alert level in Yemen to level 2, which means Filipinos must restrict their movements to only those which are absolutely essential. There is an estimated 2,000 Filipinos in Yemen.

“We are hopeful that the political situation will stabilize. Nonetheless, precautionary measures necessary to assure the safety of our Filipinos in Yemen,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis yesterday told a press conference.

Simultaneous unrest also plagues neighboring Middle East states likes Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and Libya in North Africa, where the government is still in the process of evacuating hundreds of remaining Filipino workers trapped in the raging conflict between leader Moammar Gadhafi’s troops and anti-government rebels.

The Philippine embassy in Riyadh, which covers the said country, recommended the raising of warning status in Yemen, Seguis said.

The situation in Yemen has also prompted other countries to issue travel advisories, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Indonesia.

Filipinos, Seguis said, must actively monitor ongoing developments; keep their communications lines open with the embassy in Riyadh and their designated community coordinators; inform the embassy or Filipino community coordinators assigned to their area of their whereabouts; keep an emergency bag ready which contains clothing, water, canned goods and medicine good for two weeks, for themselves and for their family members, and; have important documents such as passports and money ready and at hand.

Although the there is yet no need to raise the level to alert level 3 or voluntary repatriation, Seguis said the DFA will make available facilities for their repatriation.

In a report to the Home Office, Embassy Charge d’Affaires in Riyadh Ezzedin Tago said that as early as Feb.25, an embassy team was dispatched to Yemen to assess the security situation on the ground and make necessary preparations to ensure the safety and well being of Filipinos should the increasing tensions there gets worse. –Michaela P. del Callar, Daily Tribune