DFA renews call on OFWs to leave Yemen

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday renewed its call to all remaining Filipinos in strife-torn Yemen to leave as tension in the Middle East state continues to escalate.

Since the government ordered the evacuation of all Filipinos in Yemen in May 30, only 178 of the estimated 1,200 Filipinos there have returned home.

Manila raised the crisis alert level in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa to alert level 4 on June 6, where mandatory evacuation and repatriation at the expense of Philippine government is in effect. The government has also banned work deployment and all kinds of travel to the country.

Philippine ambassador-designate to Saudi Arabia Ezzedin Tago, who leads a crisis team in Yemen, said Filipinos “should not wait until it is too late for them to leave Yemen.” Manila does not have an embassy in Yemen.

Filipino workers’ refusal to take part in government evacuations in the initial stages of conflict in some troubled Arab states had led to bigger problems in the past. Some of those who stayed behind like in Libya, where civil unrest continues, had a hard time moving to safer grounds when armed fighting have escalated and government rescue teams would encounter extreme difficulty getting through them.

Political uprisings in Yemen have become more violent as the wave of Arab unrests grip the Middle East and North Africa with protesters calling for an end to authoritarian rule and reforms.

Tago said most Filipinos refused to leave, saying their employers have a contingency plan for them if security conditions become worse.

Others, he added, are committed to fulfill their contractual obligation with their employer to get their salaries and benefits in full or are willing to stay as long as they are not in danger.

Nevertheless, Tago said, the Filipinos were advised to call the embassy teams in capital Sanaa and Aden if they feel unsafe in the area they are residing so they can be moved to a safe area.

They were also asked not to venture outside so as not to compromise their security. –Michaela P. del Callar, Daily Tribune