Gov’t scrambles to help Filipinos in other hot spots

MANILA, Philippines—Even as the conflict in Libya intensified, Philippine officials scrambled at the weekend to ease the plight of Filipinos in other hot spots—Japan, Bahrain and Yemen.

More than a week after a 9-magnitude quake and 20-meter tsunami hit northeastern Japan, four consular missions sent by the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo had relocated only 112 of some 4,000 Filipinos the disaster-affected areas.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said a “new consular mission” was scheduled at the weekend to pick up more Filipino evacuees from Miyagi and Hokoshima.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario flew to Tokyo on Friday to look into the embassy’s assistance program that has been criticized as confused and inept.

Del Rosario defended Ambassador Manuel Lopez, a former Meralco president, against tirades from various groups, saying the mission was “trying to be helpful and proactive.”

“They are committed. At this point, we have to believe they are trying to give a good job as possible,” Del Rosario said.

Bahrain assurance

On Saturday, Del Rosario flew to Bahrain, where he met with Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa. He reported to Manila on Sunday that Khalifa sought to assure some 32,000 Filipinos they would remain safe in spite of civil unrest in the Persian Gulf country.

Khalifa also vowed to “work closely with the Philippines in making the lives of Filipinos in Bahrain even better,” Del Rosario said.

Last week, Manila imposed a ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Bahrain.

The Philippine Embassy in Manama has reminded Filipino workers to “remain calm, refrain from going outdoors unless necessary, avoid making comments or actions that may be considered politically-sensitive by their hosts, and to be sensitive to local culture, customs and traditions, as well as religious beliefs in Bahrain.”

In an advisory, the Filipinos were also advised to “stock up on at least a two-week supply of food and water, as well as basic medicines, flashlights, candles, mobile phones, and transistor radios.”

They should “make sure that important documents, such as their passports and driver’s licenses, are readily available,” Philippine Ambassador to Bahrain Corazon Yap-Bahjin reported to the DFA office in Manila.

Yemen

Also Sunday, Migrante-Middle East said Filipinos working in Yemen had been asking where they could ask for guidance and what was the government’s emergency plan in case security conditions in the restive country deteriorated.

John Leonard Monterona, Migrante regional coordinator, said he had received a report from the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, that Filipinos could not locate any Philippine officials in Yemen and that they had not been provided with hotline numbers of embassy officials.

The Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, administers consular matters and labor-related functions and services for some 2,000 Filipinos working in Yemen in the absence of a diplomatic post there.

Scores of protesters have been killed in the Yemeni capital when security forces tried to crush mounting anti-government mass actions last week.

Following the crackdown, Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh placed the Arab nation under a state of emergency to quell efforts to ouster him.

“This warrants close monitoring of the situation by the concerned embassy and the DFA officials, and issue a corresponding advisory to guide our OFWs in Yemen,” Monterona said Sunday.