DFA orders Filipinos to leave troubled Yemen

Another 46 Filipinos in Yemen have availed themselves of the government offer of repatriation, according to Philippine Ambassador to Riyadh Ezzedin Tago.

Citing the “worsening security situation” in Yemen, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has raised to number 4 the crisis alert level for Filipinos in the Middle East country.

Alert level 4 calls for the mandatory evacuation and repatriation of the 1,420-plus Philippine nationals based mainly in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, and the port city of Aden.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on Monday said that “in light of the worsening security situation, we are asking Filipinos to get in touch with the embassy team stationed there so they could be moved to a safer area, and then out of the country.”

The 46 Filipinos, many of them undocumented workers, were to return to Manila on Monday, Tago said, adding that teams from the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, which has consular jurisdiction over Yemen, were arranging flights for another 54 repatriates.

So far, nearly 180 Filipinos, mainly based in the Yemeni capital Sanaa and the port city of Aden, have signed up for repatriation.

“Our problem is convincing our nationals to leave. Most are hesitant to leave except for the overstaying ones, many of whom are jobless… We are reconciling the numbers as some had registered with us but later retracted,” Tago told the Inquirer.

Last week, 19 Filipinos in Sanaa flew back to Manila. Tago said that contrary to published reports, “commercial flights from Sanaa were never canceled last week.”

The DFA has also imposed a ban on labor deployment and travel to Yemen. Jerry E. Esplanada and Philip C. Tubeza