Palace: Gov’t has enough funds for Middle East response
Malacañang on Thursday assured the public that the government has sufficient funds to support its response efforts related to the Middle East conflict.
“As of now, nothing has been mentioned regarding that. We spoke with and directly asked Secretary [Frederick] Go of the Department of Finance and at present, there are no plans,” Palace press officer Claire Castro said in a briefing when asked if the government plans to borrow money from international lending institutions to keep Filipinos safe in the war-affected region.
California targets
“As of now, borrowing has not yet been considered,” she added.
Castro said the government must also be prepared to assist Filipinos in the US state of California, following a warning from the Federal Bureau of Investigation about a possible Iranian retaliation on California targets.
“Whenever there is information like that, the country needs to be prepared for the sake of our kababayan. This cannot be ignored or taken for granted. We need to be alert for whatever may happen to Filipinos in California,” she told reporters.
In a media interview during his working visit to New York on Wednesday, President Marcos said that arrangements were being made for two flights to bring home overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from the Middle East.
One of the planes will depart from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for Filipinos there, as well as those arriving from Kuwait and Bahrain, while the other one will fly out of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, after picking up Filipinos in Dubai, who want to come home.
