Palace shoots down Duterte repatriation suggestion
Easier said than done.
Malacañang on Monday hit back at Vice President Sara Duterte, who earlier said that the government could just send airplanes to bring home distressed overseas Filipino workers from the conflict-stricken Middle East.
Palace press officer Claire Castro said that while logistics are ready, the government could not just send air assets as the airspace in a huge part of the region remains shut after being declared a combat zone.
Airspace closed
“During a Cabinet meeting last week, the first thing that the President really pointed out was that it is not that simple to send an airplane [to any of the countries in the Middle East]. The airspace is closed, so you simply cannot fly,” Castro said.
“Contrary to what the Vice President said that it is easy to send an airplane to fetch stranded Filipinos, it is actually impossible to do that at the moment,” she added.
She further said that even sending a military aircraft could place Filipinos in greater danger as airstrikes continue in different parts of the Middle East.
“The President said we might end up putting our fellow Filipinos at risk if we push it. We just have to make sure that if they are to be flown out, their lives will be safe,” Castro said.
Duterte earlier said that at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, contracted commercial planes to bring home Filipinos from different parts of the world.
According to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, the government spent a total of P23 billion for the repatriation of around 1.7 million Filipinos at the time.
As of Sunday, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) reported that a total of 649 Filipinos from different Middle East countries had been repatriated in seven flights since March 5.
Most of them came from the United Arab Emirates, particularly Dubai and Abu Dhabi, while others were from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac earlier said the government had identified exit routes in the countries affected by the conflict, but declined to give more details for security reasons.
