By Jonathan L. Mayuga & Rene Acosta
THE mandatory evacuation of Filipinos out of Iraq will proceed as planned to ensure their safety amid the growing tension in the Middle East, Environment Secretary and Special Envoy to the Middle East Roy A. Cimatu said on Thursday.
This, even as Tehran and Washington separately signaled on Thursday they will stop further military hostilities.
A former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff, Cimatu said despite the public pronouncements from Tehran and Washington, the situation remains unpredictable.
“It is better to err on the side of safety,” he said. He flew to Doha on Thursday afternoon on a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight to carry out his mission to coordinate interagency efforts on the ground in the Middle East, to ensure the protection of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Before leaving, Cimatu joined an interagency meeting, presided over by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, of the committee created to oversee the repatriation of Filipinos from the Middle East.
Pursuant to the directive of President Duterte, Lorenzana chaired the committee composed of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. as the vice chairman, and the secretaries of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Department of Transportation (DOTr) as members.
Lorenzana called the meeting to “fine-tune” and coordinate the repatriation plan for the Filipinos in the Middle East in light of the tensions in Iraq and Iran.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, and Cimatu, together with the representatives of other member-agencies, attended the committee meeting.
“The prime consideration of the plan is the safety and welfare of Filipinos in Iran, Iraq, and other neighboring countries, who may be affected by the current situation in the Middle East,” DND Spokesman Director Arsenio Andolong said.
The AFP has already been directed to stand ready to deploy assets and personnel to help Filipinos in affected countries return home. The government is also seriously considering the use of commercial aircraft and ships due to the potentially large number of evacuees.
“The Committee will be constantly monitoring the situation between the United States and Iran, and further updates will be provided as soon as they become available,” Andolong said.
‘Best time is now’
In Cimatu’s view, “the best time to evacuate Filipinos out of Iraq is now, while airports are still operating and the roads are clear; while there are still no military operations.”
Cimatu said a worst-case scenario is a simultaneous attack by Tehran targeting US Embassies outside Iraq, such as in Doha and Bahrain.
He said this means military operations become inevitable, airport operations may cease and road blockades put up—making the Filipinos’ exit from conflict areas harder.
Hence, he said the plan to forcibly evacuate Filipinos out of Iraq stays, and it applies even in the case of Iran and Lebanon, saying they are not taking any chances as the situation may eventually get worse anytime, any day.
“We are hoping for the best but we would rather err on the side of safety,” he said.
“Over preparation is better than under preparation,” he said.
Cimatu said he has instructions to move out some 1,600 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) including some undocumented ones, “while the Baghdad airports and roads are still open.” If the “worst-scenario occurs, we will never go wrong if we move now.”
In Doha, Cimatu will meet government representatives and the rapid response team in Qatar to discuss how they will move out the OFWs out of Iraq despite the easing of tension to the region, when Trump did not respond to Iran’s rain of missiles on Baghdad facilities hosting US troops.
“We will discuss the plan for the repatriation of OFWs in some areas affected by the level 4 mandatory annoucement. Level 4 means mandatory repatriation,” he said, “as we will coordinate logistic requirements for the repatriation,” Cimatu said during a press briefing at the airport’s dignitaries lounge.
“Assuming Baghdad is closed, we will go to Erbil but there is no direct flight to Manila so the OFWs will have to fly to Qatar and Dubai…. I was told there are some airlines still operating and roads are still open so we will take the opportunity to move out our people in Iraq.”
Cimatu said the worst-case scenario for the ongoing repatriation efforts would be for US bases in and around Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar to be targeted.
Every country in the Middle East has its own missiles as the situation is unpredictable; sometimes there are instances of surprise missile attacks, Cimatu said, adding,“They have the option to press the trigger. We have to be ready in case there will be some incidents along the way.”
According to Cimatu, the government decided to take the safest route with repatriation given the many other risks involved.
He said that repatriation in Lebanon was not necessarily because of the tension between the US and Iran, but that they were simply “preparing for possible actions of Hezbollah, a militant group there.”
Once in Doha, Cimatu said he will immediately call a meeting with Philippine Embassy officials there. He said he needs to know details of how embassy officials in Baghdad plan to start moving Filipinos out of Iraq. So far, he said around 1,600 Filipinos are registered and ready for repatriation.
He wants to know: what vehicles are available and how many can they transport safely, the routes to be used and how to move Filipinos to the Baghdad Airport; and, in case flights are canceled, how to get out of Baghdad to the nearest airport as soon as possible.
“We are preparing for the worst but hope for the best,” Cimatu said.
He said in Lebanon, because of the tension now, it is best to prepare the repatriation. The presence of a proxy of Iran in the area “might change the complexion of the repatriation plan in Lebanon.
“Right now, the repatriation in Lebanon is because of labor issues. But because of this tension, we must expedite the repatriation,” he said. “We cannot wait for postponement out of Lebanon,” he said, adding that the nature of the conflict is unpredictable. “Anything can happen. The problem is also the time of the attack. We cannot wait so we need to move them out before the situation deteriorates,” he said.
With Recto L. Mercene and Samuel P. Medenilla
Image credits: AP/Ebrahim Noroozi