“ALL Filipinos in Ukraine who want to return to the country may now come home; the government will shoulder the cost.”
Shirley Santosildes, Filipino community leader based in Kyev, posted this message—written originally in Filipino—on the Facebook page of United Filipino Global Ukraine amid fears Russian will invade Ukraine.
In an interview with Business Mirror, Santosildes said they had a virtual meeting with officials from The Philippine Embassy in Poland Sunday afternoon. Based on the Embassy assessment, she said, Filipinos “should leave Ukraine.”
There are around 380 Filipinos in Ukraine, mostly domestic helpers and teachers.
Based on standard contingency measures, the DFA, upon the recommendation of the concerned Philippine Embassy, can impose mandatory evacuation on Filipinos in conflict areas, under Alert Level 4. Under Alert 4, the government will shoulder the repatriation cost.
Business Mirror sought confirmation from the Department of Foreign Affairs and The Philippine Embassy in Warsaw, but got no comment as of presstime.
If this pushes through, the Philippines joins other governments which have already called their nationals to leave—the United States, Germany, Italy, Britain, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Canada, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Australia, Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Santosildes said the Embassy has asked that the Filipinos enlist before the Philippine Honorary Consulate in Kyev. The honorary consulate would book their tickets from Kyev to Istanbul and then to Manila.
So far, only eight Filipinos have volunteered to be repatriated, Santosildes said. Two of these Filipinos have also listed their children and Ukrainian husbands in the
repatriation flight.
Santosildes, a Grade 4 teacher, will not heed the call for evacuation because her Romanian employer has promised to extract them out of the country if the threat becomes more imminent. Romania has a land border with Ukraine.
She said some OFWs who don’t want to return to Manila plan to migrate to a third country if the situation in Ukraine deteriorates.