House working on contingency plans for Pinoys in Mideast —Cayetano

By ERWIN COLCOL, GMA News
Even without a special session, the House of Representatives is working on contingency plans targeted at Filipino migrant workers who may be affected by the rising tensions in the Middle East, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano said Wednesday.
In an interview with reporters in Taguig City, Cayetano said they are still waiting for a formal communication from Malacañang regarding President Rodrigo Duterte's plan to convene Congress in special session.
"As of this day, wala. But as of this day [din], kami din sa Kongreso ay nag-draw up din ng possible suggestions or contingency plans kung may mangyayari nga sa Middle East," he said.
One of these contingency plans, Cayetano said, is to transfer Filipinos to areas within the Middle East that have less violence.
"Hindi naman yung buong Saudi is under threat, unless it's a nuclear war. And if it's a nuclear war, God forbid, no one wants that, wala kang tataguan," he said.
"But if it's not a nuclear war, meron areas in the Middle East na mas mura na doon i-safety ang mga Pinoy rather than the logistical nightmare na iuwi lahat," he added.
Another possible course of action is to have all the contingency plans of Middle Eastern countries where there are many Filipinos submitted to the Office of the President, Cayetano said.
Apart from these, the government can also consider deploying unarmed military personnel to Philippine embassies in Middle Eastern countries to ensure the protection of Filipino migrant workers there, the Speaker added.
"Time and time again, it has been proven that kapag meron kang militar at may evacuation, mas organized sila. Mas alam nila ang gagawin. Especially those na may contacts na sa mga lugar na yun," he said.
"Again, unarmed, they will not be used for combat, they will be used to secure. Why? It is very hard for embassies and embassy officials to secure the OFWs if the embassy, embassy vehicles and embassy official business is not secured," he added.
Cayetano said these scenarios are merely suggestions from the House of Representatives, and it is possible that these are already being implemented.
"Ito lang ay sa side namin dahil may mga naging ambassador din naman, may mga militar din sa Kongreso at in my case former Secretary of Foreign Affairs," he said. —LDF, GMA News

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