Over 10,000 OFWs in Russia amid invasion of Ukraine —POEA

By RICHA NORIEGA, GMA News More than 10,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are in Russia, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said, amid sanctions placed on the country for its invasion of Ukraine. In The Mangahas Interviews on Thursday, POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia said Europe is an “emerging market” for OFWs. He, however, noted that many OFWs in the region, including the countries near Ukraine and Russia, have been affected byo the invasion. “Ang Europa is an emerging market of our OFWs. Yung bansa pong nasa paligid ng Ukraine, yung Romania, Hungary, [at] Moldova, karamihan po dyan bago lang po yung mga deployment natin at nagsisimula pa po yung mga pagpapadala natin ng OFWs dyan,” Olalia said. (Europe is an emerging market for OFWs. Most of the countries around Ukraine including Romania, Hungary, and Moldova, have newly employed OFWs and we are still starting to deploy OFWs there.) “Napaka-volatile ng sitwasyon doon at hindi po natin masasabi kung kailan matatapos. Habang tumatagal, maraming OFWs po natin ang apektado, lalong lalo na sa Russia. Marami po tayong kababayan doon, mahigit 10,000, at karamihan po ng mga kababayan natin doon ay mga domestic workers,” he added. (The situation there has been very volatile and we can't say when it will end. Many of our OFWs there have been affected, especially in Russia. We have more than 10,000 countrymen and women there and many of them are domestic workers.) Meanwhile, Olalia said at least 472 Filipino seafarers in Ukraine were also affected, while almost 200 of them were disembarked as of last week. Around 60 seafarers also arrived in the Philippines. “May mga nag-aantabay na lang na papaalis na at inaayos na lamang yung kanilang paliparan ang nagaantay po roon sa onboard natin, sa tingin ko po mahigit 100 pa sa conflict area na iyon at kinakailangan pong maghintay pa tayo ng tamang panahon kasi may nangyayari ng kaguluhan at hindi po basta-basta yung repatriation,” he said. (There are people who are just waiting to leave, they are waiting to board. I think there are more than 100 individuals in the conflict area and we still have to wait for the right time because there is war and it is not very easy to repatriate.) Ukraine claimed Thursday that Russia had bombed a theater harboring more than a thousand people in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, with the toll as yet unknown. For days Russian forces have bombarded the city—which once had about half a million residents—cutting power, food and water supplies. — BM, GMA News