OFWs in Ukraine advised to stay put

ABS-CBNnews.com


MANILA, Philippines - Overseas Filipino workers in Ukraine should avoid going to public places where protests are being held, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said.
In a statement, Baldoz said the Department of Foreign Affairs has not recommended voluntary or mandatory repatriation of Filipinos living and working in Ukraine.
She said OFWs should stay calm and remain in their homes, and "not make any unnecessary visit or detours to public places where marches or protests are being held."
The DFA has strongly advised all Filipinos in Ukraine to communicate with the Philippine Embassy in Moscow and inform the embassy of their current condition. The Philippines has no embassy in Kiev, Ukraine's capital.
Baldoz said POEA data show that only 115 OFWs were deployed to Ukraine in 2013 and 57 in 2012, or a total of 175. Most of the OFWs deployed were administrative and managerial workers (41) while 30 are service workers.
Ukraine has been rocked by civil unrest in the last few weeks, leading to the formation of a new government.
There are heightened tensions in Ukraine, as the government said Russia was building up armored vehicles on its side of a narrow stretch of water near the Ukrainian region of Crimea after President Vladimir Putin said he had the right to invade his neighbour, prompting a sell-off in Russian assets.
Ukraine mobilised for war on Sunday and Washington threatened to isolate Russia economically after Putin's declaration, provoking Moscow's biggest confrontation with the West since the Cold War.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, head of a pro-Western government that took power when former president Viktor Yanukovich, a Russian ally, fled on Feb. 21 after three months of street protests against his rule, said Putin had effectively declared war on his country. - With Reuters

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