Marcos says gov't looking to take advantage of ceasefire to evacuate more Pinoys in Sudan --- By ANNA FELICIA BAJO, GMA Integrated News

The Philippine government is preparing to evacuate more Filipinos during the 72-hour ceasefire between Sudan's warring factions, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said on Tuesday. advertisement According to the President, the government wants to take advantage of the ceasefire to bring home more Filipinos. "Right now, we are hoping that the 72-hour ceasefire that has been declared will hold and we will... we are preparing ourselves. In fact, Secretary Ople is on her way to the area para kung sakali matuloy man 'yung ating 'yung sinasabing 72 hours na ceasefire, eh makapagtake advantage tayo. Mailabas natin ang mga tao natin. So that's what we're working on now," Marcos said in a video message. (Sec. Ople is on her way to the area so if the ceasefire holds, we can take advantage and bring more Filipinos out.) Marcos pointed out that the government is considering the safety of Filipinos as some land routes are unsafe and the airports were also bombed. "Ang mahirap is that even the land routes are not completely safe, as yet 'yung mga airports binomba pa, hindi talaga magamit," said Marcos. (What's hard is that even the land routes are not completely safe, some airports are under attack and cannot be used.) "Baka sa KSA, baka sa Djibouti and of course, the original plan was to take them to Cairo pero mahaba... So we're watching the situation very closely and to see if there's a window of opportunity na mailabas natin ang mga Philippine nationals natin," he added. (Maybe in KSA, in Djibouti and of course, the original plan was to take them to Cairo but it's too far. So we're watching the situation very closely and to see if there's a window of opportunity where we can evacuate Filipino nationals.) So far, 50 Filipinos were evacuated out of Khartoum, Sudan amid the ongoing clashes between the Sudanese military and a paramilitary group, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said. DFA spokesperson Ma. Teresita Daza said the first batch of Filipino evacuees left Khartoum by land at 8 p.m. (Manila time) yesterday. From there, the Filipinos were expected to reach Aswan in Egypt and then its capital, Cairo. The DFA has said 156 Filipinos in Sudan have sought the Philippine government's help for their repatriation. The violence in Sudan erupted between the forces of the two generals who seized power in a 2021 coup: the army chief and his deputy, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. —VAL, GMA Integrated News

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