BI implements partial deployment ban to Kuwait, keeps eye on Middle East tension
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration is ready to implement changes in foreign policy and in the deployment of Overseas Filipino Workers, its commissioner said Tuesday in light of tension in the Middle East and a ban on sending workers to Kuwait.
The Immigration bureau has already started implementing a partial ban on sending newly-hired household service workers to Kuwait in response to the death of Jeanelyn Villavende, a Filipino worker who was allegedly killed by her employer in late December 2019.
Kuwaiti-bound HSWs whose overseas employment certificates were issued before January 3, the day the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration ordered the ban, will be allowed to leave.
"The government's primary concern is the welfare of our kababayan, hence the BI is ready to implement any directive regarding our foreign policy or OFW deployment should the concerned agencies sees a need to implement any change," Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said.
The BI said it is ready to implement new policies "should the Department of Foreign Affairs or DOLE impose any new ban to Iraq, Iran, and Libya."
Tension has been rising in the Middle East, particularly in Iran and Iraq, after the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike in an airport in Iraq last week.
Military told to prepare to evacuate Filipino workers
President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the military to prepare for the
"He (Duterte) ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines to prepare their air and naval assets for the evacuation of our countrymen
The president also formed a special working committee composed of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and
Environment Secretary Roy
Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers Abdullah Mamao was also directed to fly to Iran and Iraq to relay Duterte's message to the Iranian and Iraqi governments.
Duterte has sent special messages to the aforementioned countries that he does not want any Filipino to
"Foremost in the mind of the President is the safety of Filipinos in the Middle East and he assures the Filipino community and the nation that the Philippine Government is doing everything it can in making sure that our fellow citizens abroad are out of harm's way," Panelo said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs earlier advised all Filipinos to cancel any travel to Iraq due to the situation in the country.
Filipinos in Iraq were also told to coordinate with the Philippine Embassy and their employers in case of mandatory evacuation.
Data from the embassy shows that at least 538 undocumented and 1,190 documented Filipinos
More than half of them are in the relatively safer Kurdistan region while around 847 are in the Baghdad area.
Saudi Arabia reveals extensive damage to key oil facilities following weekend aerial strikes that were blamed on Iran, but vows to quickly restore full production even as regional tensions soar.
Yemen's Tehran-linked Huthi rebels, who announced a sudden halt to attacks on Saudi Arabia, claims the strikes on state giant Aramco's facilities in Khurais and the world's largest oil processing facility at Abqaiq.
But Washington has pointed the finger at Tehran, condemning an "act of war" which knocked out half of Saudi Arabia's oil production and on Friday prompted US President Donald Trump to sketch out the latest in a series of economic sanctions against Iran. — AFP
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday accused his US counterpart of "inciting chaos" after President Joe Biden expressed support for protests in the wake of Mahsa Amini's death in custody.
"The remarks of the American president, who is inciting chaos, terror and the destruction of another country, serve as a reminder of the eternal words of the founder of the Islamic republic, who called America the Great Satan," Raisi says, referring to the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei.
"The enemy's plot must be countered by effective measures to resolve people's problems," Raisi adds, according to a presidency statement.
Iran has been rocked by protests since 22-year-old Amini's death on September 16, three days after she was arrested by morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code for women. — AFP
Detained US citizen Baquer Namazi has been allowed to leave Iran and his son has been granted furlough from prison, a State Department spokesperson tells AFP, confirming their release.
"Wrongfully detained US citizen Baquer Namazi has been permitted to depart Iran, and his son Siamak, also wrongfully detained, has been granted furlough from prison," the spokesperson says. — AFP
President Joe Biden says the United States will place "further costs" on Iran in response to the violent crackdown against "peaceful protestors" in the country.
"This week, the United States will be imposing further costs on perpetrators of violence against peaceful protestors. We will continue holding Iranian officials accountable and supporting the rights of Iranians to protest freely," Biden says in a statement.
Biden says he is "gravely concerned about reports of the intensifying violent crackdown on peaceful protestors in Iran, including students and women, who are demanding their equal rights and basic human dignity."
"The United States stands with Iranian women and all the citizens of Iran who are inspiring the world with their bravery." — AFP
The United States rejects Iranian reports that Tehran's release of two detained Americans will lead to the unfreezing of Iranian funds abroad.
Baquer Namazi, 85, was permitted to leave Iran for medical treatment abroad, and his son Siamak, 50, was released from detention in Tehran, the United Nations said on Saturday.
Now Iran is awaiting the release of about $7 billion in funds frozen abroad, Iranian state media says.
"With the finalisation of negotiations between Iran and the United States to release the prisoners of both countries, $7 billion of Iran's blocked resources will be released," the state news agency IRNA says.
But the US State Department dismissed any such link as "categorically false."
"Baquer Namazi was unjustly detained in Iran and then not permitted to leave the country after serving his sentence, despite his repeated requirement for urgent medical attention," a department spokesperson says. — AFP
Iran's foreign minister said Sunday that Washington is "imposing new conditions" in the negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement.
"On the issue of lifting sanctions, they (the Americans) are interested in proposing and imposing new conditions outside the negotiations," state news agency IRNA quoted Hossein Amir-Abdollahian as saying.
"In the last two or three weeks, the American side has made excessive demands that contradict some paragraphs of the text," he added.
Iran has been engaged for a year in negotiations with France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China directly, and the United States indirectly in the Austrian capital to revive the deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). -- AFP
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