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MANILA, Philippines--President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the release of an initial $15,000 on Sunday to cover the emergency repatriation of some 500 Filipinos stranded in Thailand’s main international airport.
The amount, which will be released to the Department of Foreign Affairs, will pay for the Filipinos’ trip from the Suvarnabhumi airport to the northern city of Chiang Mai where they will catch a Manila-bound Philippine Airlines flight.
Anti-government protesters occupied the airport Tuesday in a bid to pressure Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat into resignation.
“There’s a critical problem now and the President has taken immediate measures,” Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said in an interview with DzRB.
Quoting Philippine Ambassador to Bangkok Antonio Rodriguez, he said the number of stranded Filipinos could hit around 1,000 within the next few days. He said among them were 84 overseas workers returning from Kuwait and were stopping over in the Thai capital.
“The embassy is taking all efforts to provide assistance to stranded passengers,” he said, while assuring that “the protesters were not harming at all foreigners or tourists.”
Dureza said PAL owner Lucio Tan had agreed to send a plane to accommodate Filipinos who would be moved to Chiang Mai, a 10-hour drive from Bangkok.
He said the government was also in touch with Cebu Pacific on the possibility of picking up stranded compatriots from Chiang Mai.
The city’s airport was apparently the next best thing to the paralyzed Suvarnabhumi airport.
Dureza said the Philippine government dropped the idea of moving Filipino passengers out from Thailand through Phuket because of the “very strong anti-government sector there.”
“(Thai officials) cannot assure the safety of passengers (there),” he explained.
Quoting Rodriguez, he said the Thai government had received requests from some neighboring countries to reset the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit scheduled in Chiang Mai for Dec. 15 to 18 as a result of the political crisis.
He said Thai officials were to decide on the matter this week.
“Everybody is also just waiting and hoping that the standoff can be resolved as early and peacefully as possible,” he said.
