Senate President Vicente Sotto lll (File photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Saturday that the Philippines should be neutral in the increasing tension between the United States and Iran for now, citing possible effects for Filipinos in the US and in Iran.
“For me, we should be neutral for now. We should just be neutral.],” Sotto, a former Army reservist, said in Filipino in an interview at DWIZ when asked if the Philippines should take sides in the conflict between US and Iran.
“The President said he would side with US if Filipinos were harmed in the Middle East. But the question is what if an OFW [overseas Filipino worker] were harmed by the US? Are we going to side with the US?” he added.
The government is currently planning the repatriation of Filipinos in the Middle East should the tension between US and Iran erupt into war.
/atm