Gov’t reaching out to Filipinos in Myanmar after 1-year state of emergency declaration

Department of Foreign Affairs building. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the Philippine Embassy in Myanmar is coordinating with the Filipino community there after Myanmar’s military declared a one-year state of emergency on Monday.

“[The] Philippine Embassy is reaching out to Filipinos in Myanmar through Filipino community networks,” DFA Executive Director for Strategic Communications Ivy Banzon-Abalos told reporters in a message.

“At the moment, situation in Yangon and Mandalay seems stable, apart from Covid restrictions and mobile lines being down,” she added.

The embassy, she added, was able to communicate with the Filipino community in Myanmar through an online message application.

According to DFA data, there are 1,273 Filipinos in Myanmar as of June 2020.

Before Myanmar’s military declared a state of emergency, civilian Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader, was detained in the early hours along with the president and other top politicians after weeks of tensions with the military over the allegations of vote-rigging. With a report from Agence France-Presse

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