Repatriation starts; DND chief says PH ‘neutral’

DFA Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. Contributed photo

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has started the repatriation of Filipinos in Ukraine, with Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. saying he would go to that country’s border with Poland to “see to [their] safety.”

“As of now, there are 37 Filipinos on the road, on the way to Lviv [in western Ukraine] eventually for repatriation,” Foreign Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola said at the Laging Handa briefing on Friday.

She said four of the Filipinos were supposed to fly out of Ukraine earlier, but all airports in the country were closed after the Russian invasion began on Thursday.

In Lviv, the Filipinos would be met by Philippine Embassy officials before they head on to Poland, Arriola said.

She said Locsin would wait for the first batch of expatriates at the Polish border.

“We are thanking Poland for giving us this humanitarian corridor for allowing our people to cross,” Arriola added.

In a tweet, Locsin said he would go with Foreign Assistant Secretary Jet Ledda and protocol officer George Pineda “to personally see to the safety of my people at Ukrainian border.”

“Deeply grateful to Poland. We’ll never forget this,” he also said.

There are an estimated 350 Filipinos in Ukraine. Arriola said “We have accounted for 181.”

“As for the rest of the Filipinos, we are begging, we are asking them, please inform the embassy through their contact numbers or the honorary consulate in Kyiv where you are so that we know how to help you and how to reach out to you,” she added.

Still voluntary

Repatriation from Ukraine is still voluntary, she stressed, and that it would be up to Locsin to raise the DFA’s alert level on Ukraine and order the evacuation of all Filipinos there.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the country would take a neutral stand for now on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We should not meddle with the affairs in Europe, because we are not beside the borders of Ukraine. While nearby countries have expressed their support, we are going to be neutral for now,” he told reporters.

In a separate statement, Lorenzana said: “The Department of National Defense views the developments in Ukraine with the utmost concern. We are monitoring the situation closely and are standing by to assist our other government agencies led by the (DFA) in repatriating our citizens from Ukraine, if and when we are called upon to do so.”

Concepcion warning

“We hope that the situation does not escalate beyond what can still be resolved through diplomacy and the international rules-based order,” he said. Also on Friday, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion warned that the developments in Ukraine could lead to higher prices of commodities.

He said the country should shift to alert level 1 so more businesses could resume operations and prepare for any economic impact from the conflict.

“[W]e should brace ourselves for price increases. So inflation will go up and, of course, consumers cannot absorb all of the price increases, so there will be a margin squeeze,” Concepcion said. —WITH REPORTS FROM DEXTER CABALZA AND TINA G. SANTOS