No Filipino hurt or killed in fresh clashes in Egypt

DFA spokesman Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — There were no reported Filipino casualties in fresh clashes that left more than 50 dead across Egypt, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Monday.

“No report of Filipino casualties in the latest incident in Egypt. We continue to advise Filipinos there to take extra precaution and avail [themselves] of the mandatory repatriation program of the Philippine government,” said Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez, spokesman of the Department of Foreign Affairs in a text message on Monday.

The resurgence of violence marked the anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, as Egypt’s military-backed government commemorated the event on Sunday, breaking the relative calm since bloody clashes erupted in August, reports from the ground said.

Ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s supporters clashed with police in Cairo and other parts of Egypt, leaving more than 50 dead and nearly 300 injured.

Clashes in August prompted the Philippines to order a mandatory evacuation of some 6,000 Filipinos there amid the “marked deterioration of peace and order, exacerbated by the complex political challenges,” as Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario had said.

Filipinos in Egypt are mostly employed as skilled and household service workers in Cairo and Alexandria. Since the mandatory repatriation call, some 145 Filipinos have so far volunteered to return to the Philippines, Hernandez said.