Vice President and DFA Secretary Teofisto Guingona said Pakistan is now in danger because of the war that has erupted in Afghanistan, its neighboring country.
"We are advising Filipinos to refrain from going to Pakistan where danger exists," he said.
There are some 600 Filipinos in Pakistan working in different industries, but Guingona said many of them have already returned to the Philippines after the United States announced plans to strike Afghanistan for harboring suspected international terrorist Osama bin Laden, believed responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the US.
As this developed, Wilhelm Soriano, chief of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) was dispatched to the Middle East yesterday to assess the plight of more than one million Filipino workers in the region.
Soriano told airport reporters that although the US-led strikes are limited to Afghanistan, and though Afghanistan is remotely located from the Middle East, still the Philippine government is not taking any chances.
Soriano was ordered by no less than President Arroyo to go to Bahrain, Jeddah, Al Kobar, Riyadh, Beirut, Abu Dhabi and Dubai to oversee the setting of contingency plans for Filipinos working there.
He revealed that the government has already set aside more than P200 million for repatriation expenses of those who would need to go home if the situation worsens. – With Rey Arquiza