Last Saturday, the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) Chairman and Resident Representative Silvestre Belo III addressed concerns on Filipinos’ safety in Taiwan safety amid tensions between China and Taiwan.
Together with the Philippine government, MECO is looking out for the Filipinos in the country.
In a media forum, Bello gave an assurance that in Taiwan everything is normal and if there will be an emergency situation like an earthquake or war, the Taiwan government is ready to protect their citizens as well as the OFWs.
The National Police Agency of Taiwan gave Bello guarantee for the safety and protection of the Filipinos in the nation.
Bello said that he met with the Director General and the head of the Home Civilian Defense of Taiwan, and gave assurance for the well-being of the Filipinos.
According to security officials, Taiwan has 89,000 shelters which can lodge more than the total population of Taiwan.
That is how prepared they are and that they really treasure the OFWs because for them they are the best in the manufacturing industry, Bello said.
Filipino laborers in Taiwan work in 90% of the factories, Bello added.
There are about 160,000 OFWs working in factories while the rest of the Filipino laborers are farmers, teachers and are in the hospital industry.
There is no need to worry since everything is normal and our OFWs there are safe, and there is no danger of what you call confrontation between China and Taiwan.
Previously, President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. said that ‘developing cooperation’ on an ‘international scale’ still needs to carry on in order to settle tensions in Taiwan.
Before his trip to Washington, DC, the chief executive pointed out that there is still a need to ‘fix the arrangements, our alliances, so that they conform to the needs of the day. And that again, comes back again to that process of evolution.”
The President again said that ‘the Philippines shall continue to be a friend to all, and an enemy of none.’
Last month, there were no Filipinos that were asking support for repatriation amid the tensions, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
There are also contingency plans placed in areas in Taiwan. where there are a lot of Filipino workers, the DFA added.
