The national government has safely rescued three overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Sudan as part of its plan to begin the evacuation of more Filipinos "within 24 hours" as the country experiences a deadly power struggle between the army and paramilitary forces.
In a press briefing on Monday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the 3 rescued OFWs were all females who worked for an airline at Saudia and were stuck in Khartoum following the clash.
Following the rescue, the women were transferred to Jeddah.
"Sila at ibang empleyado ng eroplano, dinala ng Saudi government as Port ng Sudan. Galing doon, sinundo sila ng military vessel galing Saudi Arabia na nagdala sa kanila sa Jeddah. At doon sila sinalubong kasama ang ating consul nandoon. Sila ang unang tatlong Pilipinong nakalikas," DFA Undersecretary Eduardo De Vega said.
He added that the evacuation will be done in batches and will either be done by land travel northwards to Egypt, and the other by water travel eastwards through the Port of Sudan.
De Vega also thanked the Saudia government, appealing to them for assistance for future repatriation.
Evacuation buses have already been rented by the embassy, where travel to southern Egypt may last around 15 hours at the minimum.
From the south of Egypt, De Vega said the Filipinos will be brought to Aswan International Airport where they will board their flight to Cairo, Egypt’s capital. From Cairo, the Filipinos will be repatriated back to the Philippines.
“Initially, we have 300 Filipinos in Sudan [in our registry]. Since we called on them to reach out to the embassy so we can help them, it went up to 300, then now, those registered have already increased to 696,” De Vega said.
“There are few who are household workers, but most of the Filipinos here have high-paying jobs such as teachers, and engineers. They are paid well because of the dangers here,” he added.
However, the Philippine embassy in Cairo, Egypt through said some 300 Filipinos have sought help or rescue.
“It will take some time due to the limited supply of buses [for rental]. But we assure them that in one to two weeks, you will be repatriated and will be provided assistance,” he assured, noting that the government will also shoulder their evacuation and repatriation cost.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier stated that they are waiting for more information on the safety of bringing the evacuees out of Khartoum, Sudan, and possibly into Cairo, Egypt, where the Philippine Embassy has jurisdiction over the North African country.
"We are just waiting to get better information as to whether or not it will be safe to bring our evacuees out of Khartoum perhaps into Cairo," Marcos said on Saturday.
