Posted on 01/08/2020 4:48:33 PM PST by knarf
We just heard this over a Filipino TV channel we listen to
Duterte issued the directive during an emergency meeting with defence, military and police officials, said Arsenio Andolong, spokesman for the Department of National Defence.
“The sole agenda was how to ensure the safety of our countrymen in the Middle East, especially those in Iraq and Iran as the tension between the United States and Iran rises,” Andolong said in a statement.
“The president tasked the armed forces to prepare its air and naval assets to evacuate and bring home our countrymen if and when open hostilities erupt in the Middle East that may endanger their lives,” he added.
There are currently 1,600 Filipinos in Iran and 6,000 in Iraq, Andolong said.
The death of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike has stoked fears of a new war in the Middle East.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed to revenge Soleimani’s killing, while President Donald Trump warned that the U.S. would target 52 sites in the Islamic Republic if Tehran retaliates.
Good move, it seems.
Well, Duterte seems very stable and reasonable.
What military. The Philipino Air Force uses the leftover Imelda Marcos bras for skycaps.
Whatever happened to her shoe collection?
Persia , the city of glass. ...the city of glass. ...thinking of the Doors LA woman. ....(city of lights)
For over two thousand years the muzzies fight to conquer.
Just make it glass. ...
The dingo ate your shoe collection. ....
Flips....as affectionately called..have it rough in the ME
The Filipinos are Christian, and they manage to work inside muslim countries. That gives them an almost unique opportunity to help spread the gospel (albeit surreptitiously)
They have planes and they have pride ... let ‘em have an air force.
The sad thing is that Filipinas can make some money to send home (EXTREME family people) and will suffer anything so long as Mama has food and nice things she couldn't have otherwise.
They have @ a half-dozen C-130’s and similar aircraft that could be used for this. Some were deployed to the ME in previous crises, IIRC.
Also the PAF have worked closely with PAL (many reserve PAF officers in that airline) and the gov’t has leased commercial aircraft before, for emergencies.
The PAF is small but it exists.
The problem is getting the passports from the employers.
Usually, as the worker is brought into the country the employer or middleman takes the passport, leaving the worker in a terrible mess.
I don't think a piece of paper (the passport) will stop him from doing whatever it takes to rescue them.
The sadness of the Philippines today. The economy continues to so under perform that over 2 million Philippine citizens earn their living working out of the country, somewhere in the world. They are not just in low level jobs, but in nearly all the top professions as well, but working overseas ONLY because the jobs are just not there in the Philippines.
Good.
I have (hopefully) a potential daughter-in-law in the PI.
I want to believe her leader is good for their country.
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