PHL activates crisis management team for OFWs in Egypt

The Philippine government has formed a crisis management team in Manila to ensure the safety of Filipinos in Egypt amid ongoing tensions there as protesters seeking to end President Hosni Mubarak’s three-decade rule take the streets. The team will monitor the situation in the area, and provide assistance to Filipinos who have relatives in Egypt, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in a statement posted on its website Sunday afternoon. The DFA will also send two officials—Special Assistant Enrico Fos of the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs and Special Envoy to the Middle East Roy Cimatu—to Egypt to assist the Philippine Embassy in Cairo in implementing contingency measures for Filipinos, most of them migrant workers, in the area. At least 74 people have been killed in violent anti-government protests in Cairo during the past five days. The DFA has advised overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Egypt to stay indoors and steer clear of sites of the mass protests. Malacañang, for its part, assured the public that the government is maintaining contact with the embassy in Cairo and called for prayers for the safety of OFWs there. The DFA has also set a meeting with officials from the Department of Labor and Employment, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Philippine Overseas Employment Agency, Department of National Defense and Presidential Management Staff to map out further security measures for the OFWs. About 6,569 Filipinos are currently in Egypt, mostly in Cairo and Alexandria, government records show. - Dreo Calonzo/KBK, GMANews.TV