DFA chief personally checks contingency plans in Yemen

After personally attending to the safety of Filipinos in Japan and Bahrain, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario went to Yemen to assess the situation on the ground there. The Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday del Rosario was in Yemen Sunday also to revalidate the Philippine Embassy team's contingency plan for Filipinos there. "Secretary Del Rosario was met and had a working dinner with Yemeni Foreign Minister Dr. Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi in Sanaa. The Foreign Minister assured Secretary Del Rosario that the Yemeni government is committed to protect and ensure the safety of Filipinos in Yemen," the DFA said in a news release posted on the DFA website Monday afternoon. Upon arrival, Del Rosario and DFA Undersecretary Rafael Seguis met with a team from the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh who are in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, headed by Charge d'Affaires (CDA) Ezzedin Tago. Tago is there with four other embassy officers and staff to implement the contingency plan for the country. A three-member team from the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah is also in Aden for the same purpose, the DFA said. During the meeting, they discussed the contingency plan, where Del Rosario praised the plan for its comprehensiveness. Del Rosario also made it the model contingency plan for Philippine Embassies in other countries. He then met the members of the Filipino community to listen to their views on the situation in Yemen and gather their recommendations on how best to safeguard the safety of community members, the DFA said. "The Filipino community members were given a list of contact numbers of the Embassy team and of the assigned coordinators for the different areas in Yemen," it said. According to the DFA, there are around 1,500 Filipinos in Yemen, mostly concentrated in Sanaa. Del Rosario also introduced an Honorary Consul in Sanaa, businessman Mohamed Al-Jamal, who would be assisting the Embassy team in looking after the Filipinos in Yemen. Tens of thousands of people have protested for weeks against the three decades-long rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. — RSJ, GMA News