FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Wednesday guaranteed that Filipinos in Ukraine would be safe amidst the Ukraine-Russia border crisis.
Locsin said in a tweet that he was reaching out to countries with common borders with the Eastern European nation to secure safe passage out for Filipinos there.
“Rest assured Filipinos in Ukraine will come to no harm; I will be on top of it personally. I’m done in Cambodia in 2 days; then ASEAN-EU in Paris by the 19th. That’s close enough to Ukraine to affect their safe passage out,” he said.
“Russian Belgograd & Kursk are closest; from west—Poland, Hungary, Slovakia; south— Romania & Moldova border Ukraine but farther from Filipinos in Kyiv than Russian Kursk. Making calls now. Anybody feels like whining stay away from this,” he added.
Locsin stated that the Filipino people would be transported by land to the nearest border.
“I expect the Americans to keep watch as they did and more discreetly in Libyan evacuations and rescues. This is when we know who are our friends and who are just crybabies,” he said.
According to the latest data from the Department of Foreign Affairs, there are around 380 Filipinos in Ukraine.
United Filipino Global Ukraine head Shirley Santosilde, said in a recent ANC interview that the Philippine government is preparing free repatriation flights, the first of which is expected to depart on February 17.
As of February 15, eight individuals had registered for the program.
Meanwhile, the DFA has yet to give an updated count of Filipinos expected to board the flight.
