THE Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) on Saturday assured the public that measures are in place to ensure the safety of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Taiwan amid brewing tensions with neighboring China.
In a media forum in Quezon City, MECO chief Silvestre Bello 3rd said that the Philippine government, through MECO, is looking out for the welfare and well-being of the Filipinos in Taiwan.
“So we would like to assure you, everyone. I’ll take this opportunity to inform you … in Taiwan everything is normal and, if in the remote possibility na magkaroon ng (that there is an) emergency situation, like for example earthquake, mga lindol (earthquakes or) even war, preparado po ang Taiwan government (the Taiwan government is prepared) not only in protecting their own people but even the Filipinos, especially our workers,” Bello said.
Bello said he recently met with representatives of Taiwan’s National Police Agency and Civil Defense Office and both agencies assured the protection and welfare of Filipinos.
He said he was told by security officials that Taiwan has 89,000 shelters that can accommodate more than the total population of Taiwan.
“In addition to the shelter provided by the Taiwanese government, lahat ng mga (all) factories have their own shelters for their workers — ganoon kahanda ang Taiwan (Taiwan is that prepared),” he said.
The MECO official noted that 90 percent of the factories in Taiwan are serviced by Filipino workers.
He said roughly 160,000 OFWs are in factories and all the rest are highly skilled teachers, farmers, and workers in the hospitality industry.
“So, huwag po kayong mag-alala (don’t worry) … everything is normal, our OFWs there are safe, and there is no danger of what you call confrontation between China and Taiwan,” Bello said.
MECO is the duly designated instrumentality to promote and protect Philippine interests in Taiwan and is authorized and conferred with authority to perform functions usually carried out by Philippine foreign missions but of a nonpolitical, nonsecurity in nature.
Last month, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian issued a statement against OFWs in Taiwan after the Philippines allowed the United States to have more access to military bases here under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
“Some tried to find excuse for the new EDCA sites by citing the safety of the 150,000 OFWs in Taiwan, while China is the last country that wishes to see conflict over the Strait because people on both sides are Chinese,” Huang said.
“The Philippines is advised to unequivocally oppose ‘Taiwan independence’ rather than stoking the fire by offering the US access to the military bases near the Taiwan Strait if you care genuinely about the 150,000 OFWs,” he added.
Critics described this as a “veiled threat,” but the Chinese Embassy responded that he was just misquoted.
Last week, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. raised the need to continue “developing cooperation” on an “international scale” to resolve soaring tensions in Taiwan.
There is a need to “fix the arrangements, our alliances, so that they conform to the needs of the day. And that again, comes back again to that process of evolution,” the President said in his post-visit report before his departure from Washington D.C.
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