MANILA/JEDDAH: Amid a raging diplomatic crisis in the Gulf region, the Philippine government on Tuesday stopped Filipinos from traveling to Qatar, fearing food riots and other potential problems.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said the suspension order would remain in place until the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) deems it safe for Filipino workers to return to Qatar.
“Effective today, the deployment of Filipino workers to Qatar is suspended,” Bello said in a press conference, adding that the suspension covers even those with complete documents.
Bello said there was no plan yet to repatriate the more than 250,000 Filipinos in Qatar. The DFA says there are 250,000 Filipinos in Qatar, while the Labor Department’s records showed there were 141,000 documented Filipino workers in Qatar in 2016.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella also expressed fear that the diplomatic crisis gripping Qatar “may have some ripple effects” over overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
“Concerned government agencies are now looking at the matter and will extend other support and assistance to OFWs who may be affected by such action,” he said in a statement.
A Filipino labor policy and advocacy group lamented that no prior consultations were made by the Labor Department before issuing a suspension order.
“As stakeholders, we would have wanted to be a part of the decision-making process considering its impact on OFWs bound for Qatar,” said Susan Ople, head of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center.
The group, which also helps workers in distress, said it has not monitored or received any complaints or information about untoward incidents involving OFWs in Qatar since Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Qatar.
“Our workers in Qatar are focused on serving their companies well and providing for their families back home. They were surprised by the suspension order and have many questions about it. They remain hopeful that this impasse would be over soon,” Ople said in reply to an Arab News query.
“We appreciate the gravity and complexity of the problem and thus support calls for sobriety and peaceful dialogue as pathways to resolution. Meanwhile, every effort must be made to ensure that foreign workers who are doing their share to help the regional economy are not caught in the middle of the crisis. If there are consensus points to be made, one of them must be the continued protection of the rights and welfare of migrant workers wherever they may be in the Middle East.”
The Philippines is a major labor supplier, with about a tenth of more than 100 million Filipinos working abroad because of inadequate jobs and opportunities at home.
Bello said it was not an easy decision to make, considering that OFWs in Qatar “relatively enjoy good working conditions.” Most OFWs in Qatar work as technicians, skilled and semi-skilled workers.
However, he said: “We are foreseeing a possible problem in Qatar …, as you know, Qatar is not producing its own food. If anything happens and they run out of food and food riots take place, definitely our OFWs will be the first victims.”
Bello said the Philippine labor attache in Doha dismissed as “wild rumors” reports of store shelves going empty as panicky residents rushed to stock food supply.
Nonetheless, he said: “We need to adopt preparatory measures to meet the possible exigency.”
Bello added that he has directed the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Qatar to stock food. He said he has also sent additional manpower to the affected Mideast countries to address the concerns of OFWs.
Filipino workers in Qatar in interviews with Philippine media told of store shelves being emptied of food stocks on Monday.
A nurse at Hamad Medical Corporation told GMA News Online that her husband had to buy rice, canned goods, milk and water from a supermarket far from their apartment because the markets nearby were empty.
A mother of two said she could only buy so much food supply and diapers for her baby boy because there were no more stock available.
Another worker said he did not find the situation alarming, although he confirmed seeing empty store shelves “because of panic-buying.”
On Facebook, some Filipinos debated whether the suspension order was a good decision or not.
“Prudence dictates that the Philippine government should suspend the departure of Filipino citizens, OFWs or not, until the situation normalizes. As it is, the situation can further deteriorate. As such, contingency plans should already be prepared…” said Lito Madrasto.
Ricardo R. Casco argued: “The tension is rooted in the support extended to terrorists. Will we continue to send workers if that is the case? It’s not just about the safety reason. What is our position on terrorism?”
Jess Varela said: “Temporary suspension may be the prudent thing to do. But let’s not call it suspension. Let’s think of something that will somehow prolong deployment. It could be solved in three months and it will appear that we did not abandon a friendly nation in their times of need.”
He added: “If we are able to get the private recruitment agencies to agree and call for some sort of review, then it will not be the government who initiated the move. And if things get solved in three months, we will not be seen as unfriendly. If the crisis is prolonged, then we should have been ready in three months to get our OFWs out.”
Philippines bans workers heading to Qatar amid ‘wild rumors’
Philippines bans workers heading to Qatar amid ‘wild rumors’
South Korea’s Yoon set to avoid arrest by warrant deadline
- Anti-graft investigators sought an extension to the warrant that expires at the end of Monday
- The anti-graft officials have sought more time and help because of the difficulties they have faced
The former star prosecutor has defiantly refused questioning three times over a bungled martial law decree last month and remained holed up in his residence surrounded by hundreds of guards preventing his arrest.
Anti-graft investigators sought an extension to the warrant that expires at the end of Monday (1500 GMT) and asked for support from the police, which said the force would help and may arrest anyone shielding Yoon.
“The validity of the warrant expires today. We plan to request an extension from the court today,” said CIO deputy director Lee Jae-seung, whose authority has been refuted by Yoon’s lawyers.
The request was officially filed on Monday evening and an extension can be granted all the way up to the midnight deadline. If the warrant expires, investigators can apply for another one.
The anti-graft officials have sought more time and help because of the difficulties they have faced, including being met by hundreds of security forces when they entered Yoon’s presidential compound on Friday.
“We will consider the option of arresting any personnel from the Presidential Security Service during the execution of the second warrant,” a police official said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The country’s opposition Democratic Party has also called for the dissolution of the security service protecting the impeached president.
If authorities detain Yoon, who has already been suspended from duty by lawmakers, he will become the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested.
But they would only have 48 hours to either request another arrest warrant, in order to keep him in detention, or be forced to release him.
While officials have been unable to get to Yoon, the joint investigation team has gone after top military officials behind the martial law plan.
The prosecution’s martial law special investigation unit on Monday indicted Defense Intelligence Commander Moon Sang-ho on charges of playing an integral role in an insurrection and abuse of power.
Yoon would face prison or, at worst, the death penalty if convicted for insurrection over briefly suspending civilian rule and plunging South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades.
But both he and his supporters have remained defiant.
“We will protect the Presidential Security Service till midnight,” said Kim Soo-yong, 62, one of the protest organizers.
“If they get another warrant, we will come again.”
Early Monday dozens of Yoon’s lawmakers from the People Power Party turned up in front of his presidential residence and police blocked roads.
“I’ve been here longer than the CIO now. It doesn’t make sense why they can’t do it. They need to arrest him immediately,” said anti-Yoon protest organizer Kim Ah-young, in her 30s.
The initial warrant was issued on the grounds that Yoon has refused to emerge for questioning over his martial law decree.
His lawyers have repeatedly said the warrant is “unlawful” and “illegal,” pledging to take further legal action against it.
The vibrant East Asian democracy will find itself in uncharted territory either way — its sitting president will have been arrested, or he would have evaded court-ordered detention.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Seoul early Monday, and did not meet Yoon but held a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul.
He praised Seoul’s democratic resilience but his focus was shifted away from domestic politics when North Korea fired what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile into the sea as he met Cho.
South Korea’s Constitutional Court has slated January 14 for the start of Yoon’s impeachment trial, which if he does not attend would continue in his absence.
A prosecutors’ report for his former defense minister seen by AFP Sunday showed Yoon ignored the objections of key cabinet ministers before his failed martial law bid, evidence the court may take into account.
South Korea’s Constitutional Court has up to 180 days to determine whether to dismiss Yoon as president or restore his powers.
Former presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye never appeared for their impeachment trials.
Malaysia’s jailed ex-PM Najib wins appeal to seek home detention for corruption sentence
- Najib set up the 1MDB development fund shortly after he took office in 2009.
- Investigators allege at least $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates through layers of bank accounts in the United States and other countries
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s imprisoned former Prime Minister Najib Razak on Monday won an appeal to pursue his bid to serve his remaining corruption sentence under house arrest.
In an application in April last year, Najib said he had clear information that then-King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah issued an addendum order allowing him to finish his sentence under house arrest. Najib claimed the addendum was issued during a pardons board meeting on Jan. 29 last year chaired by Sultan Abdullah that also cut his 12-year jail sentence by half and sharply reduced a fine. But the High Court tossed out his bid three months later.
The Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling on Monday, ordered the High Court to hear the merits of the case. The decision came after Najib’s lawyer produced a letter from a Pahang state palace official confirming that then-Sultan Abdullah had issued the addendum order.
“We are happy that finally Najib has got a win,” his lawyer Mohamad Shafee Abdullah said. “He is very happy and very relieved that finally they recognized some element of injustice that has been placed against him.”
The lawyer said Najib gave a thumbs-up in court when the ruling was read.
He said it was “criminal” for the government to conceal the addendum order. Shafee noted that a new High Court judge will now hear the case.
In his application, Najib accused the pardons board, home minister, attorney-general and four others of concealing the sultan’s order “in bad faith.” Sultan Abdullah hails from Najib’s hometown in Pahang. He ended his five-year reign on Jan. 30 last year under Malaysia’s unique rotating monarchy system. A new king took office a day later.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has said he had no knowledge of such an order since he wasn’t a member of the pardons board. The others named in Najib’s application have not made any public comments.
Najib, 71, served less than two years of his sentence before it was commuted by the pardons board. His sentence is now due to end on Aug. 23, 2028. He was charged and found guilty in a corruption case linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
The pardons board didn’t give any reason for its decision and wasn’t required to explain. But the move has prompted a public outcry over the appearance that Najib was being given special privileges compared to other prisoners.
Najib set up the 1MDB development fund shortly after he took office in 2009. Investigators allege at least $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates through layers of bank accounts in the United States and other countries, financed Hollywood films and extravagant purchases that included hotels, a luxury yacht, art and jewelry. More than $700 million landed in Najib’s bank accounts.
Najib is still fighting graft charges in the main trial linking him directly to the scandal.
Death toll from the German Christmas market attack rises to 6
- A woman succumbed to her injuries, prosecutors said Monday
- More than 200 people were injured in the Dec. 20 attack
BERLIN: The death toll in the attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg last month has risen to six as a woman succumbed to her injuries, prosecutors said Monday.
Prosecutors in Naumburg said the 52-year-old woman died in a hospital, German news agency dpa reported. Authorities have said that the others who died were four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, and a 9-year-old boy.
More than 200 people were injured in the Dec. 20 attack.
Authorities have identified the suspect, who was arrested immediately after he drove a rented car through the crowded market early on a Friday evening, as a Saudi doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency.
They have said he does not fit the usual profile of perpetrators of extremist attacks. The man described himself as an ex-Muslim who was highly critical of Islam, and on social media expressed support for the far-right.
Norway PM worried by Musk involvement in politics outside US
- The German government accused Musk of trying to influence Germany’s upcoming election
- Musk spent more than $250 million to help Trump get elected
OSLO: Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Monday that he found it worrying that billionaire Elon Musk was involving himself in the political issues of countries outside of the United States.
Musk, a close ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, last month endorsed a German anti-immigration, anti-Islamic political party ahead of that country’s national elections in February, and recently made remarks on British politics.
“I find it worrying that a man with enormous access to social media and huge economic resources involves himself so directly in the internal affairs of other countries,” Stoere told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.
“This is not the way things should be between democracies and allies,” he added.
If Musk were to involve himself in Norwegian politics, the country’s politicians should collectively distance themselves from such efforts, Stoere said.
Musk, the world’s richest person, spent more than $250 million to help Trump get elected and has been tasked by Trump to prune the federal budget as a special adviser.
The German government last week accused Musk, who owns social media platform X and is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, of trying to influence Germany’s upcoming election with a guest opinion piece for the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said Musk’s support for Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was a “logical and systematic” play by the billionaire for a weak Europe that will not be able to regulate as strongly.
Russia says captured key town in eastern Ukraine
MOSCOW: Russian forces have captured the town of Kurakhove in eastern Ukraine, Russia’s defense ministry said on Monday, in a key advance after months of steady gains in the area.
Russian units “have fully liberated the town of Kurakhove — the biggest settlement in southwestern Donbas,” the ministry said on Telegram.
