With roughly two million Filipinos living and working across the Middle East, Senator Francis Pangilinan is pressing the government to immediately activate crisis protocols — including for the estimated one thousand Filipinos in Iran itself.
“Agad-agad na ipatupad ang crisis protocol sa mga dalawang milyong Pilipinong nagtatrabaho at naninirahan doon, kabilang na ang mga isang libong nasa Iran,” Pangilinan said.
The senator also pushed for a temporary suspension of excise taxes on diesel and kerosene, warning that fuel prices are likely to spike in the wake of the regional escalation. “Kailangan ding mabilisang ipatupad ang pansamantalang pagsuspinde ng excise tax sa diesel at kerosene para maibsan nang bahagya ang siguradong pagsirit ng fuel prices,” he added.
The appeals follow joint US-Israel military strikes on Iran launched Saturday, an operation the Pentagon has officially named Operation Epic Fury. Iran responded with missile strikes directed at Israel, according to the Israeli military.
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations chair Erwin Tulfo separately urged the Department of Migrant Workers and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to develop a recovery plan specifically for Filipinos who had been set to depart for Middle East jobs but were stranded by the unrest — many of them from provincial areas.
“We should exhaust all remedies available for them, not only financially but also for their mental health,” Tulfo said, adding that his office remains “continuously in touch with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the DMW to activate measures without delay, including the preparation and implementation of immediate repatriation plans for those who wish to return home.”
Civil society organizations took a sharper tone in their reaction to the strikes. The Center for People Empowerment in Governance condemned the attacks as a “grave violation of international law,” with chair Roland Simbulan warning that diplomatic channels are being undermined. “This is a reckless display of hegemonic power that places the people of the Middle East—and the world—at the mercy of militarized geopolitics,” he said.
The youth group Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan characterized the strikes as evidence of what it called the “fallacious and destructive foreign policies implemented by the Trump administration,” and urged Manila to join calls for an immediate ceasefire to protect Filipino workers caught in the conflict.
