Press Release No.010-03
10 January 2003
on Middle East Preparedness
PHILIPPINE
ENVOY TO KSA ASSURES OPLE
Foreign Secretary Blas F. Ople this morning received Philippine Ambassador
to Saudi Arabia Bahnarim Guinomla, whose country of assignment hosts the
single largest concentration of Filipino workers in the world.
In their meeting at the Secretary’s office, Ambassador Guinomla gave Secretary
Ople a comprehensive account of their own preparations in consonance with
the marching orders issued by Ople to Ambassador Roy Cimatu’s Middle East
Preparedness Team (MEPT) that was constituted by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
in the early stages of the current crisis in that region.
According to Ople, “Saudi Arabia is unique among the countries there that
play host to Filipino workers.”
Explaining further, Ople said that “…other than the numbers of the Filipinos
there (some 850,000), and indeed the sheer magnitude of the country itself,
Saudi Arabia holds the potential capacity to be the largest ‘sanctuary’ of
Filipinos who might find themselves momentarily in harm’s way…”
Among his assigned tasks, Ambassador Guinomla is to make sure that his hosts,
the Saudi Government, is fully apprised of any possible need of Filipinos
from neighboring jurisdictions (under the care of the Cimatu team) of entering
or transiting to safer grounds inside Saudi territory or outside of it.
According to Sec. Ople, “the diplomatic paperwork and the logistical demands
on the Philippine Embassy and on the MEPT will be nothing short of immense”.
But Ople quickly added that “there is no doubt in my mind that the respective
components of the government’s over-all contingency plan for the safety of
Middle East Filipinos will function as they were designed.”
Finally, Ople instructed Guinomla to convey the Philippine government’s appreciation
to the Saudi government for their constant assurances of cooperation, often
expressed through their Ambassador Saleh Mohamed Al-Ghamdi, in looking after
the safety and welfare of Filipinos in Saudi Arabia. END