The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will send a rapid response team tasked to bring assistance to Filipinos in Sri Lanka amid the ongoing economic crisis in the foreign country.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola revealed on Tuesday that the response team is expected to arrive in Sri Lanka on June 2.
The team will come from the Philippine Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh to extend the government’s response to close to 500 affected Filipinos in the embattled country.
“They are having a hard time. So the DFA is going to Sri Lanka to give financial assistance to our fellowmen who are in need,” Arriola said, in a press briefing.
According to her, the DFA is planning to provide 300 US dollars of cash assistance to every Filipino adult in Sri Lanka. Around 25 Filipinos have already expressed their intention to return to the Philippines, Arriola said.
They are expected to be brought home “either this coming weekend or early next week.”
“As long as they are decided. It’s important that they are decided, we will get the first available commercial flight to bring them home considering their situation in Sri Lanka,” the DFA undersecretary for migrant workers said.
At present, there are 492 Filipinos in Sri Lanka. More than half of them are married to Sri Lankans.
“There are only a few Filipinos there but they can already feel the effect of inflation in Sri Lanka,” Arriola said.
Of the 25 Filipinos up for repatriation, nine of them are minors.
The DFA official advised Filipinos there that as long as they can present a birth certificate of their child and a proof that they are a Filipino citizen, they can be listed for repatriation.
The response team will also help the Honorary Consul in Sri Lanka to get in touch with Filipinos on the ground to check their situation and assist them for repatriation.
“If there are more repatriates, we will continue buying commercial tickets to bring them to the Philippines because they are now suffering from the rising prices of goods,” Arriola said.
Arriola assured that there are no reports of Filipinos being affected by the protests that turned violent in the past weeks.
According to the DFA official, the protests have mellowed down and the violence have lessened but the greater challenge for Filipinos there is the surging prices of goods.
“We did not receive any report of Filipinos affected by the unrest there. Instead, they are heavily affected financially due to the inflation in the country,” Arriola said.