MANILA – The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) said on Friday that about 38 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are now headed outside of Ukraine as tensions continue to grip the eastern European nation.
“Now there are around 38 OFWs en route to the western border of Ukraine bordering Poland because this is the part where there is no military build-up of Russian forces. So from there, they will be taken to a town before crossing the border to Poland,” OWWA chief Hans Leo Cacdac said in a radio interview.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. announced that the Polish government has agreed to permit OFWs to enter, Cacdac stated.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, he added, has also issued an order to collaborate with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and embassies in Warsaw, Poland, among others.
Other Filipinos in Kyiv also need aid, Cacdac added.
“There are about 40 people who still need help but we have been assured that there will be transport from Kyiv to bring our OFWs to safer grounds on the west of border on the Poland side,” he said.
When asked if the honorary consul in Kyiv is still working, Cacdac said, “As far as we know, yes”.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin launched military operations in Ukraine, which began on Thursday, at least 137 people have been killed so far.
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