By Xinhua,
Manila : All Filipinos were reported to be safe and accounted for amid ongoing tension in Georgia and will be retreated once the clashes escalate, the Philippine government said Sunday.
The Department of the Foreign Affairs said in a report that the Philippine Embassy in Turkey, which has jurisdiction over Georgia, informed the home office in Manila that around 60 Filipinos working in Georgia are safe and located far from the clashes.
In a separate report, Philippine Ambassador to Turkey Bahnarim Guinomla said evacuation plans are in place should tension between Georgian and Russian forces escalate.
Guinomla said the Filipinos, who are all working in the capital city of Tbilisi, can either fly or travel by land to Ankara to escape the hostilities. He added that the Filipinos can also escape Georgia by crossing the border to Turkey.
The envoy said the embassy is ready to transport the Filipinos to safer grounds should violence spread to the capital.
“We have already informed Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the possible evacuation of the Filipinos if the situation worsens,” Guinomla said in the report.
Russian and Georgian troops clashed over the self-claimed independent region of South Ossetia since last Friday. The two countries blamed each other for the outbreak of fighting. At least 1,400 people have died in shells and bombs that were fired over the weekend.