Filipinos evacuated from Sudan appeal for faster entry into Egypt

Filipinos who fled war-torn Sudan have urged the Philippine government to process entry procedures for Egypt more quickly.

According to Mariz Umali’s report on "24 Oras" on Thursday, the appeal was made since some Filipinos had already been stuck at the Sudan-Egypt border for six days.

Individuals coming from Sudan are now subject to tighter vetting by the Egyptian government, the report said, which presents difficulties, particularly for those with insufficient documents.

“Hindi po talaga namin hawak yung mga papers namin mga passport namin kasi nung naggyera hindi na namin nakuha sa employer,” said Anthony Alfonso Buhay, an overseas Filipino worker in Sudan.

(We are not in possession of our travel documents, including our passport because we were unable to get them from our employer when the war broke out.)

In a Super Radyo dzBB interview, Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople said one of the challenges they are facing with regards to evacuating Filipinos from Sudan is the processing of the visas required by the Egyptian authorities before they are allowed to pass through.

“Ang pwede lang tumawid ng Sudan side, ‘yung may visa. So kahit ako na diplomatic passport holder, hanggang Egyptian side lang ako. Ang meron lang Sudanese visa and diplomatic passport holder, si ambassador at si vice consul kaya sila lang ngayon ang nakatawid,” she said.

(Only those who can cross the Sudan side are those who have a visa. Even though I'm a diplomatic passport holder, I could only stay on the Egyptian side. The only ones who have Sudanese visas and are diplomatic passport holders are the ambassador and the vice consul. They were the only ones who were able to cross.)

“Siguro sa dami ng nais tumawid, hindi lang mga Pilipino, nagkakagulo na rin sila. ‘Yung border control, mas mahigpit na ngayon. Bukod do’n sa wala kang passport… ‘yung security pass para makatawid from Sudan side to Egypt and onward to Aswan, doon nagkakaron ngayon ng embudo,” she added.

(There were problems, maybe due to the number of people who wanted to cross, not just Filipinos. The border controls are stricter now. Apart from not having a passport, there is a problem acquiring a security pass to cross from the Sudanese side to Egypt and onward to Aswan. That’s where the bottleneck is.)

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Eduardo de Vega earlier said there could be around 700 Filipinos in Sudan and most of them are undocumented. Some of the evacuees either have expired passports or do not have passports at all.

Malacañang reported on Thursday that 409 Filipinos had already left Sudan, where there has been violence brought on by a fight for control between the army and paramilitary forces. 

Only 51 of them have entered Egypt.

De Vega said the Department of Foreign Affairs plans to house the Filipino evacuees in a hotel in Aswan, Egypt. —VBL, GMA Integrated News