Philippines lowers alert status in Myanmar to Level 2

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has downgraded the alert level status in Myanmar from Alert Level 4 to Alert Level 2, according to a report of GMA Integrated News’ Unang Balita on Monday.

Due to this, the DFA said overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) with working visas can now return to Myanmar. However, the DFA clarified that there will still be no deployment of new OFWs to the country.

Under Alert Level 2 or “restriction phase,” there will be no new deployment of OFWs and only those with existing employment contracts are allowed to return to the concerned country.

There are more than 400 OFWs in Myanmar, according  to the DFA.

In May 2021, the DFA raised Alert Level 4 in Myanmar in light of the conflict due to the coup staged by a military group.

The group seized power on February 21, 2021 through a coup against Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government. It jailed senior government officials, including Suu Kyi, and pro-democracy activists.

In July 2022, the DFA said the Philippine government repatriated a total of 701 Filipinos from Myanmar, which constitutes about 60% of the total number of OFWs in the coup-hit country.

The DFA said that some OFWs requested to return to Myanmar despite the uncertainty and danger posed by the crisis.

Meanwhile, the same Unang Balita report said the government is working on the repatriation of up to 20 undocumented Filipino workers who were victims of human trafficking in Myanmar. —Joviland Rita/KBK, GMA Integrated News