(Manila Bulletin) Well-paying jobs have been preventing some Filipinos in Ukraine from leaving the war-stricken country, a foreign affairs official said Wednesday, March 9.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola disclosed that there are still more than 100 Filipinos in Ukraine while 199 nationals have been taken out of the country who are either repatriated in the Philippines or in safe borders.
“We have a little over a hundred land-based Filipinos na ayaw pa talagang umuwi (who do not want to go home yet) but we are pleading them, calling them or asking them na umuwi na sila (to go home),” Arriola said.
The undersecretary disclosed that one of the reasons behind the overseas Filipinos’ decision to stay in the foreign land amid the fighting, is their well-paying jobs. They cannot earn high wages even if they find employment in similar work in the Philippines.
“Some of them, yung mga employers nila ay (their employers) continue giving salaries para bantayan lang yung bahay (to look after their houses) and they feel that they won’t be able to get that pay ‘pag nandito sa Pilipinas (if they are here in the Philippines),” Arriola said.
“We understand that but we’d like to tell them that over two million na yung refugees na tumawid (refugees have crossed the borders), gusto pong sabihin nun, lumalala na yung sitwasyon (that means the situation is getting worse), they should exercise their sound judgment,” Arriola added… Read More
