“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid but he who conquers that fear.”
– NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI.
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The on-going civil war in Sudan is violent and barbaric. The forces involved do not care about the wastage in human life for as long as they see themselves winning and defeating their opponent.
According to news reports, there are around 6,000 Pinoy workers earning their bread and butter in this African country who need to be taken back home while the conflict has not yet reached incalculable proportions.
Days before violent clashes erupted between the armies of the two warlords fighting for supremacy, there were global news coming out that a civil conflict is soon to break out in Sudan any moment.
Foreign embassies have since been evacuating their respective personnel out of Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.
However, in the case of Pinoy workers, there was no news yet about repatriating them until one OFW was reported hurt in a violent episode.
This slow government reaction to critical incidents involving the physical safety of OFWs in Sudan is not the first and only time where our embassies and consulates in conflict torn areas have been found wanting. The lethargic response to critical emergencies smacks of the capability of the officials and staff whose sworn duty is to protect Filipino citizens in their areas of assignment and jurisdiction.
The Philippine embassies in Israel and terror-stricken countries in the Middle East should now be on the alert as the mass citizen hysteria in these areas has risen to alarming proportions.
And so does the situation in Taiwan where the political situation appears more critical then ever as rumors about
China’s imminent annexation of this island the PROC claim to be its province grow stronger in decibel levels.
Military exercises in both the PROC and Taiwan’s armed services are continuing which indicate eerie rumblings that only their respective higher authorities can decipher at this time.
Taiwanese citizens are now being taught to handle firearms.
But the simultaneous drills conducted by US and AFP personnel in conjunction with the EDCA appear to help fuel the fear that war between the US and China is imminent.
Until this writing, there are no categorical plans laid out yet on the ABCs of OFW repatriation in Taiwan. Press reports reaching us say there are some 600,000 Pinoys holding jobs in many factories in Taipei and elsewhere in Taiwan.
MECO chief Silvestre Bello III, the former DOLE secretary in the Duterte cabinet, assures us that they are ready to evacuate our countrymen safe to the Philippines in case.
Curiously, we hope the incumbent government has a firm grip of the circumstances – however volatile – happening around the globe.
We were one of those surprised on the huge protest rallies occuring in several parts of Israel – including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv – a situation we believe is kept under control because the former PM Benjamin Netanyahu is back in command of the government.
There is an unceasing rocket and missile bombardment coming from Gaza and Lebanon into Israeli settlements believed to be with the instruction and support of the Iranian Ayatollah-led government.
If this is any indication, shouldn’t the Philippine embassy in Israel properly advise OFWs thereat to always be on the ready as the hostility of the Arabs and oher Islamic organizations will never stop?
An OFW friend of mine who spent 3 years in Israel as a caregiver said Pinoy workers don’t worry so much about the pocket resistance and militant activities of anti-Israel groups.
He said the IDF and the Israeli police are very well prepared and well trained to combat even the guerilla tactics of suicidal Islamic militants who carry out hits even in public places.
But then again, in the case of Sudan, none of us perhaps knew beforehand that a civil war will eventually break out between two former friends and allies who are both hungry for power.
On advice from the UN and the diplomatic intervention of the US, a three-day truce was agreed upon.
More than 350 people – including civilians and innocent children – have died and scores more have been injured.
Let us hope the OFWs will see this as a golden opportunity to be repatriated home safe in the arms of their welcoming
families.
This world is not getting any peaceful.
‘Aanhin pa ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo?’
(Email feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
