DOHA: With more than a million Filipino workers spread across Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar, it is small wonder that President Rodrigo Duterte has undertaken a weeklong tour of the Gulf.
The migrants have been drawn to the region by a combination of factors — drug crime and corruption back home, and the job opportunities and wages on offer in the Gulf.
Duterte’s deadly war on drugs may have brought him notoriety in the West, but it has earned him the admiration of many Filipino expatriates anxious for change at home.
“I would happily say I’m a ‘DDS’, a Diehard Duterte Supporter,” Harry Ramos, a senior mechanical engineer based in Doha for 12 years, told AFP. “His platform of government is simple, and he’s got the political will to do it.”
Duterte’s populist agenda went down well with the Filipino diaspora in Qatar, where he received almost 80 percent of the expatriate votes cast in last year’s presidential election.
Ramos, 58, speaks happily about how Filipinos returning home no longer have to bribe officials to get through customs, thanks to Duterte’s crackdown.
Life though has turned sour for some in the Gulf and they will be looking to the president to defend their interests in his talks with the region’s leaders. Duterte held talks with Saudi leaders on Tuesday and was in Bahrain for talks on Thursday. On Friday, he flies into Qatar.
“He will discuss with these leaders matters relevant to the welfare and dignity of the Filipinos living in their countries, as well as explore avenues of economic and political cooperation,” Philippine Assistant Foreign Secretary Hjayceelyn Quintana said.
In the bustling Souq Waqif area of the Qatari capital Doha, Duterte’s trip has prompted an air of expectation.
On a balmy early summer evening, with temperatures touching the low 30 degrees Celsius, conversation outside the busy Manila Supermarket quickly turns to the president’s visit.
Ray, a 38-year-old civil engineer, said he wanted to meet Duterte in person, something he could never achieve back home.
He admitted there was an issue with the poor treatment of some migrants, especially those in domestic service, but said life was generally good for Filipinos in the country.
“All Filipinos come here because they want to earn money,” he said.
“But, if they had to choose the place they will live, of course, they will live in the Philippines, they will choose it. Definitely.”
Ray, who has been in Qatar for six years, said he earns “three or four times more” in Doha than he would back home.
Outside the Damascus International Gents Salon, hair stylist Jim, 27, said he earns around QR4,000 a month ($1,1000).
Back home he would earn the equivalent of $190 at a barbershop, he said.
Twenty-five-year-old Sunshine, who works in promotions, had never left the Philippines before heading to Qatar. Now she has been in Doha for three years.
“It’s better to leave first from the Philippines to earn money and then after a few years... you can go back,” she said.
Filipino expatriates in Gulf look to hardman Rodrigo Duterte
Filipino expatriates in Gulf look to hardman Rodrigo Duterte
Pakistanis fleeing Iran describe strikes shaking ground under their feet
- Nearly 1,000 students, businessmen and pilgrims have fled Iran since the war started out of a total 35,000 Pakistanis in the country
QUETTA: Pakistanis fleeing Iran described explosions and missile strikes across Tehran shaking the ground under their feet and engulfing buildings in fire and smoke in a city emptied of many of its residents. The conflict has widened sharply, with a US submarine sinking an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka on Wednesday and NATO air defenses destroying an Iranian missile fired toward Turkiye.
Governments have been scrambling to evacuate stranded citizens, with most of the region’s airspace closed due to the risk of missiles hitting passenger planes.
“I was in the classroom when a powerful explosion rocked our university building,” Hareem Zahra, 23, a student at the Tehran University of Engineering, told Reuters after crossing Pakistan’s land border with Iran.
“We saw thick smoke coming from many buildings on fire,” she said, adding Tehran was under attack until the moment she left.
TEHRAN LOOKED DESERTED
Nearly 1,000 students, businessmen and pilgrims have fled Iran since the war started out of a total 35,000 Pakistanis in the country, Mudassir Tipu, Pakistan’s ambassador to Tehran, said.
“There are now serious challenges. As you know there is no Internet in most parts of Iran,” he said. Iran has retaliated with a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting Israel and Washington’s allies in the Gulf, including Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, following US and Israeli air strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Tehran has looked deserted since the conflict began, said Nadir Abbas, 25, a student of Persian literature at a university in the Iranian capital.
“I saw a drone hit a basketball court where six girl players lost their lives.”
Reuters could not verify his account.
DESTRUCTION EVERYWHERE
Islamabad is walking a diplomatic tightrope as it attempts to maintain warming ties with Washington while expressing solidarity with Iran.
Pakistan is home to the second-largest Shiite population in the world after Iran and being drawn into the conflict could lead to instability at home as well as complications evacuating its citizens.
“The first attack happened right next to my hospital,” said Sakhi Aun Mohammad, a student at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. After he reached the border, an Iranian friend called to check if he was safe, saying: “’Thank God, you have gone to Pakistan, all of you are safe, but your hostel has been attacked’.” A Pakistani diplomat who is still in Tehran said attacks took place every four or five hours, adding one missile struck a building next to his office. “At times you will feel as if something exploded right at your feet,” he said. “The last time I got out was at night. Buildings had collapsed, some others were on fire. There is destruction everywhere.”
He added: “It is almost like a ghost town.”
