Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has ordered an investigation after watching a viral video showing an employee from the Migrant Workers Office in Bahrain telling off overseas Filipino workers (OFW) stranded in the kingdom due to the escalating Iran war.
“The president was not pleased with this. He became angry on behalf of our OFWs because of the mistreatment by some public servants,” the presidential palace’s press officer Claire Castro said, according to the Inquirer on Wednesday.
Castro said Marcos had instructed Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac to look into the incident.
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In the video, an employee – later identified as Anthony Allermo – can be seen shooing away OFWs seeking financial aid outside the Philippine embassy in Bahrain.
“There’s nothing, it’s that simple … This is not allowed,” Allermo tells them in the video, gesticulating to ask them to disperse.
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The embassy has paused providing financial aid to OFWs since Friday to comply with the Bahraini government’s ban on public gatherings amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.