12 Philippine Officials Stuck In Dubai Secure Flights Back Home Amid Regional Tension

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) [Editor's Note: Follow Khaleej Times live blog amid Israeli, US strikes on Iran for the latest regional developments.]

A dozen politicians are among the more than a thousand Filipinos raring to go back home as flights to the Philippines from the UAE have resumed since Wednesday.

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Philippine Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Jonvic Remulla revealed that a mayor and 11 vice mayors of Bulacan province have been stranded in Dubai since US/Israel-Iran hostilities escalated on Saturday, February 28.

In a press briefing in Manila, Remulla said the politicians were not on an official trip, as indicated by their request for travel authority, giving rise to speculation that they were on a group leisure tour of the Middle East when the war broke out.

The lone mayor in the group reportedly did not seek official authorisation to travel out of the country, he added, a violation of protocols among government employees in the Philippines.

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The secretary refused to name the politicians or their respective municipalities. He added that the local officials must have spent their personal monies for their trip.

Remulla said that the politicians have reportedly secured their plane tickets back to the Philippines but also did not identify their airlines and flight schedules.

Meanwhile, the Philippine government welcomed the first batch of stranded Filipinos from Dubai via Emirates Airlines flight EK 336 on Thursday morning.

Department of Migrant Workers secretary Hans Leo Cacdac was at the Manila International Airport to welcome the passengers early Thursday morning.

There are still more than 900 stranded Filipinos throughout the Middle East waiting for flights back to the Philippines.

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