The Philippine government has requested Myanmar to permit a Philippine team to assist in locating missing Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) following the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck the country.
This comes after the Philippine government decided to proceed with retrieval operations for the Filipino victims of the earthquake.
According to Office of Civil Defense (OCD) spokesperson Atty. Chris Noel Bendijo, their office is still awaiting Myanmar’s response to this request.
Bendijo expressed hope that Myanmar will allow the Philippine team to participate in the retrieval operations.
The missing OFWs are believed to be residing in Mandalay, where authorities have so far been unable to locate them.
The Philippines had previously requested permission to deploy a team to Mandalay to search for the missing Filipinos but was initially denied.
A total of 89 members of the Philippine contingent were sent to Myanmar on April 1 and 2 to assist in disaster response and relief efforts for those affected by the earthquake.
