President Rodrigo Duterte led on Tuesday the send-off ceremony of two Navy vessels to fetch the Filipinos in the Middle East amid the escalating tensions between the United States and Iran.

The Naval Task Group (NTG) 82 comprising around 400 sailors and marines headed by its commander, Captain Edward Ike De Sagon, boarded BRP Davao del Sur and BRP Ramon Alcaraz, which will sail to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 25 days with lay over in Sri Lanka for refueling and replishment.

They left Port Area around 5 pm, a Navy spokesperson said.

“This is a sacred mission and it is really to safeguard the lives of the Filipino people. I tasked you this duty with a prayer and with a hope that you will carry out your mission successfully and that everybody will be safe,” Duterte said.

“Do not worry, I will be with you and if need I will also go there,” he said.

“I trust that you will exert all efforts and work hand in hand with the Secretary of the Department of National Defense to encourage affected Filipinos in the Middle East to return to the Philippines or be evacuated to safer grounds,” he added.

Aside from the two Navy ships, a Philippine Coast Guard ship has also been on a standby in Malta.

There are more than two million Filipinos in the Middle East and about 1,600 in Iraq where the Philippine government declared Alert Level 4, which entails mandatory evacuation. Celerina Monte-Robina Asido/DMS