Duterte: Not all Filipinos will be evacuated from Iraq

Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte clarified that Filipinos married to Iraqi nationals are not covered by the repatriation order imposed by the Philippine government in Iraq.

"Well, in those places where there is really a great danger for the Filipinos to be staying, the latest advice I was given was that in Iraq, it is forced evacuation," Duterte said in an interview, according to The Canadian Enquirer.

"But on those who are married already, whose husbands are Iraqi nationals, we cannot do anything," he clarified.

Alert Level 4, calling for mandatory repatriation of Filipinos in crisis-stricken areas. was raised in Iraq following the US airstrike in Baghdad that led to the death of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. 

There are an estimated 4,000 Filipinos in Iraq. Mandatory repatriation is still enforced and the deployment of Filipino workers to Iran remains prohibited.