Only Filipino workers who want to leave Iraq after tensions escalated in the Middle East will be repatriated by the Philippine government.
The apparent shift from the previous order of President Rodrigo Duterte for the mandatory evacuation of all 1,640 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Iraq came about as the United States and Iran defused what had been a volatile situation that was triggered by the killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in a US drone attack in Baghdad, Iraq on January 3.