War in Gulf threatens 1.1M OFW jobs, remittances

Charter flights begin as conflict spreads to Iraqi waters and airlines ground Middle East routes.

The fires started in the water this time, not the desert.

The Flights That Stopped Coming

Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, and Emirates all grounded flights to key Gulf destinations by March 12. Not because of sanctions or fuel costs — because the airspace itself became uncertain. As tankers burned in Iraqi territorial waters following fresh exchanges between U.S. and Iranian forces, carriers made the call that commercial aviation doesn’t belong in a shooting gallery. reportedly Over 2,000 passengers, many of them OFWs rotating home or heading back to work, found themselves rebooked, delayed, or stranded.

The government’s response came within hours. President Marcos announced charter flights to pull Filipinos out of conflict zones, prioritizing those in Iraq, Lebanon, and other affected areas. The Department of Migrant Workers activated emergency protocols. But this time, the threat isn’t localized — it’s regional, and it’s moving.

Why the Gulf Became Uninsurable

Over 1.1 million Filipinos work across the Middle East, most of them in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait. They send home far more than roughly $3 billion a year — cash remittances hit a record $35.63 billion in 2025, according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data. Money that pays for tuition in Pampanga, hospital bills in Iloilo, house construction in Davao. That flow doesn’t just support families. It props up the peso, stabilizes inflation, and keeps entire towns economically viable.

And yet, the region they work in has always carried risk. What’s different now is the speed at which that risk is spreading. Trump and Iranian leadership both signaled this week that neither side plans to de-escalate quickly. Tankers burning in Iraqi waters mean supply chain disruptions. Which means higher oil prices globally. Which means higher diesel costs in the Philippines, higher transport fares, higher prices for goods that move by truck — which is everything.

On top of that, reportedly insurance premiums for Gulf-based workers are climbing. Recruitment agencies are quietly advising new hires to delay deployment. Some employers in Dubai and Riyadh are offering early contract buyouts, a polite way of saying “leave before we have to evacuate you.”

What This Means If You Have Family in the Gulf

If you have a relative working in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, or Qatar, they are not in immediate danger — yet. Those countries remain stable, and the Philippine embassies there are fully operational. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has raised alert levels in Iraq and Lebanon but not in the UAE, which was excluded from its Middle East crisis alert list as of March 3.

Still, three things you should know. First, charter flights are available now, but they prioritize Filipinos in affected areas who want to come home. If your family member wants to come home voluntarily, they’ll need to arrange commercial tickets themselves — and availability is shrinking. Second, if they stay and the situation worsens, repatriation costs could fall on them, not the government. Third, according to reports, remittance channels are still open, but some banks are adding processing delays for transfers originating from Iraq and Lebanon due to sanctions monitoring.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration has a 24/7 hotline: 1348. If your family member is in a high-risk area and hasn’t registered with the embassy, now is the time.

Sa totoo lang, this is the bargain OFW families have always lived with — higher pay in exchange for distance, and sometimes, danger.

Editor’s Take

The Philippine economy has spent decades outsourcing its employment problem to the Gulf, and now the Gulf is on fire again. We talk about OFW resilience like it’s a national virtue, but resilience is what you call it when you have no other choice. The government’s charter flights are necessary and correct — but they’re also a reminder that we’ve built a economic model that requires 1.1 million Filipinos to live in someone else’s war zone. Maybe the real question isn’t how fast we can evacuate them, but why we still need to send them there at all.

Sources
Trump and Iran signal no quick end to war as tankers burn in Iraqi waters — Rappler
LIST: Canceled flights on March 12 due to Middle East war — Inquirer
Marcos: Charter flights underway for OFWs in Middle East — Philippine Star
Department of Migrant Workers deployment statistics for the Middle East — Department of Migrant Workers
OFW remittances reach record-high level in Dec 2025 — Philippine News Agency
DFA excludes UAE from ‘Crisis Alert Levels in the Middle East’ — Gulf Today
Contact Us — Overseas Workers Welfare Administration