OFW confirms panic buying in Qatar

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OFW confirms panic buying in Qatar

Jamaine Punzalan,

ABS-CBN News

 | 

Updated Jun 06, 2017 11:22 AM PHT

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Buildings are seen on a coast line in Doha, Qatar Monday. Reuters

MANILA - Panic buying of food supplies broke out in Doha, Qatar on Tuesday after it lost diplomatic ties with the Arab world's biggest powers due to its alleged support for Islamist militants and Iran.

Cesar, a Filipino worker in Doha, sent ABS-CBN News photos of empty shelves in the supermarket where he works.

"Iyung panic buying po kahapon, totoo po iyun. Sa kabila ng pagiging kalmado ng ating mga kababayan na sabi ay hindi naman dapat magpanic, iyun po ang totoong nangyari dito po kahapon... Iyung shelves po namin ay talaga totally empty po," said Cesar, whose name was withheld on his request.

(The reports of panic buying here yesterday are true. Although our fellow Filipinos stayed calm, that is really what happened. Our shelves here are now totally empty.)

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Cesar said he is not sure how their supermarket will replenish stocks since the Gulf countries that severed ties with Qatar supply about 80 percent of its food requirements.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain cut diplomatic relations with Qatar in a coordinated move on Monday, , accusing it of support for Islamist militants and Iran.

Yemen, Libya's eastern-based government and the Maldives joined later. Transport links shut down and triggered supply shortages.

Qatar, a small peninsular nation of 2.5 million people that has a large US military base, denounced the action as predicated on lies about it supporting militants. It has often been accused of being a funding source for Islamists, as has Saudi Arabia.

Iran, long at odds with Saudi Arabia and a behind-the-scenes target of the move, blamed US President Donald Trump's visit last month to Riyadh and called for the sides to overcome their differences.

Doha is home to some 220,000 Filipino workers, according to the Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

-- With a report from Reuters

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