MANILA — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) may raise the alert status in Sudan to Alert Level 3, an official said on Saturday, as the number of Filipinos who want to leave the country continues to grow.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Affairs Eduardo Jose de Vega told ABS-CBN News his agency already recommended raising the alert status from Level 2 to Level 3 since last week, as the number of Filipinos who want to be repatriated is "going up."

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Alert level 3 entails the voluntary repatriation of Filipinos in the country, based on the agency's earlier guidelines.

"Intense hostilities so we are telling the Pinoys to stay indoors," De Vega said in a text message. "We can raise this if the situation does not improve soon."

"The numbers of those asking [repatriation] or rescue are going up, but I am awaiting exact figures from our Embassy in Cairo," he said.

At present, De Vega said, the Philippine embassy in Cairo, Egypt already has a setup for every ceasefire where Filipinos can buy their food supplies at groceries "using cash allowance which we are wiring to them."

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De Vega earlier said the country's embassy in Cairo, Egypt is already preparing for the possible rescue of around 80 Filipinos there, while an overseas Filipino worker had been injured due to the clash between the Sudanese army and paramilitaries.

No other injuries have so far been recorded, he told ABS-CBN News.

"For now, we cannot go in yet. One official of the International Organization for Migration was in fact killed," he said.

There are almost 500 Filipinos in Sudan, most of whom are professors in international schools, company executives, or engineers, De Vega noted in an earlier interview with ABS-CBN's Teleradyo.

There are also some domestic helpers, but “not a lot,” he said.

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