PETALING JAYA, Jan 31 — Actress Ruhainies is not happy with the Malaysian embassy in the Philippines.
The 27-year-old who was in Manila on January 13 when the Taal volcano erupted said the embassy was far from cooperative after she was left stranded in the country.
The Hello, Mr Perfect! star whose real name is Nur Ruhainies Farehah Zainul Ilyas told mStar she had asked for help from the Malaysian embassy but in return, the actress received a reply which she claimed did not make sense.
“I had contacted the Malaysian embassy in the Philippines to ask for help seeing it was my first encounter with such an experience.
“I asked for advice from them. The person I spoke to promised to call me back but until now, I haven’t heard anything back.”
Ruhainies added that she was even more disappointed when the embassy issued a press statement claiming no Malaysians were affected as a result of the eruption.
On January 14, the Foreign Ministry through the Malaysian embassy in Manila said 19 Malaysian students studying at the Adventist University of the Philippines (AUP) in Batangas province were evacuated to Manila after the volcano erupted.
Two days prior, on January 12 when the volcano on Luzon island erupted, the Foreign Ministry said there had been no reports of any Malaysians affected by the eruption.
“What?! I called to ask, the system is really bad. I’m disappointed with the embassy there,” she said.
Ruhainies was in Manila on January 10 to attend the 24th Asian Television Awards.
The actress and her parents were not able to return home to Malaysian when a Level 4 alert was issued.
In a separate post, Ruhainies took to Instagram Stories to inform fans she wasn’t able to respond to messages as she was busy checking flight tickets and taking care of her family’s luggage.
They were finally able to make it home when their flight path was changed where they flew from Cebu to South Korea and then Kuala Lumpur.
Located 65km south of Manila, the Taal Volcano eruption affected around 271,000 people, raking up an estimated damage of US$63 million (RM258 million).
It has been on Alert Level 3 since January 26 with experts saying the threat of a hazardous eruption still looms.
