October 10, 2024 | 6:42pm
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is coordinating with Lebanese immigration to bring home a total of 192 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Lebanon, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said on Thursday, October 10.
DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac announced at a Palace briefing that flights are being booked from October 11 to October 28 for the repatriation of OFWs in Lebanon.
“One hundred ninety-two (OFWs) are currently booked commercial flights spanning October 11 up to October 28, under two identified commercial airlines,” Cacdac said.
The DMW also said there will be eleven OFWs returning to the Philippines by this weekend, October 12 and 13.
Meanwhile, over 400 OFWs are still processing their exit with the Philippine Embassy in Beirut, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Wednesday, October 9.
However, the DFA also mentioned that nearly 11,000 OFWs residing in Bierut, Lebanon have no desire to return to the Philippines because they fear losing their jobs.
“In fact, sa 11,000 na Filipinos, siguro 500 to 600 lang ang gustong umuwi. Ayaw nilang bumalik kasi kapag bumalik baka hindi na sila makabalik at nandoon ang trabaho nila,” DFA Undersecretary for Migration Eduardo Jose De Vega said.
(In fact, out of 11,000 Filipinos, only about 500 to 600 want to go home. They don’t want to return because if they do, they might not be able to come back, and that’s where their jobs are.)
Cacdac said the DMW and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) have deployed additional personnel in Lebanon to assist in fulfilling the requirements needed to process the clearances for the OFWs who wish to be repatriated.
The DMW also assured that 179 Filipinos are safe as they have evacuated to four government shelters in Beirut where healthcare and social workers are stationed.
Currently, the DMW has raised the crisis alert level in Lebanon to Alert Level 3, which means that Filipinos in Lebanon can decide on whether they will return to the Philippines amid Israel’s persistent attacks against militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
According to the DMW Advisory No. 32 of 2023, an Alert Level 3 encourages OFWs to return to the Philippines for safety and bans total deployment to Lebanon. This also means that the processing of new hires and returning OFWs is suspended.
Should the government raise this to Alert Level 4, repatriation of Filipinos in Lebanon will be mandatory.
Cacdac said that the country “stands ready” in case tensions heighten in the Middle East.
“The President has heightened our engagement in terms of safely repatriating our OFWs out of Lebanon so that would accommodate any situation more particularly kung tinaas (raise) sa Alert Level 4,” he said.
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