Government readies evacuation in Lebanon

The government is preparing for what could be the biggest evacuation of thousands of Filipino workers trapped in the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants based in Lebanon, Malacañang said yesterday.

If undertaken, the full evacuation would be the biggest ever done by the government since the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 attack on Iraq. At least 30,000 Filipino workers are trapped in Lebanon after several escape routes were reportedly bombed by Israeli warplanes.

Tel Aviv has vowed to make Lebanon pay for the barrage of 20 rockets on Haifa, Israel’s second largest city and one that had not been hit before the current round of fighting began on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed "far-reaching consequences" for the Haifa attack, Hezbollah’s deadliest strike ever on Israel.

Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor said the evacuation of the trapped overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and the worsening situation in the Middle East will top the agenda of the Cabinet meeting to be held tonight shortly after President Arroyo’s arrival from Libya.

"The program has always been there for a full evacuation and for temporary sites where they (OFWs) can be placed, the (evacuation) centers where they can be taken not just in one area but where they can be airlifted later on permanently," Defensor said at a news briefing.

"We have the final operation plan, the programs there, we are ready for any eventuality, such as a full evacuation, so that no one would be hurt," he said.

Defensor said the evacuees will include undocumented Filipinos, with the Philippine embassy staff in Lebanon the last to leave in the event of a full-scale evacuation.

He said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA), and Ambassador Roy Cimatu, head of the government’s Middle East Preparedness Team, are looking for "temporary settlement areas" for the OFWs in safe areas in Lebanon and its neighboring countries.

Cimatu, who is in the Middle East, is giving regular updates to the Palace, Defensor said.

He said the government has enough resources to undertake a full evacuation but could not say how many aircraft or vehicles could be mobilized to undertake such an evacuation.

"This is not something new to us as this already happened before in Iraq and the DFA, OWWA and the other agencies cooperated and were able to organize massive evacuation," Defensor said.

He said government and private vehicles, aircraft and vessels in Lebanon and the Philippines will also be tapped for the OFWs to use in the event of a massive evacuation.

Defensor said this early, the evacuation process has already begun so that the government can "make sure that no one will be hurt."

Lebanon pummeled

Fighter bombers pummeled Lebanese infrastructure yesterday, setting harbors and fuel storage tanks ablaze, as Israel showed it would make the Lebanese government pay dearly for not curbing Hezbollah guerrillas.

But Hezbollah retaliated by firing rockets that flew further into Israel than ever before, with Katyusha rockets landing in the town of Atlit, 10 kilometers south of Haifa. Nobody was hurt in yesterday’s attack, but Hezbollah rockets had killed eight people in Haifa on Sunday.

Israeli planes and artillery guns killed 17 people and wounded at least 53 others in the overnight attacks, Lebanese security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Israel said its planes and artillery struck 60 targets overnight.

Israeli officials accused Syria and Iran of providing Lebanese guerrillas with sophisticated weapons, saying the missiles that hit Haifa had greater range and heavier warheads than those Hezbollah had fired before.

In their raids on Beirut Monday, Israeli planes killed two people in the harbor and started a large fire, that was later extinguished.

The Israeli jets also set fire to a gas storage tank in the northern neighborhood of Dawra, and another fuel storage tank at Beirut airport, sending plumes of smoke billowing into the sky. The airport has been closed since Thursday when Israeli jets blasted its runways.

Israeli missiles also blasted southern Beirut, causing three explosions that shook the city. The targets were not immediately clear, but Hezbollah has a host of offices, clinics, schools, social clubs and the homes of its leaders in the southern suburbs.

Elsewhere in Lebanon, Israeli planes again hit the Beirut to Damascus highway, which has been targeted as part of a strategy of severing Lebanon’s links to the outside world. Yesterday’s attacks struck the highway in the eastern Bekaa Valley and killed two people.

In another attack, eight Lebanese soldiers were killed when Israeli aircraft attacked a small fishing port at Abdeh in northern Lebanon near a highway leading to Syria. Witnesses and security officials said 12 Lebanese soldiers were wounded in the attack.

An Israeli army spokesman said his force was investigating the attack because, "in principle, the Israeli military does not target Lebanese soldiers."

Hezbollah is not known to operate in northern Israel, but the Israeli army said it had targeted radar stations there because they had been used by Hezbollah to hit a warship on Friday. It all but accused the Lebanese military of lending its support to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday that despite Israel’s attacks, the guerrillas were "in their full strength and power" and that their "missile stockpiles are still full."

"When the Zionists behave like there are no rules and no red lines and no limits to the confrontation, it is our right to behave in the same way," Nasrallah said in a televised address, looking tired. He said Hezbollah had hit Haifa because of Israel’s strikes on Lebanese civilians.

The Israeli military warned residents of south Lebanon to flee, promising heavy retaliation after the Haifa assault.

Filipinos relocated

About 500 OFWs in Lebanon have been relocated to safe areas outside Beirut after the Philippine government raised the contingency plan for Filipinos living in Lebanon to "alert level three" of a four-step alert system.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr. said in a press briefing that Filipino workers have been relocated to the Church of the Miraculous Medal in Achrafieh on the Christian side, around eight kilometers from the Philippine Embassy in Beirut.

Charge d’affaires Walter Salmingo, of the Philippine Embassy in Beirut, reported to the embassy’s crisis management and security committee the necessity of raising alert level three and the need for some embassy personnel, particularly women staff members and their dependents, to be temporarily accommodated either in East Beirut or in Jounieh in the Christian side, 21 kilometers north of Beirut.

The committee also decided to relocate OFWs currently sheltered at the Embassy’s Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC) and those facing deportation.

"We are not evacuating out of Lebanon at this time. They have been relocated after the recommendation was made raising to alert level three," Conejos said.

The OFWs, mostly domestic helpers, were advised to stay with their employers who know if the situation requires them to move out.

The Filipinos were also advised to immediately contact the embassy-assigned coordinators or proceed to the Church of the Miraculous Medal if their employers leave them behind or abandon them.

Aside from the Church of the Miraculous Medal, the Church of St. Joseph and another church were identified as the places for the relocation of Filipinos since these are not targets.

The DFA has made representations with Apostolic Nuncio Fernando Filoni for the Filipinos in Lebanon to use the Catholic churches and other religious facilities in Lebanon as relocation sites.

Conejos added that the DFA has requested Filoni to convey the government’s request to the Vatican in Rome.

He said the government will await a recommendation from Cimatu, who was scheduled to fly to Lebanon last night to see if the situation already requires evacuating Filipinos there.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Gilberto Asuque said the Philippine Embassy in Lebanon is now studying "Alert Level 4," the highest in its four-tiered alert system.

According to Conejos, the government has identified two possible evacuation routes in Cyprus and Syria.

Conejos also said the Philippine Embassy has coordinated with international groups like the Red Crescent, International Organization for Migration, and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

Asuque said the Filipinos will be transported to Cyprus by sea or by land going to Syria in the event of an evacuation.

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo advised Filipinos in Lebanon to seek refuge in Roman Catholic parishes and churches there.

Female staff of the Philippine Embassy in Beirut, as well as their dependents, will be moved to East Beirut or other Christian areas nearby.

No cause for panic

A group of recruiters deploying OFWs to Lebanon said yesterday that there is no cause for panic for their relatives in the Philippines because they are quite far from the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah group.

Estrellita Hizon, president of the 98-strong Philippine Association of Mediterranean Agencies Deploying Labours Inc., told reporters they are closely monitoring the situation with their principals in Lebanon, who assured them that Filipinos in Beirut are out of harm’s way.

Hizon said the southern portion of Lebanon does have OFWs. She said that this area, which is reportedly a stronghold of the Hezbollah, is a poor region whose residents could not afford to hire Filipino domestic workers.

She added that Filipinos, who are mostly domestic and semi-skilled workers, are hardly feeling the heat of the ongoing conflict, as only a handful have expressed interest in being repatriated.

Hizon, who is also a member of the OWWA board of trustees, said labor officials are now negotiating with the Syrian authorities for the possible exit of the OFWs from Lebanon.

She said that workers in OWWA’s welfare center there were moved to a Catholic church in Beirut previously chosen by the Philippine government,

Hizon said these 116 OFWs, mostly domestic helpers, were already in the OWWA center even before the war broke out.

"These workers are not part of the tension. These are runaway workers and those that have immigration cases that sought refuge in the OWWA center," she said.

Of the 116 OFWs, 36 were facing minor immigration cases while the rest were workers who ran away from their employers, complaining of abuse and maltreatment.

Hizon said that as of now, they have stopped deploying OFWs to Lebanon as a precautionary measure and added that last Thursday, the government barred some Lebanon-bound workers from leaving the country.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ralph Recto urged the government to use part of its P2.8-billion "internal income" to immediately evacuate Filipino workers in Israel and Lebanon.

He also asked Malacañang to allow the DFA to determine how it would spend its income from passport and consular services in order to ensure the safe evacuation of Filipinos in strife-torn countries.

"In normal situations, Philippine consulates are already short of cash. In times of crisis, this should not be the case. They need fund augmentation. Before they can repatriate our people we must remit funds to them first," Recto said.

He said there are 26,030 Filipinos in Lebanon, 6,000 of whom are undocumented, while 22,500 out of 30,000 Filipinos in Israel have no proper documentation.

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, on the other hand, said concerned government agencies should either look for employment in other countries where affected OFWs could transfer or, in the case of OFWs who choose to go home, offer alternative sources of livelihood.

Estrada called for more skills training for OFWs who will be repatriated, particularly for domestic helpers or janitors. He suggested the establishment of a program to increase the OFWs’ proficiency in English in order for them to be employed in call centers and medical transcription firms. — With Pia Lee-Brago, James Mananghaya, Christina Mendez, Marvin Sy, AP, AFP