Pope offers help to OFWs in Lebanon

The Vatican has offered to help thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) trapped in war-torn southern Lebanon.

Archbishop Fernando Filoni, Apostolic Nuncio in Manila, informed Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. of the offer in a letter dated July 18. De Venecia’s office released copies of the letter to the media yesterday.

The Speaker said it was clear that it was Pope Benedict XVI, whom President Arroyo visited a few weeks ago during her trip to Italy and Spain, who made the initiative to help Filipino workers in Lebanon.

"We would like to thank the Pope and the Vatican officialdom for the help they are extending to our workers," he said.

In his letter to De Venecia, Archbishop Filoni informed the Speaker that the Vatican, which is considered a state, "through the Apostolic Nuncio in Lebanon, has hastily intervened to the Catholic Churches to give hospitality and assistance to the Filipino people who are seeking (refuge) during these days of war."

"I could assure (you) that the Churches, even among the conceivable difficulties and shortage of means, are willing to extend their hands to the Filipino community in Lebanon," he said.

He said the Apostolic Nuncio in Beirut has informed him that "since the beginning of the war, the Filipino workers have been well assisted."

"Two or three Filipino priests are in charge of their pastoral needs," he added.

Filoni informed De Venecia that though Filipino workers "are scattered everywhere in Lebanon, I can assure (you) that the Catholic Churches are doing their best for those asking for material, psychological and spiritual assistance."

Earlier, the Speaker sought the help of Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Butros Sfeir, head of the 900,000-strong Maronite Catholic Church in northern Lebanon, for the relocation of OFWs there.

He said he visited the cardinal in his mountain fortress in the course of a trip to the Middle East in 1976.

"His place, which is like a small town and which is as high as Baguio City, can accommodate thousands of our workers who need a relocation area," he said.

At the same time, De Venecia defended his proposal for the deployment of a small Philippine contingent in a United Nations-sponsored multinational peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.

"We have peacekeepers in eight nations where we don’t have Filipino workers. There is more reason for us to send Filipino troops to Lebanon where we have at least 30,000 documented workers," he said.

Based on a list he obtained from the Department of Foreign Affairs, he said the Philippines has 201 peacekeepers in Haiti, three in Burundi, 18 in Ivory Coast, one in Afghanistan, 52 in Kosovo, 203 in Liberia, 61 in Sudan, and six in East Timor.

"Philippine presence in the planned UN force in Lebanon could help bring down the level of violence there and act as the best shield for OFWs, most of whom are being evacuated from southern Lebanon," he stressed.

He pointed out that the government, even if it has the money, cannot repatriate all Filipino workers in the war-torn country "because that’s just not possible."