‘Task Force Lebanon to continue work’

The government’s Task Force Lebanon would continue its work in evacuating Filipinos and ensuring their safety despite the implementation of the United Nations-backed ceasefire due to possible "cyclical conflict."

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said in a statement "it is better to act on the side of caution rather than allow Filipinos to be caught in cyclical conflict."

"Even as the guns fall silent in Lebanon, we must deal with the situation with prudence," Bunye said. "Task Force Lebanon will continue to account for every Filipino national in the areas of danger and see to their condition and welfare."

Bunye said it might take a while before normalcy could be restored as he urged Filipinos in Lebanon to stay at the evacuation centers and "continue to wait for the chance to be repatriated or transported to safety."

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos told a briefing at Malacañang that the government is making a continuing assessment on whether the task force would scale down its operation or disband completely.

He, however, pointed out that just hours after the UN issued the resolution last week for a ceasefire, the Department of Foreign Affairs issued orders to the crisis managers in Lebanon to take advantage of the lull in the fighting and intensify their house-to-house search in the southern part of the country where there was heavy fighting in the past weeks.

"The ceasefire is just 24 hours old. While we hope that the ceasefire would take root, it’s too early to be complacent," Conejos said.

"There are still many imponderables," he said.

Conejos said the expected deployment of peacekeeping forces however could make the government scale down its evacuation efforts.

He pointed out that the ceasefire agreement is between Lebanon and Israel yet the fighting is between the Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants, which refused to be disarmed and vowed to continue to fight.

He said the searches for Filipinos who may have been missed in the previous waves of evacuation are in Bekaa Valley and other towns in southern Lebanon, where the government team could not enter before because of the intense fighting.

Conejos said the total number of Filipino workers brought home so far number 5,099. He said 80 Filipinos left yesterday the Church of the Miraculous Medal in Beirut, which had served as a temporary relocation center, traveling by land to Damascus, Syria to join others before taking a chartered flight by the UN’s International Office of Migration to Manila today.

He said the government has not yet decided whether to send its troops to join the UN peacekeepers. — Paolo Romero