Gov’t brings home 13 OFWs from Lebanon, 45 more expected next week — DMW chief

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government on Saturday repatriated 13 overseas Filipino workers, including three children, from Lebanon, Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac said.

In an interview with Teleradyo on Sunday, Cacdac mentioned that 45 Filipinos are also expected to arrive in the Philippines next week.

“Aside from repatriation, there are onsite monitoring and of course, pakikipag-usap sa Filipino community…in terms of crisis management on the ground,” Cacdac said. 

(Aside from repatriation, there is onsite monitoring and, of course, communication with the Filipino community... in terms of crisis management on the ground.)

On Saturday, the Philippine Embassy in Lebanon urged Filipinos in the country to evacuate due to escalating tensions from the ongoing conflict between the Iran-backed Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah and the Israeli military.

In an advisory, the embassy encouraged Filipinos to leave Lebanon while airports remain open. Lebanon has been placed on Alert Level 3 by the embassy, allowing for voluntary evacuation.

The Department of Migrant Workers urged Filipinos who want to leave Lebanon to call the following hotlines: 

• For OFWs (documented or undocumented): +961 79110729
• Dependents with Permanent Resident Status: +961 70858086

A total of 365 individuals have been repatriated back to the country since the tensions started, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs. 

In a separate interview, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said that about 1,000 Filipinos are now seeking repatriation from Lebanon.

“Ang mga Pilipino, maximum mga 1,000 lang uuwi diyan, ang nagpahiwatig na gustong umuwi. 300 nakauwi na. May 700 pa na naghihintay na makauwi. Pero tignan natin kung anong magagawa natin para makumbinsing umuwi,” De Vega said in an interview with SuperRadyo DZBB.

(Only a maximum of 1,000 Filipinos will go home or have indicated that they wish to be repatriated. 300 of them have already returned. There are 700 more waiting to go home. Let's see what we can do to convince the others.)

On Sunday (Manila time), the Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli air strike on Saturday in southern Lebanon killed 10 Syrians, as the Israeli military reported hitting weapons stores of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.

The death toll from the strike in the Wadi al-Kafur area of Nabatieh is one of the heaviest since Hezbollah began exchanging near-daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces after the Gaza war erupted last October.

Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators have been trying to broker a ceasefire in the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which diplomats say could help to avert a wider war that could involve Lebanon.

The dead in the latest strike included "a woman and her two children," the health ministry said in a statement.

The cross-border violence has killed 581 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but including at least 128 civilians, according to a tally by Agence France Presse. — with reports from AFP