15 OFWs fly home from Lebanon

MANILA, Philippines - Fifteen overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) yesterday morning from Lebanon, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

The DFA said the repatriated workers, all women, were brought back after complaining of maltreatment and abuse from their employers, as well as unpaid salaries and unreasonably long working hours. The DFA said the youngest of the workers was aged 21 years old.

Before their flight back home, the OFWs stayed at the Filipino Workers Resource Center.

The 15 OFWs were welcomed at the NAIA by DFA-Office of the Undersecretary of Migrant Workers Affairs special assistant Enrico Fos and legal officers Sorhaya Dilabakun, Emily Villanueva and Mustapha Bayanan.

Also present were Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) director Allan Ignacio and welfare officer Hector Cruz.

The DFA shouldered the airfare of the OFWs through the Assistance to Nationals fund. The DFA, through the Philippine embassy in Beirut, made strong representations with the Lebanese government, which waived deployment expenses and immigration penalties.

So far, 74 OFWs were repatriated from Lebanon this year. The first batch of repatriated OFWs from Lebanon arrived last Jan. 13.

The Philippine government’s labor deployment ban on Lebanon, imposed in 2006, remains in effect.