1000 OFWs seek repatriation from Lebanon over US-Iran tensions

By JP SORIANO, GMA News
At least a thousand Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW’s) were set to come home from Lebanon as part of President Rodrigo Duterte's repatriation order stemming from the tensions between Iran and the United States.
While Lebanon was no longer covered by the Department of Labor and Employment's mandatory repatriation order, over a thousand OFWs in the country had asked to be repatriated.
Philippine Overseas Employment Administration Administrator Undersecretary Bernard Olalia was set to head for Lebanon next week to lead the repatriation efforts and to talk with Filipino community leaders.
“Ang nakikita kong pinaka malaking hamon diyan yung pag kumbinse sa kanila," added Olalia.
"Kasi karamihan diyan ay matatagal na diyan, sanay na sa gulo. Kahit hindi sumiklab yuny kaguluhan sa Iraq alam na nila kung paano ang gagawin nila, so yun po ang nakikita naming challenge, how to convince them to go home and ma-repatriate po sila from Lebanon.”

Iraq repatriations
Meanwhile, the first batch of repatriated OFW’s from Iraq were expected to arrive in the Philippines in the coming weeks.
The OFWs would travel by land from Baghdad to Doha in Qatar, from where they would take a commercial flight back to Manila.
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Administrator Hans Cacdac said that the focus of the mandatory repatriations was Iraq, which the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) had placed under an Alert Level 4.
He added that other details on repatriations would be provided by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, who had designated a special envoy to the Middle East by the President.
The OWWA administrator himself was also to leave for Saudi Arabia and Kuwait next week to engage with the Filipino communities and to meet with labor officials to discuss government precautionary measures, advisories, and reminders "on how to carry themselves out from the host countries and contingency plans.”
The mandatory repatriation of OFWs in Iraq was ordered by the government last week after Iran fired missiles on US military bases.
The Iran missile attack was in retaliation for the killing of Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike. — DVM, GMA News

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