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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more