Manila: Dozens of Filipino workers have been evacuated from Lebanon amid a surge in Israeli strikes targeting the country’s north, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday, as many more are seeking to return to the Philippines.
Around 17,000 Filipinos have been living and working in Lebanon, which authorities in Manila have placed under their “alert level 3,” meaning that Philippine nationals are urged to leave.
Their voluntary repatriation program started in late October, following the escalation of fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border, where Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces have been engaged in daily exchanges of rocket fire since the beginning of Israel’s deadly onslaught on the Gaza Strip.
“There is heightened tension,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo De Vega told Arab News.
“Fifty-five have been evacuated, and an additional eight coming soon, about 90 still being processed.”
The latest batch of overseas Filipino workers from Lebanon arrived in Manila on Wednesday night. Each of them received government assistance to help them with relocation and loss of employment.
“They were very happy because at least they can use the 125,000 pesos ($2,200) as seed money to tie them over until they get a job,” Department of Migrant Workers officer-in-charge Hans Leo Cacdac told reporters.
He said that efforts were underway to bring home more of those who had registered for evacuation. Most of them are household workers.
