DMW: Flight bookings being arranged for Filipinos in Lebanon seeking repatriation

It won’t take long before the first batch of Filipinos departing from Lebanon to arrive in the Philippines as flight booking and other means of transportation are already being prepared for them, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said Wednesday.

DMW officer-in-charge Hans Leo Cacdac said that they are trying their best to evacuate the Filipinos out of Lebanon as soon as possible, considering the rising tension between Israel and Hezbollah militants.

“Our labor attaché had undertaken community outreach and is currently listing those willing to be repatriated. There are currently flight bookings being arranged and it won’t take long and we will have our first batch of repatriates out of Lebanon as well,” he said in a CNN Philippines interview.

It was on Saturday, October 21, when the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) raised Alert Level 3 in Lebanon, meaning repatriation for Filipinos there is voluntary.

Cacdac said that there are also other avenues for the repatriation of Filipinos, but he did not disclose the routes.

At least 113 Filipinos have so far requested government assistance to return to the Philippines amid the ongoing armed conflict, according to DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Eduardo de Vega on Wednesday.

Around 17,500 Filipinos are based in Lebanon. — Giselle Ombay/RSJ, GMA Integrated News