29 December 2011- The Philippine Embassy in Beirut reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that the Embassy, together with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Beirut, arranged the repatriation of 23 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)-in-distress from Lebanon, almost all of whom have defied the deployment ban last December 24.
The OFWs departed Beirut in early morning of December 24 and were seen off by Ambassador Leah Basinang-Ruiz, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Welfare Officer Toribio Robles and Embassy Assistance-to-Nationals (ATN) Officer Edwin Batallones. Embassy Attache Gladys Perey and OWWA Administrative Assistant Lenny Tarrobago also assisted the OFWs.
The 23 OFWs-in-distress, including one child, arrived at 10:45 p.m. on December 24 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 aboard Qatar Airlines flight 644 from Beirut via Doha.A DFA and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)-Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)/OWWA team welcomed the 23 repatriates at the airport and facilitated their immigration and customs clearances.
OWWA provided transportation for the repatriates from NAIA to their residences in Metro Manila and temporary shelter in the OWWA hostel and also arranged the transport of the other OFWs to their provinces.
Almost all of the 23 OFW-repatriates have violated the total deployment ban to Lebanon, which was implemented on 18 June 2007. They were illegally recruited and they arrived in Beirut in 2009 and 2010, some of them arriving in the last three months.
After deployment to their employers or to their Lebanese recruitment agencies, the OFWs ran away and sought shelter in the Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC) of the POLO/OWWA in Beirut for labor-related problems.
The Embassy ATN Team and the POLO-OWWA worked together in securing from their employers or the Lebanese immigration office the exit clearances for the OFW repatriates without payment of the deployment cost of the employer The Philippine Government, through the ATN funds, paid only the Beirut-Manila airline tickets of the 23 OFW repatriates.
Prior to their departure from Lebanon, Ambassador Ruiz reminded the OFW-repatriates to observe the deployment ban that has been put in place for the protection of the OFWs.
She stressed that the Embassy is working for the signing in January next year of the agreed draft PHL-Lebanon Memorandum of Understanding on Labor Cooperation that will provide the protective mechanism for OFWs in Lebanon as required under Republi Act 10022, or the Amended Migrant Worker's Act.
The OFW-repatriates will also be interviewed upon their arrival at NAIA in order to gather information on the persons responsible for their illegal recruitment to Lebanon and to file the appropriate criminal complaints against the illegal recruiter or human trafficker identified in their statements.END