First Batch of Filipino Voluntary Returnees from Lebanon Back Home for Christmas

Thirty Filipino returnees comprising 25 adults and five minors left Beirut to reunite and celebrate Christmas with their families and loved ones back home in the Philippines. They arrived in Manila on 22 December 2019. (Beirut PE photo)

BEIRUT 26 December 2019 — A total of 30 Filipino returnees comprising of 25 adults and five minors left Beirut to reunite and celebrate Christmas with their families and loved ones back home in the Philippines. They arrived in Manila on 22 December 2019 and were received and further assisted by officials and staff of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).   

The lucky first beneficiaries of the voluntary repatriation program being implemented by the Philippine Embassy in Beirut come mainly from the Embassy shelter wards, detainees, voluntary repatriates who had been cleared earlier by immigration authorities, and workers who possess valid work permits but have opted to leave Lebanon because of difficulties arising from a big drop or loss of income. 

As Christmas is the most awaited holiday season among Filipinos, the repatriation program has become extra special and joyful for the returnees who each received a cash gift of USD 100 from the DFA through the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA).  For the shelter ward-returnees, total cash gift of USD 200 and a gift bag of basic hygiene products were given.

The Embassy, with the full support of DFA-OUMWA, initiated in early December the free voluntary mass repatriation project in response to numerous requests from Filipino workers who started feeling the pinch of the dollar crunch and economic crisis besetting Lebanon.  Under this project, the government is to provide a one-way plane ticket to Manila and to the repatriate’s final destination in the Philippines, and pay the immigration penalty, if any.  

The Embassy is doing its best to send home the close to 1,600 Filipinos who have availed themselves of the voluntary free mass repatriation project as soon as practicable, in coordination with the concerned Lebanese authorities, the International Organization for Migration and partner Non-Government Organizations.

Another batch of 26 workers and a minor also followed shortly on 24 December 2019 and arrived in Manila on Christmas Day. END

Filipino voluntary returnees inside the bus that will send them to the Airport. (Beirut PE photo)

Filipino voluntary returnees during their lay-over at the Abu Dhabi Airport. (Beirut PE photo)

 Chritmas gift-giving for Philippine Embassy Shelter Wards. (Beirut PE photo)

For more information, visit https://www.beirutpe.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/PHinLebanon/.