DFA: 23 Pinoy workers repatriated from Lebanon

At least 23 distressed overseas Filipino workers were repatriated from Lebanon to the Philippines and arrived home in time for the Christmas, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.   In a news release, the DFA said the Philippine Embassy and Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Beirut arranged the repatriation Dec. 24.   "The OFWs departed Beirut in early morning of December 24 and were seen off by Ambassador Leah 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 DFA said.   The repatriated Filipinos, including one child, arrived at 10:45 p.m. of Christmas Eve at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 aboard a 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.   The OWWA provided transportation for the repatriates from NAIA to their homes in Metro Manila as well as temporary shelter in the OWWA hostel.   It 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," the DFA said.   However, after deployment to their employers or to their Lebanese recruitment agencies, the OFWs ran away and sought shelter at the Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC) of the POLO/OWWA in Beirut for labor-related problems.   The Embassy ATN Team and the POLO-OWWA secured from their employers or the Lebanese immigration office the exit clearances for the OFW repatriates, without payment of the deployment cost of the employer.   For its part, the Philippine government used ATN funds to pay only the Beirut-Manila airline tickets of the 23 repatriates.   However, before the OFWs left Lebanon, Ruiz reminded them to observe the deployment ban that was put in place for their protection.   Draft labor cooperation MOU   Ruiz said the Embassy is working for the signing in January 2012 of a Philippine-Lebanon Memorandum of Understanding on Labor Cooperation.   This 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," the DFA said. - VVP, GMA News