DFA urges job seekers to stay away from Lebanon

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Foreign Affairs on Saturday called on Filipinos to respect the total deployment ban to Lebanon and other countries where a labor deployment ban has been in effect.

The agency also reminded Filipinos intending to work abroad to steer clear of illegal recruiters.

The government agency made the call following the repatriation of 29 overseas Filipino workers from Beirut. They arrived in Manila Friday afternoon via Etihad Airways flight from the Middle East.

The troubled Filipino workers were not identified by the DFA but it said that all of them arrived in Lebanon in defiance of the total deployment ban of OFWs to that country.

“Majority of them escaped from their employers for reasons ranging from unpaid salaries to emotional or physical abuse,” the DFA added.

The government shouldered the Filipinos’ airline tickets, using its Assistance to Nationals Fund.

Prior to their repatriation, they stayed for an undisclosed period at the Filipino Workers Resource Center, a facility attached to the Philippine Embassy in Beirut.

In 2006, the government ordered a ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Lebanon due to the security situation and inadequate legal protection for its laborers there.

Despite the travel ban on workers, many Filipinos have gone illegally to work in Lebanon, circumventing the restrictions by travelling through third countries.