Filipino in Lebanon die in apparent suicide – DFA

MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino household service worker died Sunday apparently due to suicide, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

“It is with deep sadness that the Department of Foreign Affairs announces that the Filipina household service worker who was taken in by the Philippine Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, as ward at the POLO shelter on 22 May 2020 and reportedly jumped from a room she was sharing with two other OFWs in the morning of 23 May 2020 has passed away today,” DFA said in a statement.

DFA added that an investigation of the incident had already started.

“The Embassy was able to speak to the Filipina’s eldest sister in the Philippines as well as her cousin in Lebanon to convey its condolences,” DFA further said.

While it gave an assurance that worker’s remained would be brought back to the Philippines, DFA stressed that Beirut in Lebanon was still under lockdown and that international commercial flights had not resumed.

But Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. also assured that the victim’s remains would be brought back home.

“We leave no one behind; don’t give 2 flying f*^ks what it costs,” he said in a tweet.

We leave no one behind; don't give 2 flying f*^ks what it costs. And those who want to go back out to real paying jobs in real economies abroad are not gonna be stopped. Let's stop kidding ourselves. Our country? Our country is our people here and out there. Nothing else. https://t.co/Qy8Or8A3rw

— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) May 24, 2020

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/atm