Marcos orders agencies to be ready to repatriate Filipinos in Lebanon

DMW building. File photo

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered relevant agencies to prepare for mandatory repatriation of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Lebanon if the alert level is raised from 3 to 4, Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said on Wednesday.

Under alert level 3, repatriation is not yet mandatory.

READ: PH reviews raising Lebanon alert level to 4, affecting OFW repatriation

“Yes, we stand ready. The President, while at work in the Asean Summit and the sidelines of the Asean Summit in Vientiane, Laos last week ordered all the relevant departments—the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and the Department of National Defense (DND)—to stand ready in the event of mandatory repatriation,” Cacdac said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing.

“Just yesterday, DFA, DND, and DMW met again here at DMW to ensure this directive of our dear President. And we stand ready, we stand ready, rest assured, to mobilize all our resources and our assets, whether it’s government resources or assets, or government resources in tandem with the private sector, who can help us mobilize, to help our OFWs,” he added.

There are around 11,000 Filipinos in Lebanon, and the majority of them are OFWs.

READ: Many OFWs willing to take chances, refuse to leave Lebanon

Cacdac said 514 OFWs have expressed an intention to be repatriated.

In a press briefing last October 10, Cacdac said the government is currently reviewing whether or not to raise the alert level in Lebanon from 3 to 4, which makes the repatriation of OFWs mandatory.