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Thursday, August 03, 2006
Arroyo orders evacuation of all Pinoys from Lebanon
MANILA -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Wednesday directed the mandatory pullout of all Filipinos in Lebanon to avoid incurring any casualties following fears that attacks might escalate in the coming weeks.
Arroyo directed the newly formed Task Force on the Repatriation of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Lebanon headed by Vice President Noli De Castro to oversee the immediate evacuation of the Filipinos in the affected country.
Senate President Manuel Villar on Wednesday expressed his support to Malacañang's decision to evacuate all Filipinos from Lebanon.
The biggest group so far of Filipino repatriates from Lebanon arrived from Syria early Wednesday morning. Their repatriation was funded by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The 447 Filipino nationals who arrived Wednesday were flown in from Damascus, Syria. They were among the 1,000 stranded migrants earlier transported by the IOM from Beirut to Syria via land travel.
The group arrived in Manila at 5 a.m. onboard Orient-Thai Airways flight OEA7444 chartered by the IOM, and were accompanied by IOM and Philippine officials.
"We are very glad that these Filipinos have finally reached home after a difficult experience in Lebanon as migrants caught in a middle of a conflict. IOM will continue to help those who remain stranded in conflict-affected areas, not only those from the Philippines but those from other countries who have sought our help as well," said Ida Mae Fernandez, IOM's project officer in Manila.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the evacuation order stemmed from the projected hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces that could worsen in the coming weeks. He said recent Israeli air strikes had resulted in civilian casualties, many of them children, after some Hezbollah fighters set up camps in civilian areas.
"The President said we should bring our Filipino compatriots out of harm's way. We should bring them home safely. We want zero-casualty as far as this evacuation operation is concerned," Ermita said.
He said the Philippine government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), had already coordinated with the embassies of its allies in Lebanon particularly with the US, United Kingdom, France, and Italy asking them to extend assistance to the OFWs.
He added the P1 billion earmarked for the task force could also be used to implement the President's order.
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) administrator Marianito Roque estimated that using present airfare costs as gauge, they would need at least P2 billion to evacuate and repatriate the whole 30,000 OFWs back to Manila.
Roque said the cost may even go down as they expect the fares to eventually go down with evacuation operations, not only by the Philippines, now on their third week. He said the fares are expected to be higher and seats to be in demand during the first two weeks because a lot of countries had been competing for them to ensure that their nationals got out immediately.
He added that the next two weeks would be the most critical after Israel said it would take two weeks to complete its goal.
Foreign Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr. said even before the President's order, the evacuation had already started and in fact 2,222 OFWs from Lebanon are now already in Manila.
Conejos said in accordance with their plan, those in the southern part of Lebanon are to be evacuated first followed by those situated between Sidon and Beirut. He said some 303 OFWs are believed to be in Sidon and 18,999 are in Beirut.
He said the President's order means there would be mandatory evacuation but in case some OFWs still prefer to stay, they would ask them to sign a waiver or "an understanding that government has advised them to leave."
Conejos said it is the prerogative of individuals to decide to stay and the government would just have to respect this.
"We cannot go around Lebanon with handcuffs and cuffed everybody and pull them out of those areas," he said.
Ermita asked relatives of OFWs in the country to inform their families about the order and convince them to leave Lebanon.
Conejos said they are now mapping out an expanded version of government's evacuation plan to ensure it would be executed soon and in an organized way.
He said the plans include reaching out and communicating directly to OFWs to inform them of the order and moving them to relocation sites before evacuating them out of the country. He said this was the case with OFWs, most of them from southern Lebanon, who already returned to the Philippines.
He said they would also coordinate with authorities in locating unaccounted Filipinos to ascertain their condition and ask assistance from the Lebanese officers if any employers refuse to let go of Filipinos working for them. Those that are still in jail would be the responsibility of the Lebanese government.
There are at least 38 OFWs jailed for violation of immigration laws and those whose custody had been given to the Philippines would be received. Those serving time for serious offenses were the responsibility of the Lebanese Government. He said the Philippine government could only intercede for them but the decision to turn over custody would be the decision of the Lebanese Government.
Conejos said they are also looking at alternative exit routes, establishment of other safe holding areas for evacuees, and possibility of employing sea vessels to undertake the massive evacuation.
He said they would decide on whether to use ships within the week. Among those they are eyeing are Filipino ships and tankers already in the Middle East area, vessels that shipped out other nationals, some Greek shipping firms, or ships from Manila.
He said they are now also in touch with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in case they would need assistance in the evacuation.
Conejos said the repatriation task force also covers OFWs in Israel but the evacuation order of the President only covers Lebanon. He said there are about 6,000 OFWs in Israel and most of them are in Tel-Aviv.
He said authorities in Manila will extend the evacuees assistance to reintegrate them into Philippine society or to re-process their papers for work elsewhere once they return to Manila.
The IOM allocated US$490,000 to fund the repatriation flight from Syria and announced the schedule of two more chartered flights to Manila for the repatriation of up to 900 more Filipinos in Lebanon and Syria.
Apart from the repatriation of the group that arrived Wednesday, IOM said it has arranged for two more chartered flights to Manila for the repatriation of more affected Filipino migrants in Lebanon and Syria.
The second IOM-chartered flight for Filipino repatriates with a seating capacity of 450 is scheduled to leave Syria on August 3 and will arrive in Manila on August 4. While the third IOM-chartered flight with the same number of seats is scheduled to leave Syria on August 5 and arrive in Manila on August 6.
IOM continues to intensify its efforts to evacuate and repatriate as many people as possible in Lebanon and Syria who are affected by the conflict, which has reached its third week.
Since the IOM started its operations in Lebanon and Syria the other week, the organization has evacuated over 2,000 people from Lebanon and Syria.
The IOM has likewise set up a help-line number for those needing assistance at +961 70 972 520.
The IOM released US$750,000 from an emergency fund to finance the repatriation and has already made an appeal for US$14 million to provide evacuation assistance for 10,000 people from Lebanon and Syria and humanitarian assistance for another 10,000 internally displaced people in Lebanon. However, figures are likely to be revised to reflect an evolving crisis.
At this time, nearly 12,000 people in Lebanon and Syria are estimated to be in need of evacuation assistance in Lebanon and Syria. These are nationals from Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Iraq, Madagascar, Mali, Moldova, Nepal, Paraguay, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
Labor Secretary Arturo Brion expressed gratitude to the help extended by the IOM for facilitating and bringing the Filipino workers back to the country.
"The IOM's decisive humanitarian action in support of the Philippines repatriation efforts amidst the crisis in Lebanon shows the highest form of humanity and sensitivity to the plight of disadvantaged migrant workers and for this reason, deserved the highest commendations," Brion said.
Meanwhile, Villar stressed the need for some government officials to attend Senate hearings and explain the whereabouts and use of Owwa funds.
"The Owwa officials should be allowed to clear their names because they are the ones being blamed for the funds (anomaly)," the Senate president said in a briefing.
Malacañang on Wednesday said the six officials from the Owwa, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) will not be able to attend again the Senate hearing.
Summoned by the Senate to attend the hearing to be conducted by the Senate committee on labor chaired by Senator Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada were Roque, Brion, Conejos, POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz, DBM Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., and Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor of the Office of the Executive Secretary.
"I'm saddened because I thought they were busy attending to the needs of OFWs last Monday, the reason they failed to attend the hearing but they were in Malacañang doing a press conference," Villar said.
The Senate is thinking of issuing an arrest warrant against the six government officials if they fail to show up in Monday's hearing. "Let's see on Monday," Villar said.
Estrada said the failure of Roque, Baldoz, Conejos, Blancaflor, Andaya and Brion to attend the hearing again only shows that "they are hiding something from the public."
He said the hearing will continue despite their absence invoking Executive Order 464. "I have a star witness on Monday to prove that there is indeed an unexplained depletion of Owwa funds," Estrada added.
House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles said they decided to defer the holding of an inquiry into the Owwa funds because it is not the right time to do so and the repatriation of Filipinos from Lebanon is more important.
Nograles urged the Senate to do the same.
"Surely there is a time and place for everything under the sun," Nograles said. "This is not the time for finger-pointing, blaming and fault-finding. It's a time to unite the administration and the opposition to ensure the safety of our people," he added
He said the House leadership advised the House special committee on overseas workers affair and House committee on foreign affairs to defer the hearing supposedly scheduled Wednesday.
But party-list Representative Joel Virador of Bayan Muna expressed belief that the cancellation of the hearing "has something to do with the effort to conceal the irregularities in the Owwa." (JMR/REC/DBP/MSN/Sunnex)
(August 3, 2006 issue)
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