|
Monday, August 14, 2006
Pinoys in Israel won't leave Haifa: official
MANILA -- Foreign Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Esteban Conejos Jr. said Sunday that Filipinos in Haifa, Israel continue to refuse to evacuate the area despite the increasing attacks from Hezbollah militants.
Conejos said they expect the fighting and bombing attacks between the Hezbollah and Israeli forces to intensify as they try to maximize their military positions until the ceasefire takes effect at 2 p.m. Monday (Manila time).
He said the evacuation efforts for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Lebanon would intensify once the ceasefire takes effect but no similar operation had been ordered in Israel at the moment.
He said Philippine Ambassador to Israel Antonio Modena has been regularly sending an emergency security team particularly to Haifa to check on the conditions of OFWs and ask them if they would like to evacuate to Tel-Aviv to ensure their safety.
"(But) we have an evacuation plan there and the activation of that plan would depend on the decision of our ambassador there, depending on his assessment of the situation," he added.
Haifa, the third largest city in the world, is located in the northern portion of Israel. Most of the Hezbollah attacks had been focused in this area for the past weeks.
Conejos said no other evacuation had been made in Haifa since Filipino caregiver Cristy Marie Gonzales was moved to Tel-Aviv after a rocket was dropped in a residential building adjacent to where she was working.
About 3,000 Filipinos are believed to be in Haifa where they mostly work as caregivers but majority of them are staying in Tel-Aviv.
Conejos said the directive at the moment is to increase the search and evacuation process for OFWs in Lebanon starting with those who may have been left behind in Tyre and Sidon or the southern part of Lebanon where most of the attacks occur.
He said they would like to take advantage of the ceasefire by evacuating as many OFWs as they can during the truce. He said at least 400 OFWs were scheduled to leave Beirut for Damascus around 9 a.m. Sunday in Lebanon.
He said the land route from Beirut to Tripoli to Damascus continues to be used by OFWs after clearance from Israel.
Conejos said the sea route from Beirut to Latakia or Tartus would be on standby in case the land route is again bombed or blocked during the fighting.
Records of Task Force Lebanon showed that at least 450 OFWS were the last to arrive Saturday night bringing the total of Filipino returnees from Lebanon to 4,651.
The UN Security Council on Saturday issued Resolution 1701 calling for a truce between Lebanon and Israel. The resolution also calls for the release of two Israeli soldiers held hostage by the Hezbollah and the bringing in of some 15,000 UN peacekeepers to keep peace in the area.
Asked if the Philippines would send troops to join the peacekeepers, Conejos said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is likely to discuss that when they meet Monday.
He added that the Philippines would have to be invited by the UN first before it could send any volunteers.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo urged the warring parties to heed the UN's ceasefire call.
Arroyo said the Philippines hails and supports the UN resolution and "we call on the warring parties to silence the guns and place the safety and welfare of innocent civilians in paramount consideration."
She said Filipinos are deeply concerned for the thousands of OFWs still caught in the "clutches of fear and we and the global community can only operate in an environment of relative stability."
Arroyo said the government is committed to protect and ensure the safety of the remaining OFWs. "We assure them that their safety would be our utmost concern no matter what the cost and the evolving situation may be. I shall spare no effort to keep every Filipino safe and sound until they are brought back home or to safe sanctuary elsewhere," she added.
Militant legislators in the House of Representatives also expressed support to the UN's call for a ceasefire, which will begin on Monday.
Detained Anakpawis party-list Representative Crispin Beltran said Israel should respect the UN's position.
The UN has brokered ceasefire between Hizbollah and Israel, after fighting between the two parties claimed the lives of many innocent civilians and led thousands of OFWs to leave their jobs to ensure their safety.
"Israel should honor the UN ceasefire. They should immediately pull out troops from Southern Lebanon, and uphold the sovereignty of the Lebanese people. Israeli forces should put an end to their air strikes that are indiscriminately killing Lebanese civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure," said Beltran.
Bayan Muna party-list Representative Teodor Casiño also urged the US Government to honor the UN-brokered ceasefire by not providing any munitions to Israeli forces. "The US government must honor it, and desist from selling, delivering and importing cluster bombs and short-range anti-personnel rockets to Israel," he said.
He said the Bush administration should immediately cancel all pending and planned deliveries of ammunition to the Israeli Government in order to prove its sincerity in keeping peace in the region.
The Israeli forces were reportedly awaiting the deliveries of M26 artillery rockets from the US.
Administrator Marianito Roque of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa), meanwhile, said there is no debt the agency needs to settle with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for helping bring home some OFWs from Lebanon.
Roque said the IOM's initiative to bring home Filipino OFWs was free.
Labor Undersecretary Danilo Cruz also said that as member of the IOM, "we are entitled to request for any assistance in cases like this." "The IOM is not a UN agency, and it is likely that the one funding the repatriation of our OFWs are members of the European Union," he said.
Of the 4,600 OFWs repatriated, about 2,200 of them were brought home by the IOM on chartered flights which reportedly cost US$1,800 per head.
Owwa Deputy Administrator Angelo Jimenez also denied reports that the IOM will require the Philippines to repay the expenses the organization incurred in repatriating OFWs from Lebanon once the armed conflict is over.
"There is no such thing as that. All we know is that the repatriation were being shouldered by the IOM with no cost to us," Jimenez said. (JMR/DBP/MSN/Sunnex)
(August 14, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Mayon spews searing gas clouds, debris