WITH the Hezbollah militant group threatening a "total war" against Israel, a migration analyst on Saturday, November 11, 2023, urged the Philippine government to consider proactively repatriating overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) based in Lebanon.
In a statement, migration analyst Emmanuel Geslani asked the Philippine government to take proactive measures for the protection and safety of OFWs based in Lebanon.
"Implement more pro-active measures to protect the more than 30,000 Filipino domestic helpers (and have them) avail of the voluntary repatriation," said Geslani.
He said such measures should be undertaken as soon as possible considering that many are undocumented OFWs in Lebanon.
"Processing of their exit visas is a long and tedious procedure as most of them are undocumented," said Geslani.
Similarly, he said taking early action will prevent a more stressful repatriation process for OFWs, most of whom are household service workers (HSWs).
"Our HSWs won't have to wait a lot longer for their flights back home," said Geslani.
The appeal was made after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned of the escalation of hostilities with Israel saying having a "total war is possible."
In October, Hezbollah showed support to the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in its own war against Israel by launching guided rockets and artillery shells towards the latter.
Israel retaliated with drone strikes and artillery fire on known Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)