The Philippine government has intensified its preparations for the repatriation of Filipinos in Beirut following the series of street protests and the resignation of the Lebanon government as an offshoot of the powerful blasts that rocked the capital last week.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, they are taking all necessary actions, through its embassy in Beirut, to guarantee the safety of all Filipinos who are still in Lebanon as the first chartered Qatar Air flight carrying some 400 Filipino repatriates is expected to land in Manila on August 17.
"We are not leaving anyone behind," said Sarah Lou Arriola of the DFA’s Office of Migrant Workers Affairs
The repatriation flight will also bring home the remains of four Filipino workers who perished in the twin blasts that also left 47 Filipinos injured and two others missing.
The DFA said Qatar Air will be the first in several repatriation flights that it will mount to bring home Filipinos who want to return to their families.
These flights shall be free and at no cost to the overseas Filipinos from Lebanon.
The Philippine Embassy estimates that around 33,000 Filipinos are still in Lebanon, many of them employed as household service workers.