By Argyll Cyrus Geducos and Roy Mabasa

A total of 317 Filipinos from Beirut, Lebanon returned safely to the Philippines Saturday following the order of President Duterte amid the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of the President (OP) announced.

In a statement, the OP said they and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) have successfully concluded the twin repatriation and goodwill missions to Lebanon with 317 Filipinos repatriated via a special chartered flight from Beirut to Manila.

The two-day marathon mission included a ceremonial turnover and delivery of food supplies for the Filipino community in Lebanon through the Philippine Embassy in Beirut, a ceremonial turnover and delivery of medical supplies to the Lebanese Red Cross, the Rafiq Hariri University Hospital, the Beirut General Hospital, and Lebanese NGO KAFA from the Philippine private sector, and a meeting with Filipino community leaders and members.

Presidential Assistant on Foreign Affairs and Chief of Presidential Protocol Robert Borje headed the mission.

Philippine Embassy in Beirut Charge d’Affaires Ajeet-Victor Panemanglor received the relief goods in the presence of Filipino community leaders.

Borje led the ceremonial turnover of 5,000 boxes of relief goods to Rawad Chehayyeb, Assistant CEO for Logistics of Rafiq Hariri University Hospital in simple rites at the Philippine Embassy in Beirut.

"The twin missions demonstrate the continuing commitment of the Philippine government to assist Filipinos who wish to return home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges, as well as the solidarity of the Filipino nation with the Lebanese people," the OP said.

According to the OP, the fly-in-fly-out mission was carried out upon the instructions of Duterte following his address to the 75th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Sept. 23 (Philippine time).

During the UNGA High-Level General Debate, Duterte noted that "Filipino migrant workers have been devastated by the pandemic” and yet “they go on in the frontlines, healing, caring for others in the different parts of the world."

Duterte announced during the UNGA High-Level General Debate that the Philippine government “embarked on an unprecedented repatriation program” to include more than 345,000 overseas Filipino workers.

This was the fifth chartered repatriation flight from Lebanon since June 2020.

A total of 2,596 Filipinos in Lebanon have been repatriated by the Philippine government since December 2019. The Philippine government has repatriated a total of 193,429 Filipinos since February 2020.

Upon their arrival in Manila, the 317 repatriates underwent the appropriate medical protocols as required by the Department of Health-Bureau of Quarantine.