Over a thousand Filipinos in Lebanon are up for repatriation to the Philippines amid escalating tension between Israel and Hezbollah fighters that already killed hundreds.
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Assistant Secretary Robert Ferrer said Tuesday, Sept. 24, that the Philippine Embassy in Beirut is already working on the repatriation of Filipinos willing to get back to the country.
Meanwhile, about 500 Filipinos have already returned to the Philippines. There are about 10,000 Filipinos in Lebanon.
From Sept. 17 and 18, the country experienced "unprecedented explosions of beepers," which resulted in fatalities and injuries of thousands of people, according to the Philippine embassy there.
The explosions predominantly occurred in the southern suburbs of Beirut, South Lebanon, and the Bekaa Valley, it added.
That came after Israel retaliated on Lebanon-based Hezbollah fighters, who are sympathizers of the Palestinian people facing displacement from Tel Aviv.
While almost all of the Filipinos still in Lebanon "oppose any mandatory repatriation by the Philippine government," Ferrer urged them to reconsider their decision while commercial flights remain available.
There is no need to worry about immigration and exit process expenses as the Philippine government will shoulder them both for documented and undocumented workers there, Ferrer said.
"We call for peaceful solution among all the parties and stakeholder in the region," he added, "We pray for cooler heads to prevail ano on all the stakeholders and parties to the conflict."