President Marcos has ordered government agencies to provide a whole-of-government assistance to Filipino workers coming from Lebanon.

Every worker is expected to receive about P150,000 financial aid from the Department of Migrant Workers (DWM) and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), according to DMW Undersecretary Bernard Olalia.

In a Palace briefing, Olalia said Marcos has instructed them to provide "all forms" of assistance to Filipino workers who will be repatriated from Lebanon.

"Per instruction of the President, we will be adopting a whole-of-government assistance, we will provide for all forms of assistance coming from both the DMW and OWWA, together with the other agencies that will be onboard like DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs), DOH (Department of Health), and of course, TESDA (Technical Education System and Skills Development Authority)," Olalia said on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

"Each worker will receive no less than 150,000 financial aid coming from the DMW and OWWA," he added.

According to Olalia, Marcos' marching order to them is to help the Filipino workers not just financially, but also in psychosocial services.

"Tulungan po natin sila (Let us help them)," Olalia said, referring to the President's directive to them.

"After their facilitated repatriation, pagdating po dito (upon arriving here), we will be adopting a whole of government assistance, hindi lamang po financial, hindi lamang po lahat ng klase ng tulong kundi yung psychosocial services din dahil dumanas po sila ng katakut takot na stress (not only financially, not only all forms of assistance, but also psychosocial services because they went through overwhelming stress)," the DMW official said.

The DMW undersecretary also said that Marcos ordered them to ensure the safety of Filipino workers in Lebanon amid the escalating tension in the area.

"The main responsibility of the DMW is to ensure the safety of all Filipino workers in Lebanon per instruction and guidance by no less than our President. And in line with this responsibility, the DMW and the OWWA, as an attached agency, continues to coordinate with DFA in ensuring the safety of all workers in Lebanon," he said.

He disclosed that they are facing several challenges in repatriating Filipinos in Lebanon. These include having no flights to Lebanon, the challenge in securing landing rights for chartered flights, and securing exit permits for documented and undocumented Filipino workers.

The challenge is that we do not have flights. The supposed Sept. 25 flight, which will facilitate the repatriation of 15 of our OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) did not push through because the flights were cancelled due to the conflict. As a consequence, we are trying to provide for chartered flights---we're talking to some airline companies---so that the chartered flights would be able to accommodate, for example, no less than 300 OFWs from Beirut," Olalia said.

"The other challenge there is to secure, of course, the landing rights of our chartered flights," he added.

"The other challenge is the exit permits of some of our workers. Apart from our documented OFWs, we have undocumented OFWs who need to secure travel documents. Once they were given travel docs, we will help them in securing also exit visa or exit permits from the immigration of the Lebanese government."

At another briefing, DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said the Migrant Workers Office (MWO) office in Beirut is arranging the repatriation of 63 more OFWs.

The 63 OFWs are living in Dahieh which was subjected to bombings over the weekend.

Despite the bombings, Cacdac said the 63 OFws were all safe and were immediately transferred to a hotel in Beit Mery, Lebanon for temporary shelter at much safer grounds.

“There are also 16 overseas Filipinos temporarily housed in our rented facility in Beit Mery to ensure their safety and security,” said Cacdac.

Cacdac assured of the Philippine government’s all-out efforts to repatriate all the OFWs, including the 100 Filipinos who are now awaiting clearance to leave Lebanon from the immigration authority.

To date, there are 430 OFWs and 28 dependents who have been repatriated.

He said the DMW is continuously coordinating with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to ensure the welfare and safety of OFWs in Lebanon in any eventuality.

Aaron Recuenco & Betheena Unite

Marcos orders all-out government aid to Filipino workers from Lebanon