MANILA – The government has no plans to raise the alert level in Lebanon, amidst the intensifying conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
At the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City, DFA Office of Middle East and African Affairs (OMEAA) Deputy Assistant Secretary Marlowe Miranda said that the government is not raising the alert level in Lebanon anytime soon.
However, Miranda emphasized that the Philippine Embassy in Beirut “continues to operate as if mass repatriation is about to be placed.”
Once Alert level 4 is hoisted, Filipinos will have to undergo mandatory repatriation. This is only declared in case of a large-scale internal conflict or if the host country has suffered a full-blown external attack.
As of now, Alert level 3 still remains in Lebanon, meaning Filipino nationals in the country may choose to be voluntarily repatriated.
In the same forum, DFA Undersecretary for Migration Eduardo Jose De Vega confirmed that no Filipino national has been hurt so far in the series of Israeli strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
“Most Filipinos are still adamant about staying in the country,” De Vega mentioned.
“Since hostilities in Israel and Gaza began in October, we already were calling on them to go home voluntarily. So far only around 500 returned,” he said.
De Vega noted that of the estimated 11,000 Filipinos in Lebanon, about 90 percent are against mandatory repatriation.
This was echoed by Asec. Miranda, by saying there are a group of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who don’t want the Alert level 4 to be raised.
“There’s another camp of OFWs who don’t want the Alert Level 4 to be raised because that would eventually mean hindi na sila makakabalik sa Lebanon kapag nagpa-repatriate sila (that they can no longer return to Lebanon if they get repatriated),” MIranda said.
“The lesser of two evils would be mag-o-operate tayo ng Alert Level 4 pero Alert Level 3 pa rin (to operate as if we are on Alert Level 4 while still under Alert Level 3),” Miranda added.
Meanwhile, De Vega updated the number of Filipinos based in southern Lebanon from 196 to 272 but said none of them are in the border or areas being targeted by Israel.
Of the estimated 1,000 waiting to return home, 127 will join four repatriation flights scheduled from October 11 to 28, De Vega stated.
