Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 3) — Six overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Lebanon arrived in Manila early Friday morning as the government continues to repatriate its citizens amid continuing tensions in the Middle East.
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said the OFWs landed at 6 a.m. on a commercial flight.
Department of Foreign (DFA) Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega told CNN Philippines on Wednesday that at least 112 Filipinos in Lebanon, a country north of Israel, were identified for repatriation.
In a briefing on Thursday, De Vega said a total of 162 Filipinos want to be repatriated but 41 have not received permission from their employers.
He also told reporters that the first group returned to the country on Oct. 28.
He earlier said there are 17,500 Filipinos in Lebanon, with approximately 10,000 of them undocumented.
The DFA placed Lebanon under Alert Level 3 to implement voluntary repatriation as tensions escalated between Israel and Islamist group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah is an ally of militant group Hamas, which attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
The Philippines is also repatriating Filipinos in Israel, as well as waiting for nationals trapped in Gaza — the besieged Palestinian enclave — to cross to Egypt through the Rafah border.
Four Filipinos have died in the Israel-Hamas war.
