BI stops Lebanon-bound Pinay household workers

SIX Lebanon-bound Filipina household service workers (HSWs), all undocumented, were stopped by Bureau of Immigration ( BI) officers at the Iloilo International Airport.

In a report to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente, the bureau’s travel control and enforcement units (TCEU) disclosed on Wednesday that the six passengers were supposed to board a Cebu Pacific flight to Hong Kong where they would take a connecting flight to Lebanon.

“Upon arriving in Hong Kong they were supposed to board their connecting flight to Beirut and end up working there as household service workers without the appropriate overseas work permits,” said Ma. Timotea Barizo, BI-TCEU overall supervisor.

The women alleged a certain “Alfred” facilitated the processing of their travel documents and their work visas would be handed to them in Beirut.

There is an existing ban of Filipino deployment in Lebanon.

This year alone, the Overseas Workers

Welfare Administration has repatriated over 5,000 undocumented HSWs.

There are close to 100,000 HSWs in Lebanon mostly undocumented. Many of them entered Lebanon through Dubai and other transshipment points in the Middle East.

The BI has already stopped more than 300 undocumented or tourists workers bound to various countries with transit points like Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong.

The Philippine government, through the Department of Affairs, has a free repatriation project for undocumented Filipino workers in Lebanon. The mass repatriation is scheduled February next year.

To avail of the one-time opportunity, all applicants must come personally to the Philippine embassy in Beirut. The free repatriation project was the government’s response to the numerous requests of Filipino workers who have overstayed or have recently lost jobs because of Lebanon’s financial and economic woes.