Manila orders evacuation of 30,000 Filipinos in Lebanon

MANILA, Aug 2: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered the evacuation of around 30,000 Filipinos in strife-torn Lebanon as violence escalates between Israeli forces and Hizbollah militants.

Nearly 3,000 have already returned to the southeast Asian country over the past two weeks, some of them defying employers' orders to stay.

Most of the Filipinos working in the Lebanon are women hired as domestic help.

''We may have some casualties among the Filipinos,'' Eduardo Ermita, Arroyo's executive secretary, told journalists, adding the uncertainty in the conflict in Lebanon was the main reason for Arroyo's order.

''The president said we should bring our Filipino compatriots out of harm's way. We should bring them home safely. We want zero-casualty as far as this evacuation operation is concerned.'' At least 646 people in Lebanon and 54 Israelis have been killed in the three-week-old war and recent air strikes have shattered a partial lull in Israeli bombing.

Ermita said the government had set aside 19.4 million dollars to evacuate its citizens, about 95 per cent of them staying in Beirut, where they have flocked to Roman Catholic churches for shelter.

But, the government said it could not force out those who wished to remain in their jobs or with their families.

''We cannot go around Lebanon with handcuffs and pull them out of those areas,'' said a Philippine diplomat, calling on Filipinos who were reluctant to return home to stay out of harm's way by crossing into Syria, Jordan, Cyprus or Greece.

The Philippines was also appealing to international groups and wealthier countries, including European nations and the United Nations, to help move Filipinos out of Lebanon through boats, buses and planes.

Pushed by poverty and a lack of opportunities, around 10 percent of the Philippines' 85 million people work overseas with a quarter of them based in the West Asia.

REUTERS

Related Stories
Pope urges end to deaths of innocents in Lebanon