MIGRANT WATCH

SOS from Lebanon

Helen Grace Altamirano is one of the 30,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Lebanon. Despite the war that has erupted and caused foreigners and Lebanese nationals to scamper to safety, she remains in the Beirut house where she works. In a text message sent July 21 to her family in Negros (some 115 kms south of Manila), she said she was alone in her employer’s house, still doing household chores.

BY AUBREY MAKILAN
Bulatlat

Fely Gudasin, mother of an OFW in Lebanon, displays pictures of her daughter during a rally at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, July 20 (AP photo)

Helen Grace Altamirano is one of the 30,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Lebanon. Despite the war that has erupted and caused foreigners and Lebanese nationals to scamper to safety, she remains in the Beirut house where she works. In a text message sent to her family in Negros (some 115 kms south of Manila) on July 21, she said she was alone in her employer’s house, still doing the chores. Trapped in Beirut Based on her text, Altamirano continues to stay at the 7th floor of the El Saad building, on Australia St., Rouche, Beirut, Lebanon. Although she has the opportunity to escape, she was hesitant to leave the house.

“Mixed emotions but still at work. Can we travel without documents? What if we’re not allowed to leave? They do not want to discuss the crisis as if normal daw,” read Altamirano’s message.

Jonathan Panlilio, a case officer of Migrante International, has advised her through text to take refuge at the Church of the Miraculous Medal which has as its parish priest Fr. Agustin Advincula, the only Filipino priest in Beirut. But Altamirano replied that she will just stay where she was because the church was already overcrowded.

Unlike Altamirano, Irma Tulauan, 30, another OFW in Lebanon, wanted immediately to return to her family in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan province (485 kms from Manila).

Fely Gudasin, Tulauan’s 55-year old mother, said that the employer would not allow her daughter to leave without finishing the two-year contract. Tulauan started working as a domestic helper to a Lebanese couple only in June 2005.

Aside from a low salary, Tulauan told her mother she was being locked up in the house whenever her employers leave. A war in the city certainly made such a situation even more untenable.

Not safe after all

Even the Catholic church in Beirut where many OFWs are staying is apparently not safe.

Prof. Roland Simbulan of the University of the Philippines (UP) in Manila refuted government officials’ claims that the OFWs are safe in that church.  No Christian institutions have been bombed in the past Israeli attacks, government officials say.

“With the indiscriminate bombing by the Israelis, there is no safe place (in Lebanon),” he said.

Brags-Regalado concurred saying, “there is no safer ground inside Lebanon unless mailabas na sila” (they are brought out).

Simbulan also warned the conflict might intensify as the U.S. supports Israel, whose government believes Iran should also be blamed for supplying weapons to Lebanon.

Simbulan said that although the Israel has its own war industry, it is the Americans, together with the British, that provide it sophisticated war equipment like helicopters and heavy weapons.

He said the support of superpowers is behind Israel’s confidence in launching attacks against the Arab countries surrounding it.

“They may not agree with attacking Israel by force but they cannot stop Palestinians to fight for what is rightfully theirs,” he said adding that it is the same when Arab countries support each other.

Simbulan said the Lebanon attack was related to the Palestinian and Israel territorial issue. After Israel invaded Palestine, Palestinian refugees took shelter in other Arab countries like the Lebanon. Any attack against Israeli camps, Simbulan said, is being blamed on the Hezbollah guerrillas.

At present, Israel has vowed to kill all Hezbollah members and has been launching deadly strikes despite calls by international groups, including the United Nations (UN), for an immediate ceasefire.

But there were already mounting calls for the Philippine government to evacuate the OFWs as early as the start of the bombing. Other countries, like Canada and France which reacted most quickly, have already evacuated their respective nationals.

Regalado said the first day of the bombing which immediately killed dozens of civilians should be the signal to evacuate the OFWs.

“Kung hihintayin pa na maging grabe (if we wait for things to worsen), you leave out the opportunity that you can still evacuate them safely,” she said citing reports that Israel has already troops at the ground.

Not Cimatu

Ambassador Roy Cimatu was the government official in charge of evacuating the OFWs in Iraq during its invasion in 2003.

Regalado said the former Army general should be watched this time, as he is again in charge of the safety of the OFWs in Lebanon.

In 2003, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) released $293,500 to Cimatu supposedly for a massive evacuation from Iraq and another P5 million for the 51-man humanitarian contingent sent to the war-torn country.

“Until now, there is no passable auditing report (from) Cimatu,” she said.

Also, Regalado concurred with former OWWA administrator Virgilio Angelo that there was no evacuation that took place in the Middle East at that time. However, Cimatu has liquidated to OWWA about P13,000 of expenses for the project only this year.

“Ano pang tiwala mo sa kanya, saan na naman n’ya dadalin yan?” (Why trust him still? Where will he bring the money this time?) she asked.

“Stop the war”

Foreign affairs spokesperson Gilbert Asuque reported that the arrival of the first batch of OFW evacuees from Lebanon has been delayed due to glitches in obtaining clearances for the flight from Damascus, Cyprus to Manila.

But only 192 OFWs are expected to arrive if ever clearances are obtained.

Regalado said that if the present Israel-Lebanon crisis blows up into a regional war, more than a million OFWs will be at risk.

She said that the “the best guarantee for OFWs to be safe” is for the war to be stopped.  Bulatlat

BACK TO TOP ■  PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION  ■   COMMENT

© 2006 Bulatlat ■  Alipato Media Center

Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.