Filipinos in Lebanon are safe - Lebanese ConGen

Filipinos in Lebanon are safe and not faced with any danger despite the tensed political situation there after President Emile Lahoud stepped down on Nov. 22 without a successor. “It is very safe in Beirut and other parts of the area where most of our Filipino domestic helpers are serving a large number of Christian families and foreign workers," said Lebanese honorary Consul General to the Philippines Joseph Assad on Wednesday. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora had put the army into the streets of Beirut to preserve law and order. On Friday, political factions in Lebanon and the oppositionist Hezbollah will try to select a president that will complete the democratic set-up in that country. Abdul Kader Al Jadid, president of the Philippine-Lebanese Friendship Community, said he was hopeful that the political crisis would soon end in order to preserve the peace and continue the development pledged by the International community after the Israel-Lebanon conflict in 2006. There are an estimated 25,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Lebanon and majority of them are employed as domestic helpers. Al Jadid said that while employers in Lebanon are willing to pay Filipino household service workers the mandated $400 minimum wage, domestic helpers from other Asian countries like Sri Lankan, Indonesia and Bangladesh who were willing to accept $125-150 salary have dominated the market share Filipinos used to enjoy. The new POEA policy on HSWs which took effect on Dec. 16, 2006 have also resulted in the reduction of the deployment of OFWs to Lebanon. Last year, the Israel-Lebanon conflict resulted in the evacuation and repatriation of OFWs and only around 20,000 have refused to leave their jobs. Some 3,000 returned in the following months soon after the government failed to give them jobs or re-deploy them to other jobs sites. - Marie Neri, GMANews.TV