Filipina household service workers (HSW) in Lebanon were reportedly threatened by numerous forest wildfires that engulfed several towns in Beirut recently, according to a recruiter.
Lebanese firefighters aided by the army battled massive wildfires in several areas in the country. However, moderate rains in the evening brought them under control in the most affected areas.
With more than a hundred blazes erupting from north to south over the past two days, the Filipino HSWs are reportedly worried it may reach their living quarters, according to recruiter Emmanuel S. Geslani.
There are close to 100,000 Filipina HSWs in Lebanon, many of them undocumented.
Geslani said many of the Pinoy HSWs came via Dubai, “the transshipment point of illegally trafficked Filipinos in the Middle East and brought to Lebanon.”
“The trafficking of Filipina maids to Jordan, Lebanon and Syria continue to pour through Dubai,” Geslani said sans citing his sources. He added illegal recruiters continue to defy the deployment ban to Syria by using the backdoor exits in Mindanao or airport in Northern Luzon.
Geslani said Dubai is being used by illegal and even legal recruiters as the transit point of Filipinos arriving from Manila, using either tourist visas or spurious Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) issued documents.
“From Dubai, the migrant workers are shipped by these foreign placements agencies to Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and even Afghanistan where there are existing bans imposed by the POEA,” Geslani said.
This year alone the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has repatriated over 5,000 undocumented HSWs who are victims of illegal recruiters.
Geslani said they were sold to unscrupulous employers who maltreated and abused them.
These HSWs paid hefty sums to illegal recruiters just to be able to leave the country, looking for jobs abroad, he said.
Geslani added cruel employers eventually drove these abused HSWs to escape and run to the Philippine Embassy for shelter.
“The numbers of escaped HSW were so large that they were sleeping in the corridors in the crowded quarters of the Bahay Kalinga operated by the OWWA in Dubai,” Geslani said.
“In the first six months of 2019, the Bureau of Immigration has stopped more than 300 Filipino ‘tourists’ bound for Dubai,” he added.
“Despite stringent measures, scores of Filipino HSW are still able to pass through the watchful eyes of the immigration agents by leaving via other airports aside from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport,” Gelani said.
Meanwhile, amid growing street demonstrations and protests by Lebanese citizens, the Philippine Embassy has warned OFWs to stay home and avoid areas where there ongoing protests.
1 comment
The article is a bit confusing, if not misleading. Threatened on or from what? Being raped? Extortion of money? Physical or bodily harm?