By Recto L. Mercene and Samuel P. Medenilla
TWO Filipino household service workers died, eight others were wounded, and 12 Filipinos are missing in the wake of a massive explosion that rocked the Beirut waterfront on Tuesday, reportedly from a huge cache of ammonium nitrate stored in a nearby building for the last six years.
The Filipinos are part of the reported 78 who died and some 4,000 wounded in the explosion that rocked the capital city Tuesday afternoon. The blast was independently videotaped and immediately spread in social media, showing a mushroom cloud forming following the explosion that could be heard 10 miles away and followed by a magnitude 3.3 earthquake.
“Our hearts go out to the Lebanese people. And I hope material and medical help as well. DFA will try to extend as much help as it can out of its own resources not just to OFWs but Lebanese communities,” said Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr.
“Poor Lebanon. That humongous explosives stockpile must come from the endless conflicts into which the Lebanese were dragged or drawn by the many contending military forces in the area. It was once the jewel of tolerance, sophistication and freedom in the Middle East crown,” Locsin added in another tweet.
Lebanon officials were quoted as saying, “it appeared the blast in Beirut was caused by the detonation of more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate, a chemical commonly used in fertilizer and bombs, which had been stored in a warehouse since it was confiscated in 2014.”
Welding accident?
Lebanese officials attributed the incident to a welding accident.
It killed 70 people and injured 4,000 others and led to the extensive infrastructure damage in the port as well as the Hariri International Airport.
The Department of Labor and Employment named six of the injured as Marcela Balwis; Sarah Jane Daraca; Ursula Villa; Imeda Sacular; Jomar D. Lagente; Graciano Erese Norma.
Two other injured Filipinos are recuperating at the Philippine Embassy in Lebanon. These are Graciano Erece and Jomar del Gente.
“We also note with sadness that 11 others of our OFWs, all sea-based workers docked at the port of Beirut, are still unaccounted for. Our office is coordinating closely with Beirut authorities to locate them and work for their safe return to the country should they decide so,” DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.
Two of those injured are currently recuperating at the Embassy Chancery after receiving treatment from a hospital, the DFA said. “They are part of a group of 13 Filipino seafarers whose ship was docked some 400 meters away from the blast zone. The other 11, as of this reporting, have been reported missing. In addition, another Filipino Household Service Worker has been reported to be missing as well, bringing the total number of missing Filipinos to 12.”
DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola said during a zoom press conference the Filipino seafarers were in their boat docked some 400 meters from shore “when they decided to jump, fearing their ship will sink.”
Arriola did not say how many Filipino seamen were in the boat but added that 11 of them are missing after they jumped in the sea. “Maybe they were able to swim to port; we are awaiting confirmation from the ground,” she added.
She said the Filipinos in the embassy are making the rounds of hospitals in Beirut, looking for the missing.
Arriola said the two domestic helpers who died “were both were in the homes of employers. They sustained injuries because of the explosion. We are waiting to inform the families.”
Most of those injured sustained cuts from broken glass. One was seriously injured, she said, but stable and the DFA employees are going to hospitals to look at their conditions.
The Filipino employees in Beirut are helping in the search but are hampered by restrictions and precautions forced by Covid-19.
News agency reports said hospitals were swamped, and one Filipino HSW interviewed by CNN Philippines, Ursula Guila, confirmed this. She had just opened the window of her ward’s room when she was hurled several feet away by the hot blast of another explosion. She showed CNN Philippines deep cuts in her arm and some on her face, but said she opted to just return home and clean her own wounds after seeing the hospitals overflowing with people with far severe injuries.
There are 31,916 OFW in Beirut, although there used to be about 33,000, many of them illegals. So far, 1,500 OFWs have been repatriated following the loss of their jobs — the pandemic’s impact — between December 2019 and June 2020.
Arriola said the two dead OFWs would be brought home, along with the 230 OFWs scheduled for repatriation this weekened, “or cremated in Lebanon, depending on the decision of the relatives of the deceased.”
“The DFA is ready to provide assistance to most of our workers who are undocumented,” Arriola said, adding the number of illegal workers had increased when the Philippines stopped deploying OFWs since the war.
“Many of these illegal workers were also trafficked,” she added.
According to Arriola, they would request for an emergency response team, “once we see the need.” The DFA stands ready to take care of all Filipinos, but she said they always coordinate with other agencies to check the accuracy of information on Filipinos.
“This is a one-country team approach,” she explained, adding the OFWs could also get in touch with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in Lebanon.
She said the DFA will issue a bulletin every four to six hours to be able to assist the OFWs, but due to Covid-19, “our personnel have to go out with caution.”
Govt support
The DOLE said it will be expediting the release of the death insurance and appropriate benefits of the OFWs from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
“The next of kin of those who died have been duly notified and the necessary assistance is being extended to the family for the immediate repatriation of the dead OFWs to their families in the country,” Bello said.
If both OFWs are documented, he said their families will get a US$15,000 death insurance as well as a P120,000 bereavement benefit.
The Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Lebanon identified one fatality as Perlita Guillermo Mendoza.
The other Filipino, who died from the incident, is still being identified by the POLO “since her documents were wiped out” from the explosion.
In solidarity
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque condoled with the families of the OFWs.
“We are one with the families and friends of Filipinos who passed or were injured during the event,” Roque said in a brief statement.
“The Philippines is in solidarity with the people of Lebanon in this period of great grief,” he added.