Panayam kay Usec. Eduardo De Vega, Dept. of Foreign Affairs | Unang Balita - video Dailymotion

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Transcript

00:00Let's talk about the chaos in Lebanon. We learned about the situation there from the Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo Divega.

00:08Usec Divega, good morning to you.

00:10Good morning.

00:12Sir, please give us an idea, our viewers, what is the current situation in Lebanon?

00:19Is the chaos only focused on Beirut or the incidents of chaos are scattered?

00:26The chaos is not focused on Beirut. It's only on the southern border with Israel.

00:31Because Israel and Hezbollah, the Hezbollah militants are on the border.

00:37They always send missiles to the Israel border and Israel will retaliate.

00:43There are military or violent attacks.

00:48Beirut is still peaceful. There is tension.

00:52The ambassador said the situation is tense, but the life in the city is normal.

00:57That's why our countrymen want to leave the city because they are used to the situation in the Middle East.

01:08I want to assure my fellow OWs and other Filipinos that Beirut is not a war zone.

01:17But we don't want a situation where suddenly there's a war in Gaza or Sudan.

01:25It's hard for Filipinos to evacuate.

01:27As long as possible, we want to repatriate as many as possible.

01:31That's why we have voluntary repatriation.

01:34How many people have signed up to repatriate, Usec?

01:40It started last November and December.

01:43There are 356, including those who were repatriated by migrant workers,

01:48the OWs and those who were repatriated by the funding of the DFA for the immigrants.

01:56There are 356 who went home.

01:58There are 738 as of now.

02:01But there are a lot.

02:02738 are pending because they are waiting for their exit.

02:07If you see that there are roughly 11,000 or 12,000 Filipinos, according to the figures,

02:1412,000 to 11,000 Filipinos are in Lebanon.

02:17Maybe there are more of them because there are undocumented.

02:22If there are 11,000 or 12,000, there are less than 10 percent of those who have signed up.

02:29Most of them are either undocumented or those who have just arrived, less than two or three years.

02:37That's why they are dependent because they are not used to this life.

02:47Usec, we are not asking for the exact number because there are undocumented.

02:56We are not asking for the exact number because we have repatriated from Lebanon twice,

03:02including in 2009 or so.

03:05There was a war there.

03:07So we repatriated several thousand.

03:09Recently, the estimates were about 17,000.

03:14The number of Filipinos in Lebanon is 11.5 or 11 to 12.

03:19So we are using the Filipino community, the DFA and MWU is using the contacts.

03:27The Secretary-General can explain how many they are.

03:31But everyone knows how to contact and use this voluntary repatriation program.

03:39Usec, there's a flight.

03:41The airports are open. We don't have restrictions on letting them go home, if ever.

03:46In fact, there are three calls to go home.

03:49There are a few who go home every month.

03:52That's why we want to do this.

03:56The airport is still open.

03:58The Middle East airlines are still open.

04:00European airlines are flying to Lebanon.

04:03If there's a war, we plan to evacuate through the northern ports.

04:09This has already happened.

04:11Hopefully, it won't happen.

04:13But the embassy has a contingency plan.

04:16Usec, in southern Lebanon, how many of our countrymen have been there?

04:20Well, supposedly, the ambassador told us,

04:23not exactly, but there are three kills.

04:25Less than 100 in the southern city.

04:30But the border itself, where there's a war, where there's a flood, there are no Filipinos there.

04:36Last year, and even before, there were a handful, maybe less than one dozen,

04:45but they are not there anymore.

04:48There are no Filipinos on the border.

04:51But southern cities that are close to the border, maybe one hour away or so,

04:55a few kilometers, maybe 50 kilometers away, there are Filipinos.

04:59We are calling on them to go to Beirut.

05:03The problem is, and to go to the Philippines if possible.

05:06These are our countrymen.

05:08They haven't left their countrymen yet.

05:12Usec, what are our considerations for us to declare a mandatory repatriation status in Lebanon?

05:20Mandatory if there's a total breakdown of peace and order.

05:24A good example is Gaza.

05:26It's a war.

05:28We're hoping that it won't break out.

05:30Second, the charter planes and ships should be ready.

05:35We're just preparing them now.

05:38As Ambassador Raymond Balatbach and his team said,

05:41Labor Attaché Alex Padayan, if we announce alert level four and there's no one left to go home,

05:49then it's a failure.

05:51We don't want to give an alarmist situation because life in Lebanon is still normal.

05:58But there are many countries, including China, India, Saudi Arabia,

06:02and some other countries who are calling on their citizens to leave Lebanon before there's a war.

06:09Okay. Usec, thank you very much for that update.

06:13We will continue to update you on the situation in Lebanon.

06:17We talked to DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega.

06:20Kapuso, for the latest news, visit and subscribe to GMA Integrated News on YouTube.

06:26For Kapuso Abroad, join us on GMA Pinoy TV and www.gmainews.tv.

Panayam kay Usec. Eduardo De Vega, Dept. of Foreign Affairs | Unang Balita

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