|
| Philippines to help citizens in Lebanon after 3 deaths |
| | www.chinaview.cn 2004-08-08 18:36:47 |
MANILA, Aug. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- The Philippine Department of Labor and Employment will help thousands of overseas Filipino working illegally in Lebanon, where three Philippine women died after trying to escape from their abusive Lebanese employers several months ago, reported local newspaper Philippine Daily
Inquirer Sunday.
The report quoted Labor Secretary Patricia
Sto. Tomas as saying that she has asked the Philippine labor attache in Beirut
to track down the undocumented workers and to "regularize" them so they could
become members of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, an organ set up
by the Philippine government to protect overseas contract
workers.
Sto. Tomas said this was necessary so the
undocumented overseas Filipino workers could avail of help from the government
if their security is jeopardized in Lebanon.
An overseas
workers' group called Migrante said that three Philippine women died in separate
incidents between February and May this year after they tried to escape from
their abusive employers.
Migrante said that the three were
among thousands of Philippine nationals working illegally in
Lebanon.
Some other Philippine women who were jailed in
Lebanon told Migrante that they were able to go to Lebanon after bribing
Philippine airport officers.
The anti-illegal recruitment
task force set up by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo recently arrested an
illegal recruiter who lured Philippine women to work illegally in
Lebanon.
Some of these women are abused by their employers
and are even jailed by Lebanese authorities for lacking documents, said
Migrante.
Many Philippine women, especially those from the southern Muslim-dominated Mindanao region, choose to go to Lebanon because the country's society is relatively open and multicultural as is compared with those of other Arab countries. Enditem |
|
|
Breaking
News