MANILA, 8 August 2006 — Some Filipino workers in Lebanon who feel secure in their place of work are not in a hurry to leave war-torn country, media reports said yesterday, quoting workers and Philippine diplomats.

Philippine embassy and labor officials in Lebanon who have been sent to urge Filipino workers to evacuate were told that they preferred to stay because they don’t want to lose their jobs, a report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer said.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued a mass evacuation order last week upon the recommendation of a task force headed by Vice President Noli de Castro, which said the fighting between Israeli and Hezbollah forces was escalating.

Two Philippine Coast Guard ships will be departing for the Mediterranean tomorrow to help ferry Filipinos out of Lebanon to Cyprus, where they could then be transported home by plane or transport ships.

Of more than 30,000 Filipinos working in Lebanon, slightly over 2,000 so far have been evacuated since the Israeli attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon started two weeks ago.

Reports by the ABS-CBN and GMA 7 television networks from Lebanon also cited some Filipino workers saying they should not be forced to evacuate if they felt safe.

Embassy workers cited the case of Filipino nurses and hospital workers in Sidon and a group of OFWs working as bartenders, cooks and waitresses in a Japanese restaurant in Beirut.

“The nurses said they felt safe where they were while the group working at the restaurant said no one has been killed in Beirut,” the Inquirer quoted a diplomatic source as saying.

On the other hand, domestic helpers who were being maltreated by their employers had grabbed the opportunity to leave.

At least Filipino maids who were being reportedly prevented from leaving plunged to their death while trying to escape through the windows of their employers’ apartment.

Ambassador Al Francis Bichara, the Philippine envoy in Beirut, earlier said some employers even sought out their domestic helpers who have flocked to a Roman Catholic Church compound while waiting to evacuate.

But Bichara said not all employers refused to let their workers go. He cited instances when the employers themselves brought their Filipino maids to the embassy. There were instances when the employer and maid hugged each other in a tearful goodbye, he said.

Foreign Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said, however, that the number of OFWs who have moved to the relocation center for Filipinos in Beirut has jumped on Sunday.

“They got scared of the recent bombings. It’s also a result of the campaign of our officials to get OFWs there to go to our relocation sites,” he said.

Relentless Israeli air strikes have destroyed roads and bridges in many parts of Lebanon. The Israeli Navy has also maintained a total blockade of all Lebanese ports since the war began 25 days ago.

OWWA Fund Inquiry

Meanwhile, Arroyo officials yesterday snubbed again a Senate inquiry on the state of the welfare fund for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

Malacañang demanded a copy of the questions to be asked during the inquiry, citing a Supreme Court decision on Executive Order 464, which bars officials of the executive branch from attending congressional inquiries unless these are in aid of legislation.

The officials who were invited to the hearing, but who were a no-show, were Labor Secretary Arturo Brion, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya, Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor of the Office of the Executive Secretary, DFA Undersecretary Esteban Conejos of the Office for Migrant Workers Affairs, Rosalinda Baldoz of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, and Marianito Roque of the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA)

In a letter to Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, chairman of Senate labor oversight committee which is conducting the inquiry, presidential Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita also said the government wants to focus first on the evacuation of Filipinos from Lebanon.

“We regret that in the absence of questions, (the government officials) will be unable to attend the hearing today...They are performing crucial tasks attending to the urgent plight (of Filipinos in Lebanon,)” said Ermita, whose letter was read aloud by Estrada for the record.

Ermita said that if the whereabout of the OWWA money is what the senators want to know, the officials concerned can just send a written report.

The senators have yet to discuss what to do with the apparent open challenge to their authority to investigate.

Senate President Manuel Villar earlier signed a subpoena for the six officials after they snubbed the hearing for the first time last week.

The senators present in yesterday's hearing had to make do with the Commission on Audit's resident auditor at the OWWA, Gemiliano Maloles, who reported that as of June 30, about 3.2 billion pesos of OWWA funds were with the Development Bank of the Philippines, another 3.2 billion pesos with the Land Bank of the Philippines, and some 703 million pesos were in other banks.

Maloles also said that the Home Guaranty Corp. paid back the 500 million pesos that OWWA lent for the Smokey Mountain project during former president Fidel Ramos’ time.

Maloles said OWWA still had to collect accrued interest from the loan for that project.

But Migrante secretary-general Connie Regalado claimed that OWWA funds had been withdrawn several times in the past without consultation from its members.

The investigation stemmed from allegations that there were not enough funds for the evacuation of OFWs from Lebanon.

Officials of the agencies concerned with the disbursement of the OWWA funds have denied this. (With a report from Inquirer News Service)