Agreement forged to protect welfare of Pinoys in Lebanon

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines and the Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center (CLMC) have signed a memorandum to further strengthen their common effort to promote the welfare and protect the rights of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Lebanon based on international and national human rights standards.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday that the Philippine embassy in Lebanon and the CLMC signed the Memorandum of Cooperation at the CMLC headquarters in Beirut on Sept. 29.

This is the first Memorandum of Cooperation signed by Caritas with an embassy in Lebanon.

Philippine Ambassador Gilberto Asuque and Caritas Lebanon president Rev. Fr. Simon Faddoul signed the memorandum.

Labor attaché Nathaniel Lacambra also co-signed the Memorandum to emphasize the important role of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in the common effort to assist Filipinos in Lebanon.

The Memorandum contains ten operational provisions and provides for the CLMC to receive and accommodate Filipino-in-distress workers referred by the embassy, offer all available social, medical and legal assistance; dedicate for this purpose all available means until the appropriate and suitable solution is found for each case.

The embassy and the CLMC are also tasked to address problems arising from the implementation of the employment contracts of Filipino domestic workers.

The CLMC is also tasked to organize orientation and training programs for Filipino domestic workers and to organize training sessions for Filipinos sheltered in the embassy’s Filipino Workers Resource Center on such topics as communication, resolving disputes arising from work or in the work place, Lebanese culture, health care and social interaction, among others.

Together with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) in Beirut, the embassy and the POLO will continue to provide support for OFWs in Lebanon pursuant to the requirements of Philippine law.

The embassy said the memorandum will complement the efforts of the embassy, POLO and OWWA in providing assistance, including shelter, for the OFWs-in-distress.

Asuque said the memorandum is a formalization of the existing cooperation between the embassy and the CLMC to assist OFWs-in-distress in Lebanon

Faddoul, on the other hand, emphasized that the memorandum further strengthens the cooperation with the embassy and paves the way for extending humanitarian assistance to foreign migrant workers, especially to those workers in distress, in a very professional manner.