17 OFWs back from Lebanon

MANILA, Philippines — Seventeen more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) returned home yesterday from Lebanon, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration said.

The OWWA said the OFWs and one dependent arrived in Manila on separate flights.

According to OWWA, 653 OFWs and 33 dependents have been repatriated since the conflict erupted between Israeli and Hezbollah forces last year.

Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac said the Middle East conflict affected not only land-based workers but Filipino seafarers as well.

Cacdac said a number of Filipino seafarers on board foreign vessels attacked by Houthi rebels while cruising the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have also been repatriated.

They received financial assistance from the government upon their return to the Philippines, Cacdac said.