The
Philippines said yesterday it was prepared for the worst after Israel rejected
calls for a truce to allow food and medicine to reach thousands of civilians trapped
in southern Lebanon after 18 days of war.
Officials
of the Department of Foreign Affairs gave this bleak forecast as 229 more Filipino
refugees, including children, flew back home on four different flights after escaping
from Lebanon.
A
senior DFA official projected the exodus from Lebanon might go on for the next
few weeks.
The
Israeli bombardment of its neighboring Arab country has forced more than half
a million Lebanese to flee.
Foreign
Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said the time line was based on the latest assessments
by the DFA's Office of Middle East Affairs.
Conejos
said the eruption of a major ground war in Lebanon, even if concentrated in southern
Lebanon, might "induce'' more Filipinos based in the capital Beirut and in
northern regions to evacuate.
"We
are prepared for the worst,'' DFA spokesperson Gilbert Asuque told the Inquirer.
Of
the more than 30,000 Filipinos in Lebanon at the start of the hostilities, at
least 943 have returned to Manila on chartered or commercial flights since the
government launched "Oplan Sagip OFW'' on July 14.
The
figure is expected to breach the 1,000-mark today with the arrival of five more
flights carrying 130 evacuees.
"This
might go on for the next two to three weeks if there would be intense ground fighting
in the days ahead,'' said Conejos.
NO
LETUP IN FIGHTING
Asuque
said: "There are no indications that there will be a ceasefire at any moment.
We can't foresee the fighting subsiding.''
"Diplomatic
efforts have been quite slow in finding solutions,'' he said.
Conejos
and Asuque made the statements when asked by the Inquirer if they saw an end in
sight to the evacuation, which entered its third week yesterday.
The
two officials were among the government's welcome party who tried to cheer the
latest groups of evacuees - again mostly female domestic helpers - on their arrival
at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Also
yesterday, Conejos disclosed that the International Organization for Migration
was sponsoring three chartered flights for Filipino evacuees, not just one as
previously announced.
EVACUATION
BY SEA
Each
flight on a Boeing 747 aircraft will carry at least 450 evacuees.
The
first IOM-chartered plane will leave Damascus for Manila on Aug. 1, while the
departures of the two others are tentatively set for Aug. 4 and 6, Conejos said.
Conejos
also said the government was now considering evacuating the OFWs in Lebanon by
sea following an offer from a Greek tycoon to bring them from Beirut to Cyprus
if worse came to worst.
Speaking
on Vice President Noli de Castro's weekly radio program, Conejos said the DFA
created a task force to draw up an evacuation plan from Beirut to Cyprus after
Antoniou Antonious, owner of Olympic Gulf Tankers Inc., offered the use of one
of his ships for free.
Antonious
said his ship could ferry as many as 2,000 OFWs from Beirut to Cyprus in one voyage,
or 15 hours by sea. From Cyprus, the OFWs could take a plane to Manila. | 
