A total of 398 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Negros Occidental in Lebanon refused to go home amid the worsening tension between Hezbollah and Israel.

“Nobody wants to go home,” Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said during a media interview on Tuesday, September 3.

Lacson said he is offering an additional P5,000 worth of assistance for Negrense OFWs who will return home, Public Employment Service Office (PESO) manager Karen Dinsay said.

Of the 398 Negrense OFWs in Lebanon, 61 of them are from Bacolod City, according to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

“No one has said that they want to come home,” Dinsay said.

The Philippine government has already offered assistance to OFWs working in Lebanon who want to be repatriated.

Earlier, the provincial government set up a help desk for the families and relatives of OFWs who wanted to seek help.

The help desk is located at the PESO at the provincial capitol building in Bacolod.

“They can get in touch with PESO through the help desk if there are concerns,” Lacson said./WDJ