ooBohol has her share of overseas Filipinos. Aside from those who decided to live permanently abroad, we have our overseas Filipino workers or OFWs. They are living temporarily abroad on a labor contract. Their stint may range from six months as in the case of seamen to three years. While seamen go home and wait until their contracts are renewed, others may choose to renew their contract there for several years more. This will go on until the worker has had enough, in money or get fed up with the job or is too old to work. Before a Filipino can go abroad, he is required to possess a valid passport. This serves as an identification that he is a Filipino and can come home without hassle. To enter a foreign country, he must have a visa; this means a permit to enter the country. The visa specifies that he is a tourist who stays temporarily to enjoy the sights of the country, a contract worker whose stay is allowed until the contract expires, or a permanent resident who can stay indefinitely.

The last two categories have the opportunity to work in the country. The first is barred from working unless he has a working permit, which changes the nature of his visa. The tourist may find work but at his own risk since he is deported once he is found out working. Deportation carries the penalty of permanent denial of reentry. However, there are those who take the risk as TNT or tago ng tago. There are employers who risk sanctions because TNT labor is low.

Once the Filipino manages to work abroad he is classified as Overseas Filipino Worker or OFW. The contract worker is either documented or undocumented. This means the worker first registers with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration or POEA. This government agency sees to it that the worker is getting a fair deal. However, because of the fees and paperwork most of the workers avoid the POEA thus becoming undocumented.

The documented workers are asked to pay a part of their salary to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration or OWWA. This functions as a special Social Security System for them. This means only members of the OWWA can avail of the benefits, as they are the ones paying. Whether documented or undocumented they remit money to the home country thus contributing hard cash to the economy, only that the undocumented mostly domestic helpers or unskilled labor can escape paying whatever taxes due them. Now comes the problem. Undocumented overseas workers are prone to exploitation, abuse and even homicide or murder. This cannot be prevented because the embassy or consul of the Philippines to that country is not aware of their presence. The problem can only be remedied but the misfortune had already happened. Unfortunately, the undocumented greatly outnumber the registered ones. Now comes the case of Lebanon .

The Philippine ambassador to Lebanon do not know how many Filipinos are there. He can be aware of those registered. The exodus for OFWs due to the war, cause problems in logistics. Transporting the OFWs to safety and repatriation require hefty funds. This is the problem of the Department of Foreign Affairs or DFA. The DFA cannot use the OWWA funds for all the workers as only those who are members of the OWWA can use this fund. This may seem uncharitable but this is the real situation.