Fifty-nine Filipinos in Lebanon have requested to be repatriated amid the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, Philippine Ambassador to Lebanon Raymond Balatbat said Monday.

In an interview with CNN Philippines, Balatbat said there are 17,500 Filipinos living in Lebanon.

“We only posted it around Saturday night and on Sunday morning when we held our meeting with the Filipino community leaders, we already received 59 applications,” Balatbat said.

Of the 59, only three were from southern Lebanon, while most were from Beirut and the Mount Lebanon area.

Balatbat said that missile launches between Hezbollah and Israel have been increasing over the last few days.

“Foreigners are being asked to leave by their embassies and the number of airlines have already been cutting down on the flights to Beirut,” he said.

“We heard that a number of Lebanese families living near the border of Israel have already left the area and have come to Beirut. So there’s a lot of uncertainty that is causing really panic among people here,” he added.

After the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) raised Alert Level 3 in Lebanon on Sunday, it urged the Filipinos to go home while the Beirut airport was still open. Jaspearl Tan/DMS