BEIRUT: Nine Lebanon-bound Filipino women were arrested in Manila’s international airport over the weekend on suspicion of illegally accepting domestic work contracts in Beirut, media reports said.

The incident comes less than a week after the Philippine government hinted that it was finally considering lifting a strict four-year work ban on Filipinos working in Lebanon. The ban makes an exception for those who received permits before the ban came into force.

In a public statement posted on the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs website, the country’s ambassador to Lebanon, Gilberto Asuque, said he was actively negotiating with Lebanese authorities to secure a memorandum of understanding which would guarantee a greater degree of protection for Philippine nationals in Lebanon.

Despite its reputation as a major source of foreign domestic helpers, Philippine authorities enforced a total travel ban to Lebanon in 2006 during the height of the summer 2006 war with Israel. Full restrictions were revoked in 2007 but Manila rebuffed all subsequent pleas to lift the working restrictions which it insists are necessary to protect its nationals from exploitation and abuse, including violence and non-payment of funds by employers.

Despite the ban, it is thought between 31,000 and 43,000 Filipinos work in the country. Several dozen took to Beirut streets late last year to protest the Continuation of the ban and the illegal trafficking industry which has sprung up in the absence of legitimate recruitment agencies.

“It is obvious that the human trafficking syndicates are feeling the pinch of our intensified campaign that they are resorting to all means to bring their victims out of the country,” Manila’s acting immigration commissioner Ronaldo Ledesma said in connection to the recent arrests.

According to Philippine media reports, the women managed to evade initial security checks because their passports were marked with fake immigration departure stamps.