Middle East Crisis: Philippines President calls upon "all combatants" to spare Filipino workers

Philippine's President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, has called upon "all combatant forces" in Lebanon to spare up to 30,000 Filipino workers .

Arroyo said in a statement, "The Philippines makes a special appeal to all combatant forces to spare Filipino nationals who have no wish other than to be taken out of harm's way."

She further said, "We are keenly focused on our zero-casualty goal for Filipino workers in this conflict and we assure the families of the trapped overseas Filipino workers in Lebanon that we will exhaust all the available means to ensure their safety."