Over 60 Filipinos to be flown out of Syria this week – DFA

MANILA, Philippines—Barely a week after raising the crisis alert level in Syria from 3 to 4 in view of the escalating violence in that country, the Department of Foreign Affairs is set to repatriate more than 60 Filipino workers later this week from Damascus.

This was disclosed to the Inquirer on Tuesday by Raul Hernandez, the DFA spokesperson, who noted “the repatriation of Filipinos in Syria is a continuing effort of the government since April this year.”

“Before the end of the year, more than 60 Filipinos in Syria are scheduled to be repatriated to the Philippines. The Philippine Embassy in Damascus is presently arranging the repatriation of another 143 OFWs from that country,” said Hernandez.

So far, the DFA has been able to repatriate close to 400 OFWs  from the troubled Middle East nation, he said.

According to Hernandez, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario “has instructed the embassy to intensify its efforts for the full implementation of Alert Level 4,” which calls for mandatory or forced repatriation of Philippine nationals at government expense.

Last week, Del Rosario announced that “in view of the escalating violence in Syria, the DFA will be raising Alert Level 4 for the entire country.”

At the same time, Del Rosario directed Ambassador Ricardo Endaya, executive director of the DFA’s migrant workers affairs office, to go to Syria to assist the embassy in the repatriation effort.

Del Rosario also instructed the mission to “assess the situation and submit daily reports” and draw up “an action and financial plan for the full implementation of Alert Level 4.”

Some 17,000 Filipinos, mostly undocumented domestic helpers, are believed to be in Syria. However, only 5,000 are registered with the embassy in the Syrian capital.

The majority of the OFWs have ignoredthe government’s voluntary repatriation program, or were unaware of it,  prompting the embassy to intensify efforts to communicate with the workers and convince them to leave the country.