Kin urged to help PH gov’t on contact info of OFWs in Syria

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday called on the families of overseas Filipino workers in Syria, especially those in conflict areas, to cooperate with the government by providing information on the whereabouts of their relatives.

“The next-of-kin of Filipinos in Syria are encouraged to assist [us] and help ensure the safety of their family members by providing up-to-date contact information,” the DFA said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the foreign office confirmed that an OFW who was set to return home Thursday died in Syria due to renal failure.

According to Raul Hernandez, DFA spokesperson, the OFW was rushed from Damascus International Airport to the Mujtahed hospital in Damascus where she reportedly died of renal failure.

“Philippine Embassy officials are coordinating with the hospital and with Syrian authorities to determine the cause of death and to ensure the immediate repatriation of her remains,” he said in a text message to the INQUIRER.

Hernandez added that the DFA is now contacting the family of the OFW, whose name was withheld, to inform them of her demise.

Lorelie Cortez, one of the OFWs who arrived in Manila on Thursday, claimed that the Filipino woman was left in her care by Syrian authorities while they were at the immigration office several hours prior to their flight back home.

“She was on a wheel chair and she appeared very weak. Her body was bloated and she was having a hard time talking,” Cortez said. “According to her, she was given a wrong medicine for a headache.”

“She was only taken to the hospital only after I pleaded for her. But yesterday (Wednesday), as we were about to board the plane, we were told that she was already dead,” Cortez added.

The DFA, meanwhile, gave the assurance that it is doing its utmost to reach all Filipinos in Syria to inform them of the measures implemented by the Philippine government and get them out of harm’s way.

Crisis alert Level 4 is currently in place over Syria and the mandatory evacuation of all Filipinos in the country is underway.

To date, a total of 972 OFWs in the Middle East country have already been flown back to the Philippines through the DFA.

Earlier, the foreign office has deployed a “rapid response team” composed of personnel from the Philippine National Police, Department of Labor and Employment and the DFA to help out in the extraction and repatriation of OFWs in Syria’s conflict areas, including Homs, Hama, Dara’a and Idlib.

Families of OFWs in Syria may call the DFA’s Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (DFA-OUMWA) at (02) 834-3245 or (02) 834-3240.