A nonprofit organization that handles labor and migration concerns on Thursday urged government agencies involved in the repatriation of overseas Filipino workers from Syria to make full use of social media networks to rescue OFWs trapped in the war-torn country.
According to Susan Ople, head of the Blas Ople Policy Center, social network sites and broadcast stations should be fully utilized to relay information to OFWs still in Syria through their families back here at home.
“Unlike in Libya, our workers scattered across Syria do not know where the rescue teams are and which community leaders or teams they could reach out to. In quiet desperation, some of our workers have started planning their own escape routes which sadly puts them in extreme danger,” Ople said in a statement.
She cited the case of OFWs Maricel Monteclaro and Sherly Antig who reportedly jumped off an apartment building in order to escape from their strict employers in Lattakia. Both OFWs have been calling up the Philippine Embassy and asking for repatriation assistance because of oppressive work conditions and fear for their lives after hearing sporadic sounds of gunfire near their building.
The Ople Center said that it had received several other cases of OFWs seeking repatriation from Syria.
“The families of these OFWs are extremely worried and would often call us up for updates. All we could tell them is that the cases of their loved ones are still under negotiation based on information coming from the Department of Foreign Affairs. For how much and for how long, we have absolutely no idea. Then we ask them to keep praying and not lose hope. I really wish we could do more than that,” Ople said.
Earlier, the Ople Center called for a congressional inquiry into the rescue operations in Syria in light of the death of a Filipino in battle-stricken Homs.
The DFA on Wednesday confirmed that Meran Prieia Montezor, 23, of Camarines Sur, was killed in an ambush by “armed gangs” on February 24 in Homs while riding in a vehicle with her employer’s family.
On Feb. 22, an OFW who was waiting for her flight back to the Philippines died of renal failure.
Ople said the death of the OFWs underscores the urgency to provide priority attention to the fast-developing humanitarian crisis in Syria.
“We respect and believe in the sincerity of our embassy and DFA personnel who are in the front lines in Syria. It is also for their benefit that the Ople Center now seeks an impartial and independent assessment of the government’s ongoing rescue and repatriation efforts through a congressional inquiry,” Ople said.
A legislative inquiry will help ascertain whether all actions are fully coordinated, and that the best teams and all necessary resources are in place in Syria.