39 Filipino workers back from Syria

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – An additional 39 overseas Filipino workers from Syria arrived Sunday night at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, bringing to 1,816 the total number of OFWs repatriated by the government from the strife-torn Middle East country.

The latest batch of repatriates took Emirates Airlines flight EK 334, which arrived at Naia’s Terminal 1 at 10:10 p.m., according to the Manila International Airport Authority’s public affairs office.

At least 10 of the OFWs were from Damascus while the rest were from the coastal cities of Tartous and Latakia, as well as Homs, one of the Syrian protest hubs.

On Saturday, two OFWs returned home from the Syrian capital on board Etihad Airlines flight EY 424.

The Department of Foreign Affairs earlier told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that an additional 1,300 OFWs in Syria had expressed willingness to avail of the DFA’s mandatory evacuation program.

Citing a report of the Philippine Embassy in Damascus, the foreign office said the OFWs’ travel papers were being processed by the mission.

At least 130 of the would-be repatriates are sheltered at the embassy’s halfway quarters in Damascus,” said Raul Hernandez, the DFA spokesman.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario had said that the embassy would remain open “as long as we have OFWs there who need help.”

Crisis Alert Level 4, or mandatory evacuation of OFWs in Syria, which the agency declared in December, is still in force.